This article is a synopsis of an ongoing investigation into Government policies and programs on Black Entrepreneurship in Canada. The project is being led by Dr. Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba, Assistant Professor Institute of African Studies at Carleton University. He was previously an Associate Professor at the Thabo Mbeki Africa School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa.

What are the main mental health challenges Black entrepreneurs face? That’s the question Dr. Lisa Ndejuru, an affiliate professor at the Quebec Regional Hub of the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (Q-BEKH) at Concordia University, set out to answer. As the body of research around the experience of Black entrepreneurs in Canada continues to grow, this is just one of the many areas still shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding. Along with her research partner Marie-Jolie Rwigema, a fellow assistant professor at Concordia University, she’s on a mission to shed light on this topic.

This month, we delved into a conversation with Liza Arnason, the founder of the Ase Community Foundation for Black Canadians with Disabilities, a non-profit dedicated to dismantling structural and societal inequities that perpetuate stigma against Black people with disabilities.  Liza’s experiences as a business owner unfolds at the junction of a range of roles- a black woman, a grandmother, a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a self-proclaimed "disruptor." Setting her sights on disrupting the status quo of systems and structures that have traditionally excluded those who do not fit into one-size-fits-all solutions, Liza is challenging the traditional Western view of entrepreneurship and insisting that all forms of talent in the Black community have the support and opportunities needed for them to grow and thrive.

It is for this reason, the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (BEKH) was established.  With the mandate of collecting data on the state of Black entrepreneurship in Canada and helping to better understand the lived experiences of Black entrepreneurs, the team of researchers at our Central Regional Hub at University of Alberta embarked on the mission to review the existing research on the subject. Co-led by Dr Philomina Okeke-Ihejirika and Dr Shirley Anne Tate, with the assistance of Oluwagbemiga Oyinlola and Prateeksha Pathak, doctoral candidates at McGill University and York University respectively, the Central Regional team attempted to conduct a scoping review of the research on Black entrepreneurship in Canada. Yet, who would have thought that one of the very first challenges would be a lack of research to complete the scoping review?