Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). The Pandemic continues to consume our lives whether we know it or not. Lingering impacts on your personal or business lives continue, remain, and will affect you across all sectors. 7% of Canadian Small and medium businesses have begun to develop exit strategies from their business within the next ten years. According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), over Two Trillion Dollars in business assets have become vulnerable due to the mass exodus of small businesses in Canada.
Most of these business people mention retirement (75%)as their main reason to exit their business. 22% wish to leave due to the stresses of business, while another 22% wish to take a step back from running and investing in their firms. 9% wish to transition their business to a different industry or business model. Banking institutions and law firms are busy assisting millions of business owners across North America and the Caribbean to plan business successions or business’ ultimate closure or sale. Finding an appropriate successor or buyer is difficult indeed. Over 43% of entrepreneurs find it challenging to measure the value of their business while 39% feel their enterprises are far too depend upon their owners for daily operations. The government of Canada passed Bill C-208 in 2021, allowing SMEs to sell their business shares to families, taking the exemption of lifetime capital gains of the earning of the sale.
Many enterprising business people would prefer to start up an enterprise instead of buying into an existing one. They can personalize their business and not walk into existing problems. CFIB has found that 49% of those who wish to leave their present establishment, wish to start a new business entirely. 50% of business owners make less revenue today than they did in 2021, with 64% still struggling with post-pandemic debt, and 77% continue to be pandemically anxious. The business has become a pressure cooker with fears the economy can stumble into a recession at any time.
Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
[email protected]
