{"id":1130,"date":"2020-02-29T17:18:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-29T17:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/tl\/why-are-there-so-few-black-entrepreneurs-in-canadian-tech\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T15:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T15:15:11","slug":"why-are-there-so-few-black-entrepreneurs-in-canadian-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/ai-technology-and-innovation\/why-are-there-so-few-black-entrepreneurs-in-canadian-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are There so Few Black Entrepreneurs in Canadian Tech?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div\n\tid=\"tl-fpb-1\"\n\tstyle=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2026\/06\/Banner-wide-29-scaled-1.jpg?quality=80&amp;w=4096);background-position:50% 50%;background-size:cover;min-height:500px\" class=\"tl-featured-post-banner wp-block-rbc-thought-leadership-blocks-featured-post-banner\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"tl-featured-post-banner__gradient\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;z-index:0;pointer-events:none;\"><\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"tl-featured-post-banner__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"tl-pill tl-pill--banner\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/ai-technology-and-innovation\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tAI, Technology and Innovation\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"tl-featured-post-banner__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"tl-featured-post-banner__title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/ai-technology-and-innovation\/why-are-there-so-few-black-entrepreneurs-in-canadian-tech\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy Are There so Few Black Entrepreneurs in Canadian Tech?\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"tl-featured-post-banner__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t\tMeet two Torontonians who are working to ensure black entrepreneurs have access to more opportunities in Toronto&#8217;s thriving tech sector.\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"200px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/841b801a-92b3-4071-a259-3c5809f92f37?dark=false\"><\/iframe>\n<hr>\n<h4>In 1837, Thornton Blackburn, an escaped slave, launched Toronto&#8217;s first taxi company, and turned The City into a thriving enterprise that generated a small fortune for Blackburn and his wife Lucie \u2014 and yet somehow has been forgotten to history.<\/h4>\n\n<p>More than 180 years later, most Canadians would be pressed to cite the Blackburns or name a single black entrepreneur. Even though 1.2 million Canadians <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Black_Canadians\" class=\"at ey fx fy fz ga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">identify<\/a> as black, representing 3.5% of the population, a Black in Canada <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blackincanada.com\/2015\/08\/09\/black-business-survey-results\/\" class=\"at ey fx fy fz ga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">survey<\/a> found only 2,000 black-owned businesses of significant scale. (It&#8217;s not just a Canadian problem. In 2018, a <a href=\"https:\/\/ratemyinvestor.com\/diversity_report\" class=\"at ey fx fy fz ga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">U.S. study<\/a> found just 1% of venture-backed founders were black.)<\/p>\n<p>For Black History Month, RBC Disruptors talked to two entrepreneurs who are trying to do something about it. In 2018, Isaac Olowalafe Jr., a Toronto real estate investor, and Abdullah Snobar, executive director of Ryerson University&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/dmz.ryerson.ca\/\">DMZ<\/a> start-up zone, launched the $1-million <a href=\"https:\/\/dmz.ryerson.ca\/bif\/\">Black Innovation Fellowship<\/a> to provide entrepreneurs with access to networks, seed capital and business partners like <a href=\"https:\/\/thoughtleadership.rbc.com\/stories-moment-became-entrepreneur-tobi-lutke\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-dig-id=\"TNL_021\" data-dig-category=\"TNL Innovation\" data-dig-action=\"mid-funnel click\" data-dig-label=\"shopify article dl-142238\">Shopify<\/a>. Snobar stressed one word: \u201caccess.&#8221; According to the Black in Canada survey, black entrepreneurs say their biggest challenges are marketing (51%), networking and learning opportunities (51%) and finance (48%). Olowalafe says the tech sector is perhaps the best opportunity, given its rapid growth and concentration in cities like Toronto. \u201cRyerson is known for tech and diversity,&#8221; he told us. \u201cHow do we bring the two together?&#8221;<\/p><p>The opportunity for the country is enormous. While close to a quarter of Canadians identify as visible minorities, only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ic.gc.ca\/eic\/site\/061.nsf\/eng\/03087.html\" class=\"at ey fx fy fz ga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">one in eight<\/a> small and medium-sized businesses is owned by one. Across every sector, role models are key. As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/toronto\/canadian-black-chamber-commerce-1.5113473\" class=\"at ey fx fy fz ga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">Lola Adeyemi<\/a>, a Nigerian-born, Toronto-based food entrepreneur, found, \u201cOne of the struggles when I started the business was having somebody who looked like me, has been through the same struggles as an immigrant like me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\u00a0\n<style class=\"advgb-styles-renderer\">@media (min-width:782px){#tl-fpb-1 .tl-featured-post-banner__gradient{background:linear-gradient(135deg, #070707, #00356300 100%);opacity:1;}}@media (max-width:781px){#tl-fpb-1{background-image:url(https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2026\/06\/Banner-wide-29-scaled-1.jpg?quality=80&w=4096)!important;background-position:50% 50%!important;background-size:cover!important;min-height:400px!important;}#tl-fpb-1 .tl-featured-post-banner__gradient{background:linear-gradient(45deg, #070707, #00356300 100%);opacity:1;}}<\/style>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet two Torontonians who are working to ensure black entrepreneurs have access to more opportunities in Toronto&#8217;s thriving tech sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":2146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"disable_focal_point":true,"featured_image_focal_point":{"x":0.5,"y":0.5},"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"rbc_tl_platform":[131],"rbc_tl_newsletter":[],"rbc_tl_content_type":[132],"rbc_tl_author":[],"class_list":["post-1130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-technology-and-innovation","rbc_tl_platform-disruptors","rbc_tl_content_type-podcast"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Are There so Few Black Entrepreneurs in Canadian Tech? 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