TORONTO - Being laid off or fired can be a traumatic event for anyone. Yet, a new survey suggests that these people bounce back and find even greater success as entrepreneurs.

The poll, taken by Decima Research for CIBC, found that one in five Canadian small businesses were started when the founder lost their job. The survey also showed that many of these businesses continue to operate successfully today.

"Even though more than 20% of entrepreneurs were pushed into business ownership after being downsized, 45% of them are now in a better financial situation than when they worked for someone else," said Rob Paterson, CIBC's Senior Vice-President of Small Business Banking.

Almost half of these people (48 per cent) said that they find their work through contracts or outsourcing from other companies. In fact, a small portion (nine per cent) now call their former employers business clients.

Other common characteristics of these entrepreneurs included:

• 74 per cent are men
• 63 per cent are between 35-54
• 77 per cent are married or common-law

"This is not a new phenomenon," commented Paterson. "With softening labour market conditions, there is a corresponding rise in self-employment, similar to the trend in the early 1990s."

Looking ahead to the future the CIBC predicts that one in five Canadians will be self-employed by 2010. The report, Canadian Small Business: A Growing Force can be found online at: http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/csb-092003.pdf.

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