Of the more than 1.1 million businesses currently operating in Canada, 98.2% of those have fewer than 100 employees, according to information released by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) in celebration of BDC Small Business Week (October 20-26, 2013).
The BDC said that one in 10 Canadians owns a business. Men are twice as likely to start businesses than women, and immigrants are twice as likely than non-immigrants.
The top five industries attracting new entrepreneurs, said BDC, are:
- business services (17.1%);
- wholesale and retail trade (13%);
- construction (11.3%);
- healthcare and social assistance (8.7%); and
- accommodation and food services (6.7%).
