Adversity and resilience-building in the Canadian entrepreneurial ecosystem: Using disaster, emergency management and social work to understand entrepreneurs' experiences

Entrepreneurs—especially early entrepreneurs—face numerous challenges throughout their entrepreneurial journey. These challenges and adversities can create distinct personal and professional strains resulting in poor physical, mental, and emotional health. Thus, entrepreneurs must exercise resilience-building to properly prepare for, respond to, and recover from potential adversities. We frame adversities as “environmental shocks” to the entrepreneurial ecosystem using a disaster and emergency management and social work conceptual lens. Entrepreneurs subjected to these shocks then adopt resilience-building strategies as protective factors against future shocks, affording them the ability to bounce back or “bounce forward.” Using semi-structured interviews, we examined the types of adversities and resilience-building strategies employed by 27 Canadian entrepreneurs. Results indicated two forms of adversity and resilience-building—personal and professional— and the interplay within and between them. Personal and professional resilience included seeking therapy and financial preparedness while personal and professional adversity included isolation and problematic co‑leader relationships. Findings from the study call for entrepreneurial-specific social service and training programs which address the manifestations of adversity and offer practical strategies to enhance resilience. This research highlights a unique view of entrepreneurial adversity and resilience and offers a foundation for future research on Canadian entrepreneurial contexts.