Webinar: Employee & Community-based Ownership Succession and Buy-outs
October 14, 1 pm ET
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, business succession was a growing challenge due to Canada’s aging population. A 2018 study of small and medium-sized enterprises found that nearly 50% of owners intended to exit their business within the next five years. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only intensified those pressures.
Small businesses are the heart and soul of many communities and neighbourhoods. Wide-spread closures due to gaps in succession planning could be devastating for many cities, towns, and villages across Canada. Social enterprise and co-operative models are proven to be better adapted to challenging market conditions and more resilient in times of economic downturn. Small business closures could in many cases be addressed by employee or community buyouts, thus preserving jobs and services as well as the life-blood of the community.
Why isn’t everyone doing this? There are many barriers to employee and community-based succession, including policy barriers as well as a lack of awareness that these models exist.
Join us on October 14 to learn more about this issue and hear from the people advocating for policy change and from some folks who have made employee and community-based succession a reality!
Speakers:
- Wunmi Akinlosotu, Founder and CEO, Blooming Ladies
- Victor Beausoleil, Founder and Executive Director, Social Economy Through Social Inclusion
- Russ Christianson, Co-Chair, Canadian Worker Co-op Federation’s Business Succession Committee
- Marc Henrie, Directeur général, CDR-Acadie
- Sarah Leeson-Klym, Regional Networks Director, Canadian Community Economic Development Network
- Taylor Sekhon, Director – Strategy and Investments, Social Capital Partners
- Marcelo Vieta – Researcher, Coop Convert
- Moderator: Raissa Marks, Government Relations Director, Canadian Community Economic Development Network
More information is available here.