This is a challenge for young people. The way we come at it and where we see the issue being most prevalent is around succession planning. We know that many older business owners are nearing retirement and are looking for individuals to take over their businesses. Young people are well positioned to do that.
For example, we know of a young entrepreneur named Barb. She cleans airplanes for a living. She worked for the retiring entrepreneur and was a fantastic employee. The entrepreneur approached her and asked her to take over the business, but she had no money and no collateral. No one would loan her the money. She came to CYBF. We loaned her $10,000. This was enough for her to leverage to get more people on board and to give her some dollars to get started.
Now she is in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver and is looking to expand. She has a workforce of 36 employees. This is a young entrepreneur who is achieving her dreams and has used our succession program to help her do it.