Traditional financial institutions were not interested because the individuals had no business track record in the field they were entering, so were considered too risky.
But the nose for potential success demonstrated by Community Futures and their local business-oriented boards has now paid off ten times over.
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Relatively few of the businesses Community Futures supported failed, and some have gone on to become important employers and even exporters in their areas.
As the initial loans were repaid, the money was reinvested in yet more enterprises – and the cycle continues to this day.
It has been so successful that by continually reinvesting that seed money in new or growing enterprises, more than $120 million has now been pumped into building successful small businesses in the Island Coastal Region.
By 2008, more than 4,000 loans had been granted to individuals who have already created more than 12,000 new jobs between them – and the total is growing.
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Community Futures backed every one of them with finance and advice when others failed to step up to the plate.
By supporting them – and by ongoing mentoring and training where needed – Community Futures has been able to make the government's start-up funding multiply over and over again.
| Times have moved on and the B.C. economy is now in much better shape than when Community Futures established the Island Coastal network. But there are still many pockets of significant unemployment in rural areas, and the resource sector is still undergoing tremendous change.
Some communities continue to struggle, especially those where one industry has dominated a town. In those places, Community Futures is perhaps needed more today than when it was first established.
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It is not just in the crucial area of providing loans and business support across a whole range of sectors. Community Futures has also helped underpin many self-help community programs, such as the way it is helping remote villages on the North Island get high-speed connectivity to the Internet, which can be crucial in establishing home-based businesses; or farmers in the Comox Valley with the establishment of a pool of equipment to be used co-operatively to improve and diversify agricultural output.
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Even in communities where economic prospects appear brighter, there are still plenty of entrepreneurs with great business ideas who cannot get loans from the banks to help them get set up with premises or equipment.
Community Futures is an established, efficient, resourceful force for community economic development that had made a real difference on the Island and Coast away from the booming areas of the Lower Mainland and Victoria Capital Region.
Its proven track record in business lending, program management and community investment has already resulted in thousands of new jobs and provided excellent returns on the start-up funds initially provided by government.
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Furthermore, that impact has been achieved with minimal bureaucracy and small administrative overheads.
Click on the links to find out more about the practical impact of Community Futures' programs on specific businesses and the community featured on this site, or to be introduced to our business finance program.
