Vancity local and organic food business financing
Vancity provides a range of financing for organizations in the food sector.
Small business and start-up loans (microfinance)
- Be My Own Boss Loan – for small and start-up businesses. This loan helps you establish your business and bring it to a stage where you’re ready for conventional lending. We can approve a business loan based on your entrepreneurial drive, the strength of your idea and the potential of your business plan.
- Small Growers Loan - is designed to help your farm business get off the ground. We provide loans of up to $75,000 at a competitive rate and approval is based on your character, farming training/experience, skills and knowledge, and the potential of your business plan.
- Local Food Micro-loan Fun – zero interest loans from $1,000 to $20,000 are offered through FarmFolk CityFolk, in partnership with Vancity. The fund supports growers, harvesters and processors to invest in equipment and materials that increase the supply of food in the region.
- – is designed to help start-up entrepreneurs developing green businesses or working on green technologies to be launched. We offer a stepped series of loans tailored to fit a wide range of needs.
Business banking
At Vancity we see beyond numbers and past the bottom line by adding vision, purpose and impact into our calculations. Here are some day-to-day banking services to suit your needs.
- Business accounts and packages to meet your business needs
- Credit cards specially designed for business owners
- Ways to bank that put you in control of your finances
- Additional services from cash management to Merchant credit card to foreign exchange services
- Other types of financing
Advance Payments Program
In partnership with Vancity, the Small Scale Food Processors Association (SSFPA) offers the Advance Payments Program , a federal government guaranteed loan program that provides cash advances. At this time the SSFPA administers the program for British Columbia vegetable producers, greenhouse operators and fruit growers and Alberta Greenhouse Operators. Please contact the SSFPA for application.