Part of The Entrepreneurship Series presented by

Spotlight on Entrepreneurs Thinking Big

Published on
Read interviews with:
Minister Mary Ng
Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion - Ministry of Small Business and Export Promotion
George Rossolatos
CEO - Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF)
Elspeth Murray
Director - Centre for Business Venturing, Smith School of Business, Queen’s University
Wayne Pommen
President & CEO - PayBright

SMEs are the Canadian economy’s backbone. And growing the most robust, well-managed, growth-oriented businesses we can is crucial for Canada to achieve the economic performance and job creation we need to succeed in the future economy. But what challenges do SMEs face? What solutions are out there? This Spotlight explores these key topics and more.

Key Takeaways & Calls to Action:

  • While Canada’s SMEs are entrepreneurial and innovative, they still struggle to scale, in part due to access to capital, low exporting and a lack of skilled workers.
  • Supporting SME growth is crucial to the future of the Canadian economy. They drive more than half of our GDP, representing 99.7% of all registered businesses in Canada, and employing over 90% of our entire private sector labour force. Their expansion will lead to significant economic growth in Canada.
  • Key ingredients to scaling up are access to capital and talent pool. While Canada is getting better at providing scale-up capital, our talent pool is lacking. We need scale-up specialists who have the know-how to grow a company from $10 million to $1 billion.
  • Canadian management teams and investors need to develop the mindset of thinking big and about how to win outside Canada – not just in Canada.
Read the experts’ full interviews:
The Minister Minister Mary Ng Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion - Ministry of Small Business and Export Promotion "Many small business owners report that accessing capital, finding skilled workers and dealing with red tape still remain a challenge."
The Investor George Rossolatos CEO - Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF) "There is a clear gap in the growth capital market; a scarcity of patient, long term, minority capital. CBGF wants to fill that void."
The Academic Elspeth Murray Director - Centre for Business Venturing, Smith School of Business, Queen’s University "The challenge is in scaling it up – there is a whole different set of risk-taking moves and capabilities associated with going from $10 million to a billion."
The SME Wayne Pommen President & CEO - PayBright "We would have more large international tech companies if more investors and management teams were willing to stay the course and try to fulfill their global potential."

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