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Canadians like to think of themselves as great collaborators. The label Team Canada is used both within diplomatic circles and as a sports metaphor to describe our national character as collegial competitors. But in the realm of business and enterprise, Team Canada falls short.
Canadian entrepreneurs not only face challenges with regards to complex and bureaucratic red tape, absence of adequate risk capital and an overly complex enterprise support landscape, but the resolve of Canadian entrepreneurs is further challenged by the deficiency of an ‘entrepreneurial culture’, which has led to calls for policies and programs to address this culture-gap.
For entrepreneurs within Canada’s manufacturing sector, the pace of technological change, global competition, the strength of the Canadian dollar, early retirements, difficulties attracting young workers and changing skills requirements, further compounds these challenges. All of this points to the importance of organizations — like key players on Team Canada — that work at the nexus of industry, education and government to actively re-engineer the Canadian manufacturing sector as one that embraces innovation and collaboration and which contributes to the development of a wider entrepreneurial culture.
Discussions and discourse around re-engineering the Canadian manufacturing sector tend to have, at their core, the issue of culture. How do we create a culture that embraces and supports the development of the industry in a way which the objectives and actions of all sectors move forward together? G20 countries across the world are grappling with this challenge, looking to entrepreneurship and innovation as the solution.
In an entrepreneurial country, young people are aware of entrepreneurship as a viable career option and consider working for a small business to be as desirable as working for major multinationals. Entrepreneurs and small business owners are celebrated as heroes and nation builders, pioneers and change-makers who are making an impact in growing their communities and economy, and opening up new markets. Small business owners leverage technology, innovation, global markets and e-commerce platforms to scale and grow their businesses. And, industry and academic institutions seamlessly commercialize innovations, bringing new services and products to market, and work together to ensure that new graduates have the knowledge and skills required by industry.
With the vision of building a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem, fostering a more entrepreneurial culture and creating a strong Canadian brand for entrepreneurs at home and abroad, Startup Canada, a grassroots, entrepreneur-led initiative set to launch in early 2012, has been focusing on the underlying conditions for growth through fostering understandings, cooperation and celebrating Canadian entrepreneurs from all sectors.
In line with OECD best practice, Startup Canada will work to increase awareness of entrepreneurial opportunities; intensify enterprise education and awareness campaigns; showcase identifiable role models and champions; promote the importance of mentorship and the availability of incentives and support for business succession; and, seek to enhance entrepreneurship within existing small businesses. In doing so, Startup Canada is working with more than 150 enterprise support organizations and business associations, as well as with government, media, education and the private sector, to advance Canadian entrepreneurship across all industries.
Although re-engineering culture is only one component of what is needed to re-engineer Canada’s manufacturing sector, it stands to be one of the most important and can only be achieved through collegial collaboration between all sectors.
