A Massive Opportunity for Canadian Entrepreneurs

Canada’s boomer generation is preparing to retire and to do so over 120,000 businesses will transition or be sold. Many of the founders will have to give up part or all of the company they have spent their lifetime building. Some will restructure to pass it on to their children or employees while others will put it on the block to the highest bidder. Whichever they choose it represents a big opportunity for the next generation to buy in to a well proven enterprise with solid assets and a proven workforce.

New businesses are high risk so it might be wiser to evolve an existing enterprise and because of the age of their owners in many instances these companies have not been highly leveraged and will not require a high multiple of net income to acquire.

However to succeed the new owner will need good advice to understand its real value and a clear vision of where it should evolve. Transition is the time when transparency and clear communication is most critical to keep customers and staff solidly on board and engaged.

Gary Collins believes integrity, passion and vision are the most critical elements needed to acquire and transition a company successfully. He  is a founding partner of 4 Growth, a merger acquisition and financing consulting company that specializes in the under 20 million in revenue segment and has a strong track record of transition success.

One of the biggest challenges he sees Canada facing is passing the torch to the next generation without disrupting the employee base or the customer base while injecting new ideas, processes and opportunities.