When looking for financing, one of the first things you can do is to ask your bank about a government sponsored Small Business Loan.

Regional Programs
A second approach is to contact your regional Federal economic development organization. There are currently regional agencies in every area of Canada, except southern Ontario, that have the ability to help out new or struggling businesses. The federal government claims that southern Ontario is not included in their coverage because the area is doing too well. Others argue that a clash between federal-provincial political parties is the real reason behind this gap. The truth, most likely, lies somewhere in between.

On the east coast you would contact ACOA, in northern Ontario you would get in touch with FedNor, and west of Ontario you can contact the Western Economic Diversification.

• ACOA

• Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)

• FedNor

• Western Economic Diversification

The financing methods used by individual agencies will vary; typical programs may include: loan guarantees, peer-loan programs, loans to help with a specific process (such as writing a business plan), and in some cases grants. While there are a few stories of entrepreneurs that have secured tens – or even hundreds – of thousands of dollars in federal grants, the truth is that this type of grant money is extremely difficult – if not impossible - to access. Seriously weight the cost of your time investment and risk of not being successful with your efforts before pursuing the "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow".

Provincial, Federal, and Community Options
There are a number of provincial initiatives, local community loan funds, and other financing opportunities across Canada. If you have trouble getting a loan from your bank or through one of the agencies mentioned above, you can investigate the additional sources of financing that are listed online:

To search for federal programs only: www.cbsc.org/english/finance/searchfinance.cfm

To search for programs by province: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/so01884e.html

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Calmeadow are two common financing sources for entrepreneurs who have been turned down by the banks. If you investigate this route, be sure to factor in the full cost of borrowing.

BDC http://www.bdc.ca/

Calmeadow http://www.calmeadow.com/

Other Programs
Some organizations offer training programs that include a "training allowance". The best known are the Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) programs. Quite often these have qualifying criteria attached, such as being in receipt of EI or fitting into a certain demographic (for example, young entrepreneurs).

The best way to find out about programs offered locally is to contact your local HRDC office (EI office). It is also a good idea to get in touch with local organizations (such as the YMCA Enterprise Centre) to find out if they have any new programs that could help you.

The final place you could look into for additional lending sources is the online workshop that was put together by Industry Canada: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mangb/sources/engdoc/homepage.html."

Conclusions
Be aware that quality of programs can vary significantly, and there is no magic solution or easy answer. Getting started in your own business is a real challenge, and the idea is for the business to support itself. Loans have to be paid off, business cashflow needs to be maintained, and the bottom line is that it helps to borrow as little as possible and to reach a "break even" point as quickly as possible.