By Kevin Woodhouse
www.thesuburban.com
The backbone of any good economy is the strength of local medium and small businesses who can afford to expand personnel and upgrade services.
For many companies, innovation sometimes has to take a back seat to simply keeping the lights on, employees paid and ensuring the many, many taxes heaped onto small business owners are paid on time to avoid penalties.
As a way to encourage young entrepreneurs who are hoping to take their business to the next level, the BDC (Business Development Bank of Canada) is holding its annual contest for young business owners within the ages of 17 to 35.
“Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Canada compared to the rest of the world but performance differs within age groups,” said BDC Marketing senior vice-president Michel Bergeron. “We want to help those that have started and want to be successful to have a chance to take their company to the next level.”
Although the contest is targeted towards the country’s younger workforce, Bergeron told The Suburban that many new businesses are created by workers in the 50 plus range who “once had corporate jobs and are now starting their own business.”
His advice to people who create their own jobs is “to continuously invest in your business so that you don’t stagnate. Like an athlete who never stops training to improve, it is better to take the risk to grow than to stand still.”
Hopefuls have until March 15 to sign up for the chance to win $100,000 and non-profit groups can also apply at www.bdcyoungentrepreneuraward.ca.
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