A healthy ecosystem is a living ecosystem

How has our ecosystem evolved over the past few decades? What are our current strengths and weaknesses?

Nathaly Riverin and Véronique Buisson discussed our collective ability to support innovative entrepreneurship in Quebec. Below is a summary of their discussion and how this topic is currently in the news.

Meet our speakers:

Nathaly Riverin is a serial entrepreneur and strategist, the creator of the educational model for the École d’entrepreneurship de Beauce, and the founder of Rouge Canari, the Entrepreneurship Think Tank, and the Persévérance Entrepreneuriale program. She is a pioneer in strategic coaching and mental health support for entrepreneurs in Quebec.

Véronique Buisson is the Executive Director of CEADS and the Shawinigan entrepreneurial community; she is an expert in community management, strategic guidance, and the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems. She firmly believes that entrepreneurship is a powerful driver of transformation.

Véronique Buisson begins. An ecosystem, she says, isn’t something perfect. It’s something alive! It’s a place where things grow, connect, and circulate—a bit like potting soil.

"For a population to feel capable of taking initiative, it must learn how to do so."

So, in Shawinigan, they took a gamble: not only to attract businesses or support projects, but also to instill a culture of entrepreneurship from the ground up in schools and throughout the community.

She looks at Félix-Antoine Huard, a few minutes after he’s left, and says it almost as if to prove a point: that’s what happens when an ecosystem takes root.

Nathaly Riverin then adds: yes, there is vitality and effort. But she points out a harsher reality: it’s never over.

An ecosystem isn’t a project—it’s a process. It’s an ongoing effort driven by teachers, mentors, elected officials, and entrepreneurs themselves.

“Changing a culture takes 25 years.”

And even then, nothing is certain. She adds something that cuts right to the chase: it’s a number. Or rather, a sign: there are fewer and fewer entrepreneurs.

“When an entrepreneur tells me he feels lonely… he might be right.”

What if the problem wasn't with the harvest… but with the gardening?

You might think that it all starts when a company succeeds and grows, when it attracts capital, talent, and attention!

But that moment, in reality, comes rather late.

There's something else before that, such as:

• teachers who are sowing the first seeds.
• environments where we learn to try new things.
• communities that make entrepreneurship visible, possible, and accessible.

An ecosystem nurtures people who are capable of creating.

And sometimes, even when the groundwork is in place… and even when the trees have grown… something else is happening elsewhere. An ecosystem must not only foster the creation of businesses; it must foster the creation of entrepreneurs. The issue isn’t the 50,000 businesses up for sale; it’s the retirement of more than 50,000 entrepreneurs.

If we want business succession efforts to succeed—if we want the transition to take root—we must not simply highlight the supply of businesses for sale or seek buyers at any cost. We must continue to foster entrepreneurs, retrain those who have tried before, and encourage them to start over—potentially by taking over an existing business. We must also be able to help them sustain their businesses, or even give them a second lease on life.

And that may be where the next challenge begins.

When companies don’t go out of business… but wait to be taken over

The Quebec government has just taken a bold step: appointing a "chief business acquirer," Nathaly Riverin. 

Within five years, 50,000 businesses will need to relocate or risk going out of business. A silent but massive wave that is directly affecting Quebec’s economic fabric.

Minister Samuel Poulin speaks bluntly of a “mass exodus.”

And Nathaly Riverin puts into words what this really means: “We’re reaching the end of this cycle, which is accelerating the decline of entrepreneurship.”

At the MAIN Summit, she had already put it another way: nothing can be taken for granted. Even a thriving ecosystem can run out of steam, and entrepreneurs can become harder to find. What the current crisis in business succession reveals is a blind spot: what about business transfers?

This fragile capital is now being taken into account.

We wish Nathaly the best of luck in this new venture. As she put it, “talking to entrepreneurs and finding solutions” is important.

Taking over a business is like gardening: it takes time and effort.