Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me.
I've always been an entrepreneur. I started my first business before I turned 18, and I'm now on my seventh. I've had my share of success, selling two companies that continue to operate. They created dozens of jobs. One of the companies did pandemic planning and provided relevant training. It even prepared a plan for the health department after the SARS outbreak. I've also experienced failure, losing millions of dollars.
Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of participating in a number of venture accelerators, including a program delivered by FounderFuel and the TECH program at the École d'Entrepreneurship de Beauce. I've also been part of a number of entrepreneurial groups. I consulted those stakeholders in preparing for my appearance here today in order to share with you the reality on the ground.
Last year, I started a new tech company. We are growing fast. After being in business for a few months, we've put nine people to work and placed orders with around 10 other companies. In 2019, we had $375,000 in revenues, just to give you an idea. This year, after just three months, we will hit $1.2 million if we're able to deliver on the contracts already signed and complete those sales.
We have two divisions. One is focused on professional services. Since we saw the crisis coming, we worked very hard to diversify our services and increase sales on that end. Consequently, our revenues have gone up every month. Our other division is product-based. We developed a technology for smart multi-dwelling buildings to minimize their environmental impact. In terms of research and development, the division is working on a solution to help seniors remain independent so that they can stay at home longer. The crisis has brought the division to a complete halt.
It was working on its first sale, the most significant for the entire company. We can't manufacture or install our equipment for clients. We have tens of thousands of dollars in inventory that we can't use up. We have to double our working capital because we were supposed to carry out the first phase, receive payment and, then, place orders in order to carry out the second phase. We have to do it all at the same time.
What's worse is that we can't make any sales. The seasonal nature of our meetings with industry clients has delayed product deployment by months. The technology was tailor-made for the export market. New York alone accounts for more than 10% of our North American market. The technology could make emerging from the crisis easier by making it possible for maintenance staff to work remotely.
An average sale of this technology represents hundreds of thousands of dollars. Our supply chain is wholly based in Quebec. We anticipate creating a dozen or so direct jobs within the next 18 months, not to mention indirect manufacturing jobs, if we are allowed to move forward with our activities. However, the wage subsidy program isn't accessible to us because our professional services division, which employs just three people, increased its billing. We aren't the only ones. A number of my colleagues are in the same boat: they have two divisions and aren't eligible for the subsidy.
In the technology sector, employees need such specialized skills that they can't usually move from one division to another, given how different the skills are. What's more, many of us start-ups don't qualify for the other programs, including the work-sharing measure or the Business Development Bank of Canada loans, because we haven't been around for two years.
According to the start-up barometer, more than 37% of start-ups don't qualify for the programs that were introduced. That amounts to thousands of businesses. We also have an experimental development tax credit of $150,000, but we haven't heard anything about it for months. The only measure we are eligible for is the $40,000 loan.
Our product division employs six people, and of those, we had to lay off two full-time employees and cut the hours of our part-time employees. We know that, after any recession, the introduction of computer systems and automation will carry on as the economy recovers. Our fear is that we will lose these employees and miss our window of opportunity.
In my humble opinion, the wage subsidy program announced but not yet in effect is corporate welfare, since it pays people to change nothing and penalizes them if they pivot their businesses with success. Any business that makes more than 70% will lose all the subsidy. It is counterproductive to economic recovery.
Programs don't work. They're not deploying capital effectively or efficiently. They are lengthy. In the last month, instead of working on pivoting their businesses, entrepreneurs have been working non-stop trying to understand, fit into and apply to all the different programs, with a lot of paperwork and much time wasted that could have been invested in growth, not to mention the mental health issues and incredible stress because we feel responsible for our employees' incomes.
What we need is a simple solution. It is beyond me why we haven't used the existing mechanisms, like our payroll remittances, GST reports and the direct deposit system with the CRA, and let everyone apply a 75% credit on their next payroll by themselves, a credit that would go down predictively every month to give us time and an incentive to pivot our businesses. Those who do not really need it would simply be taxed retroactively at the end of the year.
As a country, we must accept change. We have entered a new, low-touch economy for up to two years, and two years means that habits are going to stick. As a country, we must collectively accept this worst-case scenario and pivot toward it now.
Right now, the businesses that can help us the most toward a quick recovery and future growth, information technology and clean tech, are suffering the most because of their start-up or quick growth status. I often hear politicians talking about how they created jobs. This is not the reality. Small and medium businesses make the backbone of our economy, 90%. Entrepreneurs create the jobs.
The role of the government is to reduce uncertainty in the market. Right now, it's doing a terrible job. The plethora of programs, their inadequacies and loopholes are just creating more uncertainty over COVID-19.
The second simple measure for recovery that you should put in place immediately is a universal basic income. Right now, the $2,000-a-month program is also welfare. If you work, you're penalized. The solution is to reduce the risk for every Canadian to become an entrepreneur. This measure would also apply to start-up founders and solopreneurs. It would also cover gig workers. It would enable all of us to focus not on paperwork, nor on trying to fit into the system.
As entrepreneurs, we need fundamental government action now, and we need much more certainty about what we can work with in the upcoming years. What we want to focus on is what we do best, putting citizens back to work and growing our economy.
Thank you.