The Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) Toronto, a group of 111 business leaders, who are the owner, founder or controlling shareholder of companies with revenues of at least $1 million+ annually, were recently asked a series of COVID specific questions on behalf of Canadian businesses.
Findings revealed that:
Entrepreneurs are not optimistic about COVID being a short-term business problem: Asked how long they believe their profitability will be impacted by the pandemic, 51% of entrepreneurs said one year. 18% said seven to 10 months and 18% said five to six months. Only 3% believe they will be profitable again in four months or less.
Banks may be dropping the ball with businesses during the pandemic: Only 11% of entrepreneurs said they think banks are doing enough for businesses during COVID. 44% said they are not doing enough, and 37% think they are ‘sort of’ doing enough.
Entrepreneurs are also not optimistic about hiring back employees soon: Asked when they believe they could hire back staff during the pandemic, 15% of entrepreneurs said one year, and the majority, 31% said five to six months. Shorter-term, few believe they will be able to hire back staff in two months (5%), three months (5%), or four months (5%.)
Less than a quarter of businesses believe they can survive for a year without government aid: Only 22% of Entrepreneurs think they could survive a year without government aid during the pandemic. Only 36% believe they could survive three months (18%) or four months (18%) and 3% said they could not survive as little as a month.
Entrepreneurs are showing confidence in Trudeau during COVID: A large majority of Canadian Entrepreneurs – 72% — are happy that Justin Trudeau is in charge during the COVID crisis. Only slightly more than a quarter, 28%, would prefer Andrew Scheer to be in charge. Surprisingly, no one (0%) would have preferred Elizabeth May or Jagmeet Singh at the helm during this difficult time.
Additionally, 55% of entrepreneurs say Trudeau is doing a good (37%) or excellent (18%) job during the crisis.
Many businesses have already applied for government aid: 88% of entrepreneurs said they have already applied for government aid during the COVID crisis.
“This simply isn’t a time for businesses to turn down a helping hand from the government or anyone else,” said Peter Demangos, EO president (Toronto Chapter) and president at PDF Financial Group.
“No one saw this coming or could prepare for the global financial devastation that we are seeing in small and medium-sized businesses in Canada and around the world. Clearly, we’re all in this together and we need to work together to keep lights on and our workers employed.”
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is a global, peer-to-peer network of more than 14,000+ influential business owners with 193 chapters in 60 countries.
