Fast facts about business start-ups in Canada

• One hundred and thirty nine thousand new businesses start up every year.
• Failure rates for small businesses in Canada are high for the first three years and decline over time.
• Seventy per cent of small businesses that enter the marketplace survive for one full year; half survive for three years.
• Twenty five per cent of small businesses are still operating after nine years.
• The top three reasons people start a business are – to leave the corporate rat race, to make a living after graduating or immigrating to Canada, to make a living between jobs or to start a business over 55.
• Entrepreneurs get their ideas by copying or modifying an existing idea, building a business from their hobby, experiencing an "a-ha" moment, being inspired by someone else's experience or market research.
• Ideas for new businesses are borne out of an untapped market, an invention, the desire to improve on an existing idea, changes in technology and changes in social trends (i.e. environmentalism).

Source: Staples Business Depot.
www.newscanada.com