An article in Saturday’s Toronto Star caught my eye. It talks about the rising numbers of self-employed Canadians in the last 12 months. 

Whether by necessity or desire, self-employment is becoming more popular.  This is good news; Canada needs more entrepreneurs. And if you read Avvey’s post titled “Buck the Trend”, many agree recession or no, it’s a good time to start a business.  Maybe it’s because we’re hungry. Or we’re developing our talent to recognize and capitalize on opportunity. Or because Canada has made it easy to start a business. (We tie for first with Australia and New Zealand according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009). All of these are reasons why Communitech is obsessed with entrepreneurship — we host a huge celebration of entrepreneurship every fall with Entrepreneur Week.

Whatever the case, the statistics and the how-to-succeed tips in the article give a much-deserved nod to the entrepreneurs who play and will play such a key role in our economy. These firms may start small, but over 1.3 million of the start-ups cited in the article employ other people. Jobs are good. Economic momentum is good. So instead of looking at your neighbour, friend or daughter with horror when she tells you she’s going to start a business during a recession… read the article, pass it on, then applaud. 

- Iain