There’s a financial program in Canada that has been around for decades that is geared to supporting the Entrepreneur in the Startup process. It’s called the Canada Small Business Financing Program. It supports the business with up to a $500,000 loan.

There’s a slight problem though, hardly anyone in British Columbia knows about it.

Financial institutions deliver the program and make all credit decisions.   Small businesses must visit their local bank, credit union to obtain a loan under the program. Read the rest of this entry

The Vancity Board of Directors election will take place from February 28 to March 27, 2010 by mail ballot and from March 19 to March 27, 2010 in select branches.

There will be three 3-year positions available in 2010 and candidate’s information will be posted to vancity.com mid February. The Election Bulletin will be mailed to all eligible voting members. If you vote for more than three candidates, your ballot will not be valid.
Member voting requirements

Please note that the cutoff date for the 2010 voters list was January 22, 2010.

You must be a member in good standing i.e.

1. over 19 years of age;
2. not be delinquent in any obligation to Vancity; and,
3. have at least $5.00 in your membership share account as of January 22, 2010.

To check your status, please contact any branch, call 604.877.7000 (toll free 1.888.Vancity), or call a Governance Officer at 604.877.6548.

I joined Vancity Credit Union and its 400,000 members because of its leadership role in the community.

I am not a wealthy man, but in an effort to help the community on a personal level I will be donating 50% ($10,000) of my first years Director’s honorarium to the Vancouver Food Bank. I ask the other candidates to join me.

My priorities:
• Provide an Open ear to member issues and problems
• Support community initiatives that is giving Vancouver its social conscience
• Continue and enhance the support Vancity provides to Small Business
• Represent Vancity as an influential business leader
• Support the development & leadership role in successful community social enterprises
• Give back to my community through Vancity’s programs and grants to non-profits

With our economy starting to come back we need to support the community. Personal responsibility is more important than ever. Let me provide you that strong leadership!

1. Keep the written plan size to a reasonable length, max 25 pages not including appendices with all relevant documents, like resume, research, etc
2. The Business plan represents your company and you, make it look great, bind it, use graphics and make sure there are no typos
3. Keep it conservative but optimistic especially with your financials Read the rest of this entry

Ok, so we know ATM charges are rip-offs! This could become a rant very quickly.

Let me see, we pay monthly service charges on our accounts so we can have a place to store our money for a ridiculous low interest rate if you can call it that. The banking system in Canada, the best in the world, has recorded record profits even in this economy, go figure. They take your money, give you low interest rates, won’t loan out money and charge you for everything till the cows come home. Read the rest of this entry