Northwest Minnesota Foundation offers free workshops on business succession planning

A free workshop in downtown Bemidji will put a hard local question in front of business owners: who takes over when the owner is ready to walk away? The Northwest Minnesota Foundation will open its succession-planning series with “Navigating Business Succession and Transition” from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 6, 2026, with lunch included for people attending in person.

The session is aimed at small business owners preparing to sell or transition their businesses, but it is also open to bankers and economic development specialists who often help shape whether a deal closes or a storefront stays open. People can attend at Northwest Minnesota Foundation in downtown Bemidji, at the East Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce office through a Zoom satellite experience, or online by Zoom. Registration is required, and the foundation says interested participants should email sarahl@nwmf.org for a registration link or use its events page.

The timing matters far beyond a single seminar. University of Minnesota Extension says about 53% of Minnesota business owners were 55 or older in 2021, and by 2030 all baby-boom owners will be at least 65 and likely retired or considering retirement. Extension’s 2023 Minnesota business owner preparedness study drew 286 survey responses from owners of businesses with 5 to 500 employees, underscoring how many firms are facing the same transition at the same time.

State and regional data point to the scale of the risk. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says Minnesota has an estimated 50,000-plus businesses with owners age 55 or older, and more than 40% of Minnesota businesses have operated for 16 years or more. A December 2024 Center for Rural Policy and Development report put the state’s total at more than 525,000 businesses and estimated that more than 52,000 could change hands or dissolve in the next five to 10 years as baby-boom owners retire.

That report said those businesses represent roughly 600,000 employees, $124 billion in revenue and $24 billion in payroll. It also said ownership continuity affects employees, vendors, customers, charities and surrounding communities, and that new owners are often positioned to become local leaders. In a region like Beltrami County, that can mean the difference between a full Main Street and a row of empty windows.

The planning gap is large. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has said about half of employer businesses in Minnesota have owners over age 55, yet 85% do not have succession plans. In one August 2021 survey, nearly 1 in 5 businesses expected to sell or transition ownership within five years, but only 37% of those businesses had a succession plan. Another rural Minnesota report cited Extension research showing only 19% of business owners had worked on a written succession or exit plan in the previous three years, and only 30% of business sales close successfully on the first attempt.

The Northwest Minnesota Foundation, established in 1986, says the workshop series fits its broader work with consulting, workshops and financing for small businesses across Northwest Minnesota. Its Northwest Minnesota Small Business Development Center, hosted by Greater Bemidji, serves Beltrami County and nearby counties including Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Polk, Pennington, Red Lake and Roseau, putting a local support network behind a problem that could reshape county economies one owner at a time.