New FCFDC/Futurpreneur partnership to benefit local young entrepreneurs

Dec 04, 2014

Aspiring entrepreneurs will be pleased to know that more money is now available to them thanks to a new partnership recently launched between the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (FCFDC) in Harrowsmith and Futurpreneur Canada.

On November 28, Lisa Boyer, the eastern Ontario business development manager with Futurpreneur, met with staff at the Frontenac CFDC to officially launch the new partnership, which will allow Futurpreneur to offer their loans and programs through the FCFDC, and in doing so will assist young local entrepreneurs to start, grow, and run their own businesses.

Boyer explained at the launch, “Basically we will be offering young entrepreneurs in the area our various entrepreneurial loans and programs, and staff at the FCFDC will be assisting by supplying applicants with the business plan building support and mentorship they need to become successful.”

Formerly known as the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF), Futurpreneur was started in 1996 and since then has funded over 7000 young entrepreneurs across Canada. They offer to young entrepreneurs aged 18-39 financing of up to $45,000 in character-based, low-interest loans made available from the Business Development Bank of Canada. They also assist them with mentoring and other business resources. “One of our biggest roles is to work with other community partners across Canada to help us support these young entrepreneurs,” Boyer said. FDFDC staff will also help to locate business mentors for the applicants from this area

Terry Romain, business development officer with the FCFDC, said, “The mentorship requirement is the added value here. In order for anyone to qualify for the funding through Futurpreneur they must have a mentor and part of Lisa's job is to match the applicant with a mentor in order to assist the new entrepreneur. The mentorship will go on for a full two years and will help new young business owners to become successful.”

Boyer said that the partnership will also help grow Futurpreneur's profile in the region. “Terry will help bring our programs to more people in this area which is also a huge benefit to us since the FCFDC is seeing the clients that we want to see but because of our huge catchment area we are often not able to connect with them.”

The benefit for the FCFDC, according to Romain, is that the partnership brings an additional pool of funding to young entrepreneurs in this area, which is great news for young people without capital who want to start a business. Romain stressed the importance of giving young entrepreneurs a boost. “One of the largest obstacles to anyone starting a business is getting access to capital. So this partnership will give young business entrepreneurs more opportunities.”

Anne Prichard, executive director of the FCFDC, said that the other benefit is that the two organizations will be able to share the risk. “If you have a young person starting up and they don't have the security for a particular loan, we together with Futurpreneur will be sharing the risk between us. We will also benefit from Futurpreneur promotions to target the youth in this area,” she said.

Young entrepreneurs will now see the Frontenac CFDC link on their website, www.futurpreneur.ca. Information about Futurpreneur programs and loans is also available on the FCFDC's website at www.frontenaccfdc.com. Any successful business owners in the area who would be willing to become a mentor with Futurpreneur can contact Terry Romain at 613-372-1414 ext 202 or toll free at 1-888-372-9962.