Black Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs make important contributions to the Canadian economy, yet they continue to face systemic barriers in starting and growing their businesses. This has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government of Canada is working to address these long-standing, systemic barriers with its first-ever Black Entrepreneurship Program.
Today, the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, and Greg Fergus, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, to the President of the Treasury Board and to the Minister of Digital Government and Chair of the Parliamentary Black Caucus, announced that the Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund is now accepting loan applications.
They were joined by Rachel Bendayan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade and Member of Parliament for Outremont; Marci Ien, Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre; Emmanuel Dubourg, Member of Parliament for Bourassa; Tiffany Callender, CEO of the Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE); Michael Denham, President and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC); Christine Bergeron, President and CEO of Vancity; and Robert Paterson, President and CEO of Alterna Savings. Also present at the announcement were leaders from Black-led business organizations from across Canada and senior executives from committed financial institutions.
The Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund has been co-developed by the government in partnership with FACE as the loan fund administrator. Today, Minister Ng announced that BDC, Alterna Savings and Vancity will be the first partner financial institutions in the initial launch.
The loan fund is now a $291.3-million investment, with a $33.3-million investment from the Government of Canada, a $130-million commitment from BDC, and a $128-million joint commitment from the Royal Bank of Canada, BMO Financial Group, Scotiabank, CIBC, the National Bank of Canada, TD Bank, Vancity and Alterna Savings. FACE and the Government of Canada look forward to partnering with additional financial institutions to deliver the loan fund in the coming months.
Full Article: canada.ca