CANADIAN BUSINESS AND FREE MONEY !

I am often asked by customers if there are grants and loans available for their businesses . On many occasions these firms are in the start up phase and are pre-revenue.

There is a general belief that there is ' free money ' out there , and people are trying to find it ! I categorically can state there is no free money available , but we can come pretty close !

There are some excellent programs, two in particular, that are , in our opinion, best government programs for firms in Canada .

The Canadian government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars into what is known as the CSBF loan program - The acronym stands for the CANADIAN SMALL BUSINESS FINANCING program . The government provides a lot of data at its website on the history and operation of the program and its parameters . Some business owners might find the wealth of information overwhelming .

For the purposes of this article we will share that the prOgram is available to all new or established businesses with revenues or projected revenues under 5 Million dollars.

Most people that are familiar with the program might not know that in the current 2009 world economic crisis that the goverment increased the amount of these loans to $350,000 and $500,000.00 in some circumstances.

How can you qualify for this program ? Most importantly , do you qualify ?

In general if you are a Canadian private company ( Public companies are excluded from the program ) you are eligible for the program , Only certain classes of assets can be financed .

The true power of the program is that the rates are currently in the 5% range, they are mandated under the program to be only 3% over prime . Terms of repayment are 5-10 years, and most importantly to company princiapals , a full personal guarantee of payment is not required .

Typically these programs are used by companies to acquire assets, improve their business, purchase or develop software, and even in some cases buy real estate .

Do Canadian business owners know that the government can assist them in purchasing business real esate , without unlimited guarantee, and at great rates ? We dont think so !

If businesses feel they are adequately prepared to source out the financing available under this program we strongly recommend that they begin that process. Not everyone has the time, financial skills, and the ability or comfort level to begin this journey . Those firms should seek out an experienced and trusted advisor in order to maximize their particpation in the program .

Lets get back to free money . Does it exist ? Again, not really, but would you as a business owner like to receive a chq from the govt, that is not repayable! regarding any process, research, or innovation you have developed .If so you want to maximize participation in the governments SR ED program . We will talk about this programme more in an upcoming article .