By the end of November, the Beauce School of Entrepreneurship will announce a new project to encourage young people to go into business. “I can’t say too much,” says Isabelle Le Ber, general director of the establishment, for whom the reality is less dark than the news. Interview.
A recent study by the Business Development Bank of Canada revealed that entrepreneurship is in decline in the country. Is this a reality that you have observed?
No, but my reality is completely different because the entrepreneurs are here. I am surrounded by entrepreneurs on a daily basis, and we have been launching four cohorts of entrepreneurs per year for 13 years. Until this fall, it was growing, in the sense that at the start of the School we had cohorts of 20-22 entrepreneurs and last year, we accepted 25-27-30 per cohort.
This fall, in the last few weeks, we felt the slowdown, but not in relation to this study, in relation to the economic situation. The economic context means that banks and entrepreneurs are more cautious at the moment.
That said, the statistics are there, we know that there is a decline in established entrepreneurs. We see a lot of buyers. There are increases in buyers in Quebec. And of all ages. I have professionals who have worked their whole lives for an employer and who decide to buy a business. I also see young people who acquire one, two or three businesses. This is the environment in which we swim, so perhaps I have a biased view of what is happening. Maybe I will see the decline in the coming years. You have to keep it in mind for the future, but currently, I can’t say that I feel it.
So you don’t see that there are fewer new businesses being launched?
Here, we have few start-ups, we do a lot more business with established companies. The Elite program is a program that is close to $70,000 – we are at $67,000 – and Émergence is close to $30,000, so it takes a certain amount of income to afford that. I don’t see the business in less than five years in our country. I’m like the opposite of what you read in the newspapers. Here we see the initiatives of entrepreneurs. These are people who really want to change, to find solutions… I can’t wait for us to encourage entrepreneurs. I have the impression that what we are covering is very dark.
Do you believe entrepreneurship should be more valued?
Good yes ! Valued, supported, encouraged. They are the driving forces of our society, the entrepreneurs. They pay taxes, they provide jobs. In all humanitarian disasters, there are entrepreneurs who have pitched in, not to mention all the philanthropic projects. It takes patrons to finance great social projects. And that’s what we need to encourage.
When you read the newspapers and watch the news, it’s discouraging. What we should say is how we make the job of entrepreneurs easier. There are many partners in the ecosystem who are mobilizing to help the current situation. I have great confidence in what is to come. We must support them and we must encourage this at all levels of society.
