National Action Plan addresses urgent needs of Canadian entrepreneurs
OTTAWA – November 27, 2012 – Startup Canada(www.startupcan.ca), a grassroots non-profit network committed to promoting a vibrant entrepreneurial culture, today unveiled a three-part national Action Plan to drive economic development, job creation and innovation from coast to coast.
The plan is intended to make Canada one of the world’s top entrepreneurial economies, in which job creation and economic growth spring from innovative entrepreneurs powered by supportive local communities and financial networks.
The new action plan grew out of Startup Canada’s 2012 national tour, the most extensive consultation process ever carried out with Canada’s entrepreneurial community. The tour revealed a number of common challenges that must be addressed to create a more dynamic and successful startup environment across the country:
- Canada needs to re-discover its entrepreneurial roots and embrace entrepreneurship as central to its national culture.
- Canada needs to cultivate savvier and more visionary early-stage startups to produce more high-growth companies with global reach.
- Canadian entrepreneurship must be fuelled from the bottom up through development of vibrant local entrepreneurial communities, led by entrepreneurs (not by bureaucrats or not-for-profits, as is often the case today), as the basis of a national entrepreneurship network.
“We need to act with urgency,” said Adam Chowaniec, Chairman of Startup Canada. “These problems and some solutions have been discussed for decades, but we are running out of time. The world is changing and competition is growing. We must take decisive action now to effect a substantial culture shift in how we regard and support new ventures in this country, ventures that can grow into global players.”
“Entrepreneurs are critical drivers of Canada’s future prosperity,” said Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District. “Startup Canada’s engagement and celebration of entrepreneurs over the past year has highlighted the incredible momentum and capacity of this movement across the country. The work ahead is to build a new generation of Canadian businesses that can scale and succeed in increasingly competitive global markets. This needs to be a national team effort!”
Startup Canada’s Action Plan comprises three national initiatives that will be financed through sponsorship dollars and a crowd-funding campaign targeting entrepreneurial Canadians from coast to coast:
Startup Canada Connect: A free, highly social online meeting place that will connect and support Canadian entrepreneurs with the tools and resources needed to build more successful businesses.
Startup Canada Communities: A national entrepreneurial strategy must be founded on vibrant local communities led by existing entrepreneurial champions. Building on the network created through its 40-city national tour, Startup Canada will encourage development of strong local networks that will create the conditions for entrepreneurial growth and success locally and nationally.
Startup Canada Campaign: Entrepreneurs across the country have told Startup Canada they need more role models – more access to stories of successful Canadian innovators and entrepreneurs. Startup Canada will lever mainstream media, social media and key national institutions to tell and celebrate the stories of Canadian entrepreneurs, providing authentic case studies to inspire and motivate new generations of startups.
“Startup Canada’s planning phase has received unprecedented support from entrepreneurs, sponsors and business-development organizations across the country,” said CEO Victoria Lennox. “We intend to sustain this momentum and create a stronger entrepreneurial economy, to create better jobs and increased prosperity for all Canadians.”
To learn more about Startup Canada’s Action Plan, please visitwww.startupblueprints.ca.
Key Resources:
- National Tour Video
- Official Blueprints Photos
- Link to Official Media Area
- Official Blueprint Videos
- Startup Canada Tour Info-graphic
