Community Futures Sunrise provides loans, advice and support to entrepreneurs and businesses in southeast Saskatchewan.

"The Community Futures program is a grassroots innitiative that has been set up in rural parts of Canada, all with the aim of providing loans, advice and support to potential entrepreneurs or the business community within our individual regions," said Verna O'Neill, General Manager for Community Futures Sunrise.

YouthBiz

Community Futures provides many different services to southeast Saskatchewan. One program offered is the YouthBiz competition for students that are currently in grade six to 12.

"We have a great program for young people who are thinking about small business and would like to write about an idea that they've come up with and compete for some cash awards," O'Neill said. "The YouthBiz program has been in existence for 10 years, this is our 11th year and it's kicking off here in September."

Over the last ten years, more than 1,750 students in southeast Saskatchewan have participated in YouthBiz. Competitors are separated into two categories, based on grade level: Grade six to eight and Grade nine to 12.

Prize money is awarded to winners in each age category:

1st Place receives $500, 2nd Place receives $300 and 3rd Place receives $150.

Students can enter as a group or individually, but only one submission per student per year is accepted. This contest opens in September and the YouthBiz application deadline is November 16, 2017. The award winners from the CF Sunrise region are announced in December.

You can view the 2017 YouthBiz guide here.

Business Loans

"We do have a loans program for those who are thinking about starting up a business or those who have a small business and are looking to expand or meet some new challenges within their business operations, or thirdly if someone's thinking about taking over an existing operation," said O'Neill. "The loans program is a great fit for those people who are thinking about small business because really that's all we do is work with small businesses. So our loans are for people who are looking for start up or expansion loans of $150,000 or less here in southeast Saskatchewan."

Learn more about the various loan products Community Futures offers here.

Business Training and Advisory

Community Futures Sunrise offers in-person, facilitated workshops that can be customized to the business development topics you request.

"Another one of the great services that the Community Futures Sunrise office provides to small businesses is our business training and advisory services," O'Neill said.

Contact the CF Sunrise office to inquire about current business workshop topics or to request a session in your own community here.

Community Futures' Goal

"So we've had a presence in the southeast area of the province for 20 years and over those years the goal has been to be the touch point for small business start-up and developement where small business owners can come with the questions they may have about how to develope their idea and then how to turn it into something that can be self-sustaining and also contribute to the community that that business will serve," stated O'Neill.