October marks Small Business Month in Canada. In recent years, Small Business Week, an initiative led by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), has scaled to unofficially become a month long celebration where entrepreneurs and small businesses are recognized for the important role they play in our economy and in our community.

We have some exciting content lined up for Small Business Month, and we will be tackling some of the most important topics for small businesses this year, including: Starting a Business, Digital Transformation, Managing Cash Flow, and Payroll. You will hear from local small business owners themselves, members of the team at Intuit QuickBooks, as well as guest experts and entrepreneurs. Stay tuned into our social channels for more information.

What Is Small Business Week?

41 years ago, the BDC organized its first Small Business Week as a local event in British Columbia’s Lower Fraser Valley, where BDC business centres pooled their resources to organize a week of activities for entrepreneurs. For two years the local events were so successful that in 1981 Small Business Week went national, with events across Canada. Small Business Week this year will be taking place October 17-23.

In recent years, close to 10,000 entrepreneurs gather to learn, network and celebrate the people building businesses across the country. This year in particular is special as it brings to light the resilience and adaptability of small business owners in Canada. You can read some of those stories of resilience here.

The Importance of Small Businesses in Canada

As of December 2018, 1.18 million (97.9%) of businesses in Canada were small businesses. In contrast 22,266 (1.9%) were medium-sized businesses and 3,010 (0.2%) were large enterprises. This fact alone underscores the importance of Canadian small businesses for our economy.

Intuit has long recognized the importance of small businesses and has ensured that its QuickBooks suite of tools is adapted to the daily realities of small business owners. To do this, Intuit has focused on simplifying complex tasks, personalizing the QuickBooks platform and keeping it open so that it seamlessly integrates other apps that small businesses use to run their business. Above all, we are focused on providing the tools small businesses need to continue to adapt and grow, as we look forward to rebuilding and recovering.

Sources:

https://www.bdc.ca/en/pages/home.aspx

https://www.bdc.ca/en/small-business-week/success-stories/pages/building-nation-entrepreneurs.aspx

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/eng/h_03114.html