The risk of the Silver Tsunami

Baby boomers (those born between 1946-1964) own nearly half of all businesses with employees in Miami-Dade County. Regions in the US need to understand the risk of the Silver Tsunami as these business owners retire. Project Equity’s analysis and interactive visualization (above) indicates over 32,000 businesses in the county are owned by baby boomers. Many will choose to sell to out of area buyers or close down due to lack of succession planning.

Miami-Dade County‘s proactive approach

Miami-Dade County launched this initiative, in partnership with Project Equity, to assist at risk businesses learn about the option of employee ownership. The initiative highlights the need for succession planning for local small to medium businesses and focuses on transitions to employee ownership to address hundreds of Miami-Dade County business owners’ potential retirement.

The proof is in the numbers

Project Equity performed another analysis that quantifies the number of privately held companies with three or more employees in Miami-Dade County that are 20 years old or older — a good indication that they need succession planning — and the impact if these businesses are not retained.

There are approximately 20,140 companies in Miami-Dade County that met that criteria. These longstanding businesses:

• employ an estimated 242,000 individuals
• generate about $70B in revenue
  

Local ownership over the long term

Keeping companies locally owned over the long term is a critical economic development strategy. Only 15% of businesses get passed onto the next generation and according to BizBuySell, the largest online marketplace for businesses, only one out of five businesses listed for sale ever sell. We need more strategies for local business succession to avoid businesses closing their doors due to lack of planning. The good news is employee ownership is a viable path for many companies.

Employee ownership may be unfamiliar to many, but it keeps companies rooted in place, provides quality jobs and strengthens businesses for the long term. It also offers a ready solution to the retiring business owner: there’s a buyer right there under your nose — the very employees who helped you build the company.

Local ownership is important to Miami-Dade County’s future. Let’s make sure that, as baby boomers retire, the businesses they created live on.