This month, I’ve invited our summer student Matthew Clark (they/them) to use their skills in market research to write about the exciting research on Queer Entrepreneurship that we’ve undertaken with various partners throughout the last year. We set out to clarify the impact our Queer, Trans and Allied businesses have as well as the unique challenges they face. These findings are being used to inform the programming, resources and advocacy materials for the Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber.
For our members and partners, there will be additional opportunities for you to give us feedback on the kind of resources, events and opportunities you most value through your connection to the Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce. We want this Chamber to work for you.
We’ll be hosting events and webinars sharing more about what we learned and how it will influence our programming and advocacy going forward throughout the fall but we wanted to give all of you a sense of what we’ve learned so far.
Thanks to our summer student, Matthew Clark, for taking over our blog spot this month!
Elli McDine (she/her)
Executive Director
Introduction
In my work at the Chamber over the last month I’ve been pulling together everything we can know from our network of Queer, Trans and allied businesses in Alberta. We’ve gone through economic surveys, geospatial mapping, and workshop conversations, and have found many themes throughout. But the most important is that Queer and Trans businesses are a real and economically significant community of businesses within Alberta. However, it is also a community which is being forced to operate within thinner and thinner margins, with lower levels of general wellness, and a lower safety net than the general population.
Growth and Community
Across Alberta, we have identified 232 organizations who either are members of the Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce or are 2SLGBTQI+-allied businesses. These are most concentrated in Edmonton and Calgary, but there also exist real footholds in cities like Red Deer, Lethbridge, and Banff. The average annual revenue is around $920,000, with a median of $750,000, suggesting a mix of larger, established firms and smaller operators.
But the impact of Queer and Trans businesses goes deeper than the profit line. In their limited spare time, most will choose to also buy from other local queer-owned vendors, and well over half of their staff earn a living wage, which becomes even more important amidst current economic and political uncertainty. The Chamber’s own membership has also grown 60% since December, and is currently focused on reaching out to more businesses, towards our goal of 1,000 Queer Businesses Strong!
..the same flag in the window which can make customers feel welcome is, in the word of one founder, “where the rock is going to get thrown.
Difficulties and Institutional Support
However, amidst a lot of positive data, there still seems to be a feeling of a lack of security among Queer and Trans entrepreneurs. None of the small-business founders we spoke to in Edmonton had ever accessed a conventional small-business loan. Some described operating for over a decade before receiving their first grant. Also, every single one described the ongoing and exhausting process of constantly making decisions involving how visibly “out” to be, as well as living with the fact that the same flag in the window which can make customers feel welcome is, in the word of one founder, “where the rock is going to get thrown.”
Academic research on queer entrepreneurship we’ve reviewed alongside this local picture backs this up. Trans entrepreneurs report elevated fear surrounding funding rejections which is so acute that many simply have stopped applying. This lack of institutional support and trust is perhaps reflective of our anecdotal experience that discrimination is disruptive to not only our short-term finances or well-being, but also creates long-term disruptions and harms regarding precarity and our ability to survive as individuals in the Queer community.
Where Do We Go From Here?
What this reveals is that Queer and Trans entrepreneurs have firmly established a business model which is both community-oriented and also growth-friendly. This means that while there are no doubt difficulties in getting started, Queer and Trans businesses which have been established in the long term are successful, not only in terms of profit margins, but also in community connections, maintaining fair wages for workers, and supporting other Queer, Trans businesses, and Allied-owned businesses.
The question we’re focused on at the Chamber is “How do we build the conditions for Queer, Trans and allied entrepreneurs to thrive right here in Alberta?”
Over the coming months, the chamber will be leveraging the knowledge we’ve gained to build resources, programming, and events that are catered to the unique needs of Queer, Trans, and Allied business owners. By increasing our network size through targeted outreach, we aim to create a larger and more connected network of Queer, Trans, and Allied businesses across Alberta. Doing this outreach work is important because it enables us to tell the story of Queer, Trans, and allied businesses and the significant economic impact they are having across Alberta. We’re also about to launch a new community hub, a way for our member businesses to connect, support and learn from each other between our events. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting initiative.
Underpinning all of this work is our deep commitment to building support side-by-side with the community that it is meant to serve.
Thank you for building this with us.
Matt Clark
— The Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce
