http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/articles/ en ejanssen@ivey.uwo.ca Copyright 2012 2012-05-15T15:31:47+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/ivey_entrepreneurs_index_shows_entrepreneurs_confidence_in_the_economy/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/ivey_entrepreneurs_index_shows_entrepreneurs_confidence_in_the_economy/#When:15:31:47Z LONDON, ON, May 15th, 2012 – The Ivey Entrepreneurs Index found 84% of those surveyed are planning to expand their workforce over the next 12 months, showing steady optimism about their business.  The survey demonstrates a healthy increase in confidence in the Canadian economy from the previous survey in Fall 2011 with 78% feeling the economy will grow, up from 65%.LONDON, ON, May 15th, 2012 – The Ivey Entrepreneurs Index found 84% of those surveyed are planning to expand their workforce over the next 12 months, showing steady optimism about their business.  The survey demonstrates a healthy increase in confidence in the Canadian economy from the previous survey in Fall 2011 with 78% feeling the economy will grow, up from 65%. The index found 91% of entrepreneurs expect their revenues to grow, and 88% believe their profits will also grow over the period of the next 12 months.  However, there was a decline in the number of entrepreneurs who expected to seek external capital.  For more on the Ivey Entrepreneurs Index, please click here. 2012-05-15T15:31:47+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/finding_your_replacement/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/finding_your_replacement/#When:14:01:25Z May 11, 2012By: Deborah BacalThe Toronto Star Entrepreneurs dedicate their lives to building businesses, but rarely give enough consideration to their legacy. Now, as baby boomers begin to retire, many business owners are starting to see their mistake. And those running family-run businesses are realizing they need to plan ahead to ensure a smooth transition for the next generation. May 11, 2012 By: Deborah Bacal The Toronto Star Entrepreneurs dedicate their lives to building businesses, but rarely give enough consideration to their legacy. Now, as baby boomers begin to retire, many business owners are starting to see their mistake. And those running family-run businesses are realizing they need to plan ahead to ensure a smooth transition for the next generation.According to a new survey from the Washington-based National Association of Corporate Directors, only 23 percent of private companies have formal succession plans in place, while 25 percent have no succession plans whatsoever.“The most common problem businesses face is a potential buyer that looks at the leader’s leave as a potential risk,” says Peter Corbiere, senior partner at BDC Consulting. Preventing this requires early planning. This helps owners take an objective look at their company’s future leadership needs, preventing last minute decisions. This is especially critical when businesses are family-run. “I think most of the businesses I have encountered seem to converge around the notion that genetics is not the best way to choose a company’s next leader,” says Stewart Thornhill, associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Richard Ivey School of Business. For more on this article, please click here. 2012-05-14T14:01:25+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/the_race_to_enter_world_markets_is_on/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/the_race_to_enter_world_markets_is_on/#When:15:41:49Z April 10, 2012By: Eric LamThe Financial Post Expand into international markets or die.It’s a maxim small business owners in Canada have been hearing for a while now, but a new survey on global growth conducted by the Financial Post in partnership with Ernst & Young suggests entrepreneurs are finally getting the message — or at least they think their competitors are.April 10, 2012By: Eric LamThe Financial Post Expand into international markets or die. It’s a maxim small business owners in Canada have been hearing for a while now, but a new survey on global growth conducted by the Financial Post in partnership with Ernst & Young suggests entrepreneurs are finally getting the message — or at least they think their competitors are. While businesses surveyed cited many popular reasons for looking abroad for new opportunities, such as new potential customer bases and increased revenue, a whopping 69% said their competitors had already expanded internationally, while another 17% said they were working on it. As well, 60% said they were concerned about missing out on significant opportunities for growth if they do not make the jump into international waters.Related“It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Brian Anderson, an assistant professor in the entrepreneurship group at the Richard Ivey School of Business. “If I believe my customers and competitors are doing it I will end up going global, too.” For more on this article, please click here. 2012-04-10T15:41:49+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/moving_beyond_thatll_never_work/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/moving_beyond_thatll_never_work/#When:13:08:10Z March 27, 2012By: Stewart ThornhillExecutive Director, Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship Like the old adage “success breeds success”, there is much to learn from the experiences of successful Canadian entrepreneurs, particularly those who never gave up and pushed beyond when they were told their ideas wouldn’t make it. Their confidence and perseverance is inspiring. That’s the premise behind the new book, That’ll Never Work: Business Lessons From Successful Entrepreneurs , compiled by KPMG Enterprise™.March 27, 2012By: Stewart ThornhillExecutive Director, Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship Like the old adage “success breeds success”, there is much to learn from the experiences of successful Canadian entrepreneurs, particularly those who never gave up and pushed beyond when they were told their ideas wouldn’t make it. Their confidence and perseverance is inspiring. That’s the premise behind the new book, That’ll Never Work: Business Lessons From Successful Entrepreneurs , compiled by KPMG Enterprise™. Published by Portfolio Penguin and released on March 6, the book profiles 19 entrepreneurs who beat the odds and built successful businesses despite the doubters around them. By sharing insights and advice, their stories are hoped to help other entrepreneurs to tap opportunities. On March 29, I’ll be interviewing some of the entrepreneurs profiled in That’ll Never Work during a panel discussion on entrepreneurship to glean additional insights from their experiences. The event is part of the Ivey Idea Forum, a series of interactive presentations to explore new ideas, perspectives and solutions for evolving business issues with thought-provoking leaders, writers and academics, and will run from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Ivey’s ING DIRECT Leadership Centre. Our guests will include: • Tracey Clark, the Ottawa-based founder of the fair trade coffeehouse chain Bridgehead Coffee, whose business chain was born from a mail-order coffee company and weaves into it a thread of social responsibility; • Gayle Robin, a founding partner of StrategicAmpersand Inc., who was the brainchild behind the company specializing in the technology industry, which was a factor in its success;• Turtle Island Recycling Co-Founders Louis Anagnostakos and Ted Manziaris, who truly know the meaning of bootstrapping and started their business with Manziaris’ family station wagon and a 10-foot by 10-foot room to collect garbage throughout Toronto. Their stories are beyond just inspiring, they’re actual proof that you can make it as an entrepreneur with the right expertise on execution, leadership, competitive strategy and innovation. Below is a sampling of their advice and I hope you’ll join us on March 29 to hear more about their stories and the factors behind their success. Full details can be found at Ivey Idea Forum: That’ll Never Work. KPMG Enterprise™ is also looking for entrepreneurs and business owners with an interesting “That’ll Never Work” story to share it at http://www.thatllneverwork.ca/ for consideration for the next edition of the book.Advice from the entrepreneurs from That’ll Never Work*From Chapter 1, COMMUNITY IN THE CUP, Tracey Clark, Bridgehead Coffee The best advice I can give to people who may be starting out in business is to have perseverance. You need to feed the business before you feed yourself. Have a very strong, clear picture of what it is you want to achieve and continue to build on it. Sometimes you have to be a bit “blind” in business. In retrospect, if I knew how much work would be involved, I may not have taken on the challenge of opening Bridgehead, especially when others were telling me it wouldn’t work. I needed to put on my blinders in order to stay focused on my clear picture of where I wanted to be – determined and willing to take on the events at hand, like the closing of the Montreal store. To be successful in business, you need to stick to your decisions without regrets and be willing to ask for help when you need it. *From Chapter 7, TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AND THE ART OF TAKING CONTROL, Gayle Robin, StrategicAmpersand Inc.... you also need to keep a lens focused on the bottom line. You need information. You must have a financial infrastructure in place. We still do a P&L on every single project, including monthly financial statements, monthly cash flow forecasts, and monthly sales forecasts. We’re never surprised. We always know what our financial position is, and I think most small businesses don’t. This is a crucial mistake, because without this information you don’t know when you should reduce or increase your staff, reduce or increase your office space, reduce your expenses, reduce your salaries, reduce management salaries,  reduce your benefits improve your cash flow, reduce or increase your pricing, reduce or increase your profit margins, or renegotiate with your bank. You won’t have the power to do any of these things.  *From Chapter 11, FROM AN IDEA TO AN EMPIRE: THE LITTLE RECYCLING COMPANY THAT COULD, Louis Anagnostakos and Ted Manziaris, Turtle Island RecyclingLOUIS: I think the key to success is to always focus on your core competencies and on your customers. When someone cancels our service it’s the biggest wake-up call because it’s like getting a divorce. If this happens a lot, you’ve got problems. You have to quickly figure out what went wrong and try to improve. Sometimes it has happened because of a bad driver and sometimes because off a better price. Either way, it probably happened because we forgot about the customer. You really need to be on edge. If you’re on edge you’ll be okay because you will react swiftly. When people tell us it’s not working and they throw us out, we regroup and hit back fast.*From: That’ll Never Work by KPMG Enterprise™. Copyright © 2012 KPMG LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Group (Canada), a Division of Pearson Canada Inc. 2012-03-28T13:08:10+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/ivey_idea_garden/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/ivey_idea_garden/#When:15:38:44Z March 22, 2012 On Friday March 10th, a group of Ivey entrepreneurs came together to network, share business ideas, and find potential co-founders at the first of many “Idea Garden” events.  Hosted at ING Network Orange in the heart of downtown Toronto, in partnership with Multiplicity Accelerator, The Pierre Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship sponsored a night of networking for Ivey entrepreneurs.March 22, 2012 On Friday March 10th, a group of Ivey entrepreneurs came together to network, share business ideas, and find potential co-founders at the first of many “Idea Garden” events.  Hosted at ING Network Orange in the heart of downtown Toronto, in partnership with Multiplicity Accelerator, The Pierre Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship sponsored a night of networking for Ivey entrepreneurs. “The event was a great success, said Eric Janssen, a Director at Multiplicity Accelerator.  “We kept it informal, and simply provided a group of Ivey entrepreneurs the opportunity to see what interesting projects they were working on, and discuss opportunities to work together in the future.” Attendees had the opportunity to introduce themselves to the group, speak briefly about their project(s)/company, and of course enjoy food and drinks with their fellow alumni.  This will be the first of many upcoming events hosted in partnership with Multiplicity, who hopes to hold these events quarterly. For more information about the “Idea Garden”, or on Multiplicity Accelerator, please contact Sarah Buck About Multiplicity Accelerator -www.multiplicityaccelerator.comMultiplicity is a sales-focused business accelerator and co-working ecosystem, based in the heart of downtown Toronto.  By connecting entrepreneurs with startup experts who help to solve strategy and execution-related problems, Multiplicity accelerates the growth of early-stage technology businesses focused on software, internet, and digital media. 2012-03-22T15:38:44+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/its_person_not_business_crowd_told/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/its_person_not_business_crowd_told/#When:15:54:50Z February 10, 2012By: London Free Press Building partnerships and establishing clearly defined roles within a business are keys to making family businesses prosper, one of the country’s top business leaders told a London audience Thursday.  It’s personal, not business, crowd told Building partnerships and establishing clearly defined roles within a business are keys to making family businesses prosper, one of the country’s top business leaders told a London audience Thursday. Geoff Beattie, president of Woodbridge Company Ltd. a private holding company for the Thompson family, has been firsthand the partnerships forged between members of the Thomson family, and how those bonds helped build an empire valued at $25 billion. For more on this article, click here.   Ivey Entrepreneurs in the News 2012-02-13T15:54:50+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/bob_dhillon_of_mainstreet_equity_corp/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/bob_dhillon_of_mainstreet_equity_corp/#When:14:28:17Z January 17th, 2012By: AlbertaVenture.com Bob Dhillon of Mainstreet Equity Corp talks IFSR accounting, real estate development and condo-mania.An immigrant and graduate from the Richard Ivey School of Business takes on the recession and racism, and succeeds in Alberta’s residential real estate rental market.Bob Dhillon may have an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, but he’s an old-fashioned entrepreneur in the truest sense of the term. He started selling real estate out of the back of his car, and has since grown that business into a multimillion-dollar company that’s publicly traded on the TSX. Today, Mainstreet Equity Corp. is one of the dominant players in Alberta’s residential real estate rental market, and it also owns properties in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario. For more on this article, please click here. 2012-01-17T14:28:17+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/kevin_oleary_shares_cold_hard_truth_on_student_business_ideas/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/kevin_oleary_shares_cold_hard_truth_on_student_business_ideas/#When:19:21:31Z November 24, 2011By Ivey Public Affairs Seasoned investor Kevin O’Leary told three Ivey students how to set their business ideas in motion during a visit to Western as part of his Cold Hard Truth book tour.Seasoned investor Kevin O’Leary told three Ivey students how to set their business ideas in motion during a visit to Western yesterday as part of his Cold Hard Truth book tour. HBA student Mallorie Brodie and MBA students David Mravyan and Allyson Tighe won a pitch competition organized by Ivey’s entrepreneurship clubs last week for the chance to face O’Leary, MBA ’80, who is a judge on the hit CBC TV show Dragons’  Den.  Mravyan and Tighe heard encouraging feedback from O’Leary on their idea for a hospital bed sensor mat to detect pressure ulcer formation in patients, which is a costly health-care problem.  O’Leary urged them to try out for a spot on Dragons’ Den for a chance to win funding for their idea. On the other hand,  Brodie – who has already launched the online student art gallery, Start Gallery – was told to gather more information on the cost to acquire customers. Click here to read more. Ivey Entrepreneurs in the News 2011-11-24T19:21:31+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/serial_entrepreneurs_how_to_find_the_next_great_idea/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/serial_entrepreneurs_how_to_find_the_next_great_idea/#When:19:13:16Z November 21, 2011 Globe and Mail interviews Ron Close about the keys to finding ideas for the next great business solution.When the sale of his technology company, SupplierMarket, required him to move from New York to San Francisco in 2000, Reza Satchu became very familiar with self-storage facilities.Back in Toronto to visit his parents, he was struck while driving on the 401 by how many self-storage facilities were located along the highway.“I thought, ‘Why is it that these facilities exist along the 401? It’s not necessarily where people live, it’s not where the customers are, but yet, they’re all there,’“ he recalls.“I thought, ‘Why is it that people who live in [the neighbourhood of]  Leaside have to drive all the way up to the 401 to store their stuff,  especially when 70 per cent of the people making these storage decisions are women, and they don’t necessarily want to go into a darkly lit area in the middle of nowhere?’“ For more on the Globe and Mail article, please click here. 2011-11-21T19:13:16+00:00 http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/pitch_of_a_lifetime_for_selected_ivey_business_students1/ http://www.iveyentrepreneur.ca/index.php/site/pitch_of_a_lifetime_for_selected_ivey_business_students1/#When:15:44:55Z November 21, 2011 Every great business idea needs financial backing to succeed. Representatives from Ivey’s HBA and MBA Entrepreneurship Clubs will be placed on the hot seat in front of Kevin O’Leary.Every great business idea needs financial backing to succeed. Representatives from Ivey’s HBA and MBA Entrepreneurship Clubs will be placed on the hot seat in front of Kevin O’Leary, host of CBC’s hit television show Dragons’ Den, to present their unique business ideas.  HBA student Mallorie Brodie and MBA students David Mravyan and Allyson Tighe won an entrepreneurship competition against their peers allowing them the opportunity to experience a real-life pitch session with a seasoned investment expert. Mr. O’Leary will critique their presentations and offer advice for future success. For more on this event, please click here. 2011-11-21T15:44:55+00:00