(TORONTO, ON) Canada is entering one of the largest business ownership transitions in its history. Over the coming decade, more than three-quarters (76%) of small business owners plan to exit their businesses, representing over $2 trillion in business assets that could change hands. Yet only 9% have a formal succession plan in place.

Addressing this challenge will require more than connecting buyers and sellers. It will require stronger pathways to business ownership, better support for entrepreneurs, and a more connected ecosystem.

To help advance that work, Venture for Canada is pleased to introduce its Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) Advisory Council, bringing together leaders from business ownership, investing, finance, law, accounting, and entrepreneurship education to help strengthen Canada’s emerging ETA ecosystem.

The Council’s work is already well underway. Following its inaugural meeting on May 20, members convened again on June 6 and August 19, including for VFC’s Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Roundtable hosted at The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University. Now, as Venture for Canada prepares for Canada’s Succession Summit and its upcoming ETA Bootcamp, VFC is formally introducing the Council and the experts who will help shape its growing work in entrepreneurship through acquisition and business succession. Together, their discussions have explored one central question:

What will it take to make Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition a more accessible and successful pathway to business ownership in Canada?

The Council brings together expertise from across the ETA ecosystem, including:

• Mario Nigro, Partner, Stikeman Elliott LLP
• Alina Martin, Founder & CEO, ScalePoint M&A
• Marc Nzojibwami, Director, Auxano Holdings
• Jonathan Bega, Managing Director, Gestalt Capital
• Peter Walker, Board Member, Employee Ownership Canada
• Elspeth J Murray, Founder & Director, Queen’s Centre for Business Venturing
• Matthew Hooper, Partner, The Operand Group
• Mackenzie Regent, Co-Founder & Partner, Kalos LLP

Together, the Council will help inform Venture for Canada’s ETA programming, thought leadership, and ecosystem-building efforts as Canada prepares for a historic wave of business succession.

The Opportunity Is Bigger Than Many People Realize

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition offers a compelling solution to a growing challenge.

Rather than starting a business from the ground up, aspiring entrepreneurs acquire and grow an existing one, preserving jobs, relationships, and economic activity while creating a pathway into ownership.

As Venture for Canada explored in Why More Entrepreneurs Are Buying Businesses in Québec, acquisition entrepreneurship is gaining traction as more Canadians look for practical pathways into business ownership.

Yet participants agreed that Canada is still in the early stages of building the ecosystem needed to support ETA at scale.

Participants noted that this knowledge gap exists despite the significant business succession opportunity facing Canada. While the scale of the transition is increasingly well understood, awareness of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition remains limited. Many business owners are unfamiliar with the process of selling to an individual rather than a firm as a succession pathway, and many aspiring entrepreneurs have never considered buying an existing business as an alternative to starting one.

ETA presents an opportunity not only for individual entrepreneurs, but also for business continuity and economic resilience.

The challenge is that opportunity alone does not create an ecosystem.

The Missing Middle

While financing was identified as one of the most immediate barriers facing prospective buyers, participants emphasized that the challenge extends beyond access to capital.

Canada’s ETA ecosystem is still missing much of the infrastructure that helps people move from initial interest to successful business ownership.

Prospective buyers need education, networks, mentorship, and credibility. Sellers need support navigating succession decisions. New owners need guidance during the difficult months following an acquisition.

Several participants noted that the first six months after closing a deal can be among the most challenging stages of the journey, yet structured post-acquisition support remains limited.

The discussion also highlighted opportunities for government and financial institutions to play a larger role. Compared with more mature ETA markets, Canada lacks many of the financing mechanisms, policy supports, and coordinated frameworks that help acquisition entrepreneurs succeed.

These gaps are not insurmountable. But they do point to a broader reality: building an ETA ecosystem requires more than creating buyers. It requires creating the conditions that help buyers, sellers, lenders, advisors, and educators succeed together.

Building What’s Missing

As the discussion turned toward solutions, participants focused less on individual programs and more on the broader ecosystem.

Ideas ranged from buyer credentialing systems that could help establish trust with brokers and sellers, to stronger partnerships with universities and business schools that introduce ETA to aspiring entrepreneurs earlier in their careers.

Participants also discussed the value of bringing together stakeholders from across the ecosystem to share knowledge, surface common challenges, and identify opportunities for greater collaboration.

Underlying many of these ideas was a simple observation: Canada’s ETA community is growing, but many people are still solving the same problems in isolation.

A stronger ecosystem would make those pathways more visible, more connected, and more accessible.

How Venture for Canada Is Contributing

The launch of Venture for Canada’s ETA Advisory Council reflects our broader commitment to helping build the foundations of a stronger ETA ecosystem in Canada.

The Council will provide strategic guidance as Venture for Canada continues to expand its ETA programming, convene ecosystem leaders, and contribute to national conversations on business succession and acquisition entrepreneurship.

That work already includes initiatives such as our ETA Academy, with programming like ETA Bootcamp and ETA 101, which introduce aspiring entrepreneurs to acquisition entrepreneurship and provide practical support for those exploring business ownership.

Participants noted, however, that training programs alone are not enough. A thriving ETA ecosystem also requires stronger financing pathways, post-acquisition support, greater awareness among sellers, and more coordinated stakeholder engagement.

These needs are reflected in Venture for Canada’s broader efforts to help build the foundations of a national ETA ecosystem. One example is Buy In Canada, the country’s first conference dedicated to Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition. Delivered in partnership with Queen University’s Smith School of Business, the event brought together aspiring buyers, business owners, investors, and ecosystem leaders to increase awareness of ETA and expand pathways to business ownership. The next Buy In Canada event will take place in 2027.

On October 17th, 2026, VFC will also convene Canada’s Succession Summit, bringing together policymakers, investors, lenders, advisors, and ecosystem leaders to explore the structural changes needed to support business succession and acquisition entrepreneurship at scale. Many of the challenges discussed during the roundtable—from financing and policy to ecosystem coordination and awareness—highlight why these conversations are increasingly important. This also includes the Canadian ETA Perspectives Survey preceding the event, asking people to share their own challenges and experiences to help shape the summit’s programming.

Together, these efforts reflect a common goal: creating greater awareness, stronger connections, and clearer pathways to business ownership across Canada.

Looking Ahead

Canada’s business succession challenge represents one of the country’s largest entrepreneurial opportunities.

Realizing that opportunity will require collaboration across finance, education, government, business ownership, and entrepreneurship support organizations.

Through its ETA Advisory Council, Venture for Canada is committed to helping convene those conversations, strengthen connections across the ecosystem, and expand pathways to business ownership for the next generation of Canadian entrepreneurs.

We’re grateful to the Council members for sharing their expertise and helping shape this work. Their perspectives will continue to inform Venture for Canada’s efforts to build a stronger, more connected ETA ecosystem for Canada.