The past several years have seen a number of changes to the business landscape in southeastern Manitoba. A number of large prominent locally grown businesses have been sold to new owners and investors.

These changes come as the result of a changing local economy combined with the fact that the businesses themselves, in most cases, became very valuable and desirable assets. What is sometimes forgotten is that virtually every business in our region which has grown large and successful started off as a small enterprise operated by one or two entrepreneurs.

Over time these local entrepreneurs grew their businesses and the number of employees in their companies. What is sometimes forgotten is the struggle that many of these ultimately successful companies went through in their early days. Almost universally, the owners of large successful businesses in our region will remember a time when they struggled or almost lost their business.

That is the risk that many entrepreneurs take. And while it is sometimes easy to look at a successful business and be envious of that success, the reality is that in virtually every case it didn’t come without sacrifice and personal risk.

2011 has been recognized by the Government of Canada as the Year of the Entrepreneur. In our local region we have benefited from a long history of incredible entrepreneurs. It’s one of the things that our communities are known for. We have a reputation of being home to strong businesspeople. And while much of the attention, as it has lately, goes to the fate of larger businesses in our community, the reality is that the majority of businesses in our region and our province are small and medium sized.

Individually they employ often only a handful of people but collectively they are the backbone of the provincial economy and the economy of almost every region of Manitoba. Following the most recent economic downturn, much of the recovery came from small companies or from individuals who became entrepreneurs themselves and started up a new business.

The success and stability of the economy of southeastern Manitoba, through good times and bad, is very much a credit to our entrepreneurs. It extents to those who carry on part-time or micro businesses, often out of their home and as a form of secondary income.

In times of change, such as we have seen in the business community in our region, it is nice to both reflect and to celebrate the many entrepreneurs we have. The designation of 2011 as the Year of the Entrepreneur helps to remind us of both the contribution and the sacrifice made by those who have created jobs and built the strong communities we are fortunate to call home.