Let’s show our small businesses some love. They deserve it.
As I’ve said here before, Canada’s small business owners take the risks and provide the imagination, the capital and the energy that drives the economy, jobs and wealth in Canada.
Last Valentine’s, I thanked the spouses who stand alongside or behind us in our businesses.
This year, I’m taking a page from the American Small Business Administration (SBA) and their Top 10 Reasons SBA is Sweet on Small Business.
Here are my top seven statistical reasons to love Canada’s small businesses. (Why seven, not 10? We don’t collect as much data on them here.)
Small but mighty
1. Small businesses are just down the street or block where we live and/or work—close to 1.2 million locations in 2011.
2. Three out of four small business owners started their business from scratch.
3. Between 2002 and 2008, about 100,000 new small businesses, on average, were created in Canada each year.
4. Small businesses accounted for some 43 per cent of all jobs created in the private sector from 2001 to 2011.
5. Small businesses employed some 48 per cent of private sector workers in 2011, or some 5.1 million employees across Canada.
6. Small businesses represented some 42 per cent of economic output produced in the private sector in recent years.
7. Small businesses contributed $68 billion, 25 per cent of the value of all exports in 2009.
Impressive numbers, aren’t they!
Are there any others you would like to add?
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