Aurora Business Leadership Project

This report offers important insights for stakeholders involved in business development. This research establishes that entrepreneurs starting a business are advantaged by also planning and organizing for their enterprise’s growth over the long term. This study shows that business advisors and coaches need to inform their clients of the importance of ongoing risk assessments both prior to and after launching a business. It also suggests that governments need to have employment and industry sector data updated regularly to aid entrepreneurs in their business planning and operations.

This report presents the findings of Rural Development Institute’s research project focused on the Aurora Business Leadership Program (ABLP) – a business development tool delivered to immigrants in the Brandon area. This report identifies the success rates of start-up businesses in Canada and concepts of successful business start-ups. These findings establish benchmarks for measuring the success and growth of enterprises owned or operated by Canadians and immigrants. Both dimensions of success may help inform government agencies, chambers of commerce and policy analysts as well as investors and business advisors helping start-ups, and entrepreneurs themselves in their planning for business development in rural regions.This research involved two literature scans conducted in 2019.

The first scan identified a number of Statistics Canada studies, which applied differing criteria of SME success, including SME survival, positive employment growth, contribution to exports, and contribution to GDP. Two references were particularly relevant for this project. Ostrovsky and Picot (2018) compared survival rates for Canadian- and immigrant-owned SMEs from 2003 to 2009. The rates started similarly at ~88% after year 1 but declined to 58% for Canadian-born and 56% immigrant-owned SMEs after seven years.

For more information about this project, contact:

Gary McNeely, 204-727-7300, mcneelyg@brandonu.ca

William AshtonDirector, 204-571-8513, ashtonw@brandonu.ca

Read more about this project: