The resilience, creativity and grit demonstrated by small business owners across Canada this holiday season is still fresh as 2025 begins. I had the opportunity to meet dozens of inspiring young entrepreneurs across Canada during Futurpreneur’s Holiday Shopping Tour, and shopped many more in our digital gift guide. Social media was filled with the typical annual messages encouraging Canadians to “shop local” – with extra urgency this year as the Canada Post strike disrupted delivery of online purchases.
Canadians take great pride in our 1.2 million small businesses, a rich array of enterprises representing different sectors and spanning every province and territory.
We owe you more than pride.
For small business owners to succeed, we need to show our pride through our support, with our wallets and our experience. This is what our Futurpreneur team strives to do, and my new year’s message to small businesses is a clarion call to the rest of Canada to support you in two important ways.
First, we can make buying from local Canadian businesses a year-round habit. The single best way to ensure that our favourite local chocolatier, bookstore, florist, restaurant, fitness trainer, yoga studio and more continue to thrive is to make them part of our daily lives by buying goods and services from them. We can do this in-person and on-line directly from their websites (searchable in Canadian marketplaces like shoplocal.futurpreneur.ca).
Second, experienced entrepreneurs and business owners can pay it forward through mentorship. Entrepreneurs who receive guidance from an experienced mentor increase their annual revenue by an average of 83% (source: Mentorcam). That’s why 89% of small business owners who don’t have a mentor wish that they did (source: Forbes).
Are you an experienced entrepreneur who would love to pay it forward by mentoring a new business owner but don’t know how or when to start? Futurpreneur is one of several organizations across Canada that makes it easy to be matched with entrepreneurs who would benefit from your experience and advice. January is National Mentoring Month – so the best time is now!
I realize that many of the small business owners reading this already shop local; you are some of your fellow entrepreneurs’ best customers. You already celebrate each other’s success and offer advice to help each other navigate bumps along the startup journey.
It’s time for the rest of us to follow your lead, helping small businesses succeed and fostering stronger and more sustainable local economies across Canada.
Karen Greve Young
CEO, Futurpreneur
Karen Greve Young is CEO of Futurpreneur, a national non-profit whose proven loan financing with mentorship model has supported the success of 18,700+ young entrepreneurs since 1996. Building on her global finance and strategy experience, Karen is an accomplished leader dedicated to fostering inclusive economic and social prosperity through new approaches and partnerships. Her pan-Canadian Futurpreneur team is proud of their work helping diverse, young entrepreneurs launch businesses that contribute to sustainable economic development in their communities and for Canada.
Karen previously worked at Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District and in San Francisco, New York and London, at organizations including Bain & Company, Gap Inc. and the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research. Karen serves as Chair of the Board of Ovarian Cancer Canada. She holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in Economics from Harvard University.
