Mike Cascone
Vice President of Government Experience, Americas
Xero
Prior to joining Xero in 2021, Michael was the founding Senior Director of the Scale-Up Institute Toronto at the Toronto Region Board of Trade. He led the launch of the small business accelerator, and ran a number of high impact programs focused on small business growth and digitization. In his time leading the organization, the Scale-Up Institute Toronto supported over 2,000 small businesses across Ontario, securing significant private and public sector investment, and winning the 2020 Ontario Chamber of Commerce Chair’s Award for Innovative Programming.
Mike also has over ten years of experience in both the federal and provincial governments, focusing on innovation and scale-up policy, trade agreement negotiation, and the automotive sector. He actively participates in the small business research community as well, acting as an expert advisor on a number of research councils. He has recently taken on the position of Vice Chair of the Scugog Township Economic Development Advisory Committee.
Schedule
25 mins
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts - Jane Mallett Theatre
Shining the Spotlight on Small Businesses: Leveraging Tech to Help you Grow
According to Statistics Canada’s latest data, small businesses make up 98 percent of all businesses and employ 8.2 million Canadians. Yet, according to research from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Canada’s banks aren’t serving small businesses well: little access to credit, high fees, few tools to effectively manage cash, and poor customer service. Listen to experts explain why our financial sector falls short and how other countries are leveraging tech innovation to help their small businesses grow.
