ESTEVAN - Whether you are a start-up or an existing small business, if you need help, Community Futures (CF) Sunrise has you covered.
With a variety of financial and other programs, in 2020-21 alone, CF Sunrise provided almost $2 million in loans, helping 64 clients in this way. With the help of this money more than 158 jobs were created, maintained, or expanded. They held close to 500 training sessions and provided over 400 business advisory services. Over just one year they were involved in 25 community-based projects and worked on a strategic plan.
Verna O’Neill, general manager with Community Futures Sunrise, said that they have many ways in which they serve small businesses and entrepreneurs in the southeast.
"Community Futures has been helping small businesses in the southeast area of our province for close to 25 years. We provide loans, advisory services and support to entrepreneurs and communities," O’Neill said. "We're very happy to be able to provide that support to southeast Saskatchewan. And we really do care and want to see the best for our region, especially during this very challenging time for our small business community."
The loan program is open to those entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting up, expanding or purchasing an existing business and are looking for financing to help them on their way. While the loans can go up to $150,000, they also have a new microloan program that provides up to $25,000 at a lower interest rate, with flexible payments for business start-ups, or to boost them if they're already in existence.
"That microloan program is a great, easy to access program. It is especially important in our economy right now as we're moving through with some of the impacts of COVID and some of the difficulties that entrepreneurs are facing," O’Neill noted. "We are just trying to help entrepreneurs get to where they need to go, which is to survive and thrive."
Their business loans are for entrepreneurs in the start-up or expansion phase of their business. The loans are a part of their business lending program, and they come with advisory and business planning services so that entrepreneurs have a plan for the funds and their business.
"All of our support services of the business plan coaching, helping them through their financial statements and looking at what would this changed financing do with your business, that is all at no charge," O’Neill said.
They have a variety of advisory services that are available to small businesses. The list consists of a lot of different business training that runs throughout the year, including marketing training, the use of digital programs and platforms, and more. The training programs are very accessible, either online or in-person, located within the southeast area of the province, and fees to attend are low.
"The other program that we have right now is called Go Digital Fast. It is a program that is there to help entrepreneurs increase their exposure and their online presence so that they can do business online in an easier, more streamlined way," O’Neill pointed out.
Some of the things that that program provides are the setup of a business profile on Google, social media templates, and other marketing tools. CF Sunrise can also help clients with branding and logos, and even some website creation or modification if a business is online. And if it just needs a little extra help to get into the digital world, that's where the Go Digital Sask program comes in.
"It's a really easy application process, they just go to godigitalsask.ca and register," O’Neill said.
CF Sunrise also runs the Youth Biz contest, a program for southeast Saskatchewan youth in Grades 6-12. The program helps young people experience what it might be like to own a micro or a small business and explore entrepreneurship. They write a business plan and work out the numbers that are involved in what would happen if their business took off and do work with marketing materials.
During the last 2 1/2 years, CF Sunrise has also been working on economic development supports for communities.
"We have a regional economic development co-ordinator that we've hired. And that individual has been working with small businesses and municipalities or communities within the southeast area, so that those communities, our leaders, are able to retain their business community, help their businesses expand, attract investment, promote their communities, and really work on creating a place where people would like to visit, and also live, work and build a business," O’Neill shared.
Whether it's a start-up or growth, or maybe the business is looking to sell in transition, there are services that CF Sunrise can provide to entrepreneurs at every stage of their business development, and O’Neill said that whenever current or future entrepreneurs feel that they could use some kind of help or just have an idea of what they'd like to do, they can reach out to the organization.
"Through the entire development process, Sunrise Community Futures have services to support entrepreneurs," O’Neill said. "If they have an idea, if they have decided that they wanted to test the market, and they have a business that they think is actually going to be a profitable type of side hustle or a part-time business, or if they actually want to jump in with two feet and start it immediately and are looking for financing, at any stage of that start-up process is an appropriate time to get a hold of us. There's always some words of wisdom or some tools we can provide to those entrepreneurs that will help them to minimize the risk of the start-up."
For more information, upcoming events and programs and services available through CF Sunrise, visit their website at cfsask.ca/sunrise.
