There is a lot of energy and public money being put into helping entrepreneurs get started in business. Innovation hubs like MaRS in Toronto and Communitech in Waterloo are focused on helping young entrepreneurs take their great ideas to market with courses, mentoring programs, and financing assistance. The universities are all about incubating start-ups that will build businesses based on the amazing research that is happening in their labs. But what happens after these companies are successfully launched? Where do they want to take their new enterprises?
A blue ribbon business panel at a recent event at the Munk School of Global Affairs answered this question in a very disturbing way. They suggested that the ambition of most young entrepreneurs in Canada is somewhat limited and self-serving. Their goal is to get their companies to a point where they can be sold to another larger enterprise. Very few dream of scaling up their business to anchor a town or a community (like Blackberry did) or think about making a global success of their business over the long term. The collective long term result of this desire to sell at the earliest opportunity is the loss of control of our economic well-being in Canada. Once that promising business has been bought out, the purchaser is now pulling the levers of our economy – they can chose to close the company, move the jobs somewhere cheaper, or squash the threatening innovation. Surely we can expect more from the entrepreneurs who we supported with taxpayer dollars through their start-up.
How do we support the building of sustainable Canadian companies which can compete in the global economy, are known for being adept and imaginative in their approaches to their markets, and are also proud to be good corporate citizens at home?
May 5 is Startup Canada Day on the Hill in Ottawa. Entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders will come together for a dialogue to contribute recommendations to support startup and small business entrepreneurs and maybe some answers to the questions above.
