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OTTAWA — Early exposure at home to the world of business is the single largest factor in driving young Canadians toward entrepreneurship, a new study suggests.
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Commissioned by Shift Canada, the Nanos Research poll found that 57% of young entrepreneurs who grew up around a family business felt comfortable taking financial and operational risks and were twice as likely to have had a parent who ran a business compared to those who didn’t.
“The earlier you are exposed to entrepreneurs — whether they are family members or members in your community … the more likely you are to consider pursuing entrepreneurship yourself,” said AJ Tibando, CEO of Shift Canada.
“That was a really important finding because it helped us better understand that while programs and support matter, it’s really that identity of being an entrepreneur that is shaped at an early age.”
Program uptake low, but money biggest obstacle
Shift Canada is a national charity focused on building an entrepreneurial culture among young Canadians by delivering educational programming that encourages risk-taking and normalizes failure.
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In the poll, 82% of those who took advantage of programs designed to support entrepreneurship said such initiatives were helpful — but only about 30% of young entrepreneurs as a whole said they’ve accessed them.
“We have in Canada a huge ecosystem of entrepreneurship programming that is available to young people,” Tibando said.
“I think it’s really vital seeing that number increase.”
Financial hurdles, however, remain the primary obstacle. Sixty-four per cent cited a lack of starting capital as the biggest barrier to starting a business, while 38% said the rise of AI makes launching a business feel like a riskier venture.
“There’s a lot of anxiety around AI broadly — not just with young people, but across the whole economy and labour market because there’s so many mixed messages about it,” she said.
“We’re in an age of uncertainty, whether it’s AI or trade or politics … the more that we can teach young people to recognize that they have the capacity to adapt to change, that they can take uncertainty and turn it into opportunity,” the better.
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