But, we’ve lost 100,000 entrepreneurs—and 350,000 can’t get the financing they need. This raises the question: is BDC doing a good job? Rural entrepreneurs power Canada’s real economy—jobs, exports, main‑street vitality, and community pride. Yet we have 100,000 fewer entrepreneurs than 20 years ago and an estimated 350,000 who can’t access the financing they need. That gap is widest outside big cities, where distance, thin credit files, and unconventional models collide with