Small Business Owners Retiring or Selling Business

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“Selling your business can be a complicated and confusing process for entrepreneurs. These projects will help teach business owners how to prepare for this transition so that it goes as smoothly as possible. Small business succession is vital to keep local small businesses healthy and viable which will ultimately protect jobs and strengthen communities across the province.”  Minister Naomi Yamamoto


Government supports next generation of small business owners

VICTORIA – Small business owners looking to retire or sell their businesses to the next generation can now smooth the transition with the help of two new government-funded programs.

Thompson Rivers University’s (TRU) Shift program, funded through the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Agreement (LMA), will create a step-by-step curriculum to simplify the process of small business succession. Consisting of six modules, the curriculum will cover topics such as business valuation, preparing for ownership, knowledge transfer and human-resource issues.

The full curriculum will be made available to small business owners and prospective owners free of charge this fall, and can be accessed through a workbook format or online through TRU’s website.

The Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training is also working with Community Futures British Columbia to offer training workshops to small business owners throughout the province on strategies for small business succession.

The Business Owner Succession Strategies (BOSS) program will be delivered on the ground by Venture Connect Inc. and will include:

• 30 regional business succession planning training workshops;
• 22 regional business succession presentation sessions to local business sector representatives;
• 20 regional train-the-trainer business succession planning workshops to train regional staff to deliver future training sessions in their communities; and
• The development of an electronic train-the-trainer practical training handbook for regional trainers to use for future training workshops.

These projects fulfil a BC Small Business Accord action item, a government commitment to implement a mobile trainer program to support small businesses, and a BC Small Business Roundtable 2013 Annual Report recommendation to educate small business owners on the importance of succession planning.

To find out more about the small business succession planning workshops and presentations, please visit: www.ventureconnect.ca