Community Futures Oxford offering new loan stream

Chris Smith (left) from the Business Development Bank of Canada and Allan Simm announce a new $100 million funding stream to help rural entrepreneurs and small businesses in Oxford County grow and succeed. (Lee Griffi Photo)

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Oxford County’s Community Futures branch has teamed up with the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) to offer $100 million in financing.

“The Business Elevation Loan will boost entrepreneurship and small businesses. This is all about being able to lend more money to them. When an entrepreneur comes in, they could potentially get up to $500,000. Right now, we are only able to commit to loans up to $300,000,” explained Community Futures General Manager Allan Simm.

“With BDC partnering, we could each offer $250,000 on these deals. This is a great opportunity for us to diversify risk and offer more money.”

Simm added the name of the loan itself is dynamic, energetic and can appeal to start-ups and small businesses.

“It suggests something powerful, sparking growth, innovation and momentum. It conveys energy, aligning well with entrepreneurial values.”

BDC spokesperson Kris Smith explained the deal could provide a huge boost to the local economy, and he hopes the money will satisfy a need in Oxford.

“Entrepreneurship in rural areas is 17 per cent while it is just 12 per cent in urban centres and there are more entrepreneurs in rural areas who need help. The problem is there isn’t a lot of help out there, especially as you get more remote.”

Smith added BDC doesn’t have the capacity to reach rural areas which is why the partnership is so crucial to the success of small businesses looking for funding to start or expand a business.

“This is the start of something new at BDC called community banking. We are using the partners in our ecosystem, in this case, Community Futures. We are leveraging their roots but more importantly, their knowledge and how they do business in helping entrepreneurs.”

If the entire allocated dollar figure is utilized, the ripple effect is expected to put $250 million into the Oxford County economy.

“Frankly, we are hoping it is the first $100 million. I can’t wait for the day we use it all up and I have to back to our board and ask for another. We are very prepared to do so,” added Smith.

BDC has made the ambitious goal of helping 100,000 rural entrepreneurs over the next 10 years through its community banking priorities.

The announcement was made at the Community Futures office in Ingersoll last week where an Oxford County business was highlighted as a success story after receiving funding through to organization to help launch her business. Jodi Pendry owns Terra Nova Nordic Spa just south of Hickson. She explained financing a commercial business was more difficult than she thought it would be so she turned to Community Futures.

“They were a big stepping stone for us to get started on the spa. We had to start out small, which in hindsight is the best way we could have done it, and grow as we learned. The money we received from Community Futures allowed me to do a few extra things I may not have been able to do otherwise and our business is all about providing an experience.”

Pendry added sales doubled in her second year and will likely double again in year three.

“I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to jinx myself because things have been going so well. It’s taken a lot of work and we did take on a lot of risk.”

When she was launching her business, she attended as many networking opportunities as she could across Oxford and there was always one consistency – the presence of Community Futures.

“It was such an easy interaction when I had the opportunity to speak to any of their staff. When I first came to them I had the big picture and I think I said I wanted $3 million,” laughed Pendry. “They said no, we don’t do that.”

Pendry said she went to a well-known local investor before securing financing with Community Futures and pitched the idea on the spa property on a blustery winter day.

“He said to me, sorry, people aren’t going to come here when the weather is like this. He said he couldn’t see this being a successful business so off he went. He came in about two years ago, shook my hand and congratulated me.”