Finding balance.

Canadian businesswomen are making some serious waves in today's economy. With women employing more people than Canada's largest corporations, it's no wonder. A 1998 Statistics Canada survey points out that since 1991 there has been a 46% increase in female-owned Canadian businesses. Women are choosing self-employment over corporate jobs for a number of reasons - the most popular of which are flexibility and balance. Flexibility to make your own hours and your own decisions, and the need to balance home and work, which self-employment can often accommodate.

Our cover story, "Making the Jump," puts the spotlight on five women entrepreneurs, who are succeeding in Canadian business on their terms. Find out what inspires them, why they have made the jump to entrepreneurship, the challenges they face, and how they define success. Success for many self-employed women means more than money; it's about achieving a balance between your work and personal life, without losing the sense of self-preservation and control that entrepreneurship can bring.

Women entrepreneurs face challenges many men who are self-employed do not. Some of those obstacles, however, are diminishing. According to Secretary of State Dr. Hedy Fry, the recently-released 2000 federal budget will significantly improve the lives of women, their children and their businesses. "The budget has built on past initiatives that are sensitive to the needs of

Canadian women," she adds. Since women start micro and small businesses at twice the rate of men, the 7% decrease in the small business tax rate will improve women's economic status by allowing them to play a greater role in the economic sector. Education initiatives, such as increasing the tax exemption for scholarships, fellowships and bursaries from $500 to $3,000, will also help to improve women's economic autonomy. And the doubling of employment insurance parental leave to one year will make the goal of finding and maintaining balance even more tangible for women and men.

Achieving symmetry is also the focus of "The Human Factor," which looks at the need for merging organizations to balance the cultural and human aspects of a merger with the financial, legal and technological aspects of the deal to improve the chance for successful integration. Many integrations fail to pay enough attention to the human factors, which can impact the financial figures. In a recent U.S. study on mergers and acquisitions, only 28% of the executives interviewed felt they had done a good job of assessing the cultures of the merging organziations before the deal, while 260% said they had put the right people in the right roles during the merger.

And finally, learn how to find personal balance by reading this month's Career Intelligence column. As business becomes more complex, the demands put on people by their work continue to grow, leaving employees feeling drained both mentally and physically. "Job Burnout" shows you how to regain inner harmony by providing tips on how to renew and refocus your energy, and rekindle your tired spirit.

Kristin Doucet

Editor