Following a $2 million investment by the Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust (SIDIT) along with investments already from Credit Unions in the Kootenays, the Southern Interior Innovation Fund (SIIF) is ready to give back to communities.

Fund manager of SIIF John Drope says larger companies or small businesses with big ideas now have access to a fund of $6.2 million, $1.2 million of which was invested into SIIF from the Kootenay Savings Credit Union in Nakusp.

“We don’t necessarily have any preference for the type of businesses [that apply],” says Drope. Businesses which can apply for funding must however meet venture capital corporation guidelines and have a plan in place for making it big. An example from Drope for the kind of business which could apply for an investment could be a farming business which wants to sell off to its younger generation, say a son who would like to pay their father out. It would also be available to businesses who look to diversify and perhaps create a chain out of their business.

The minimum investment from SIIF would be $250,000, but the preference is from $500,000 to $1 million, says Drope. He adds the plan and all the numbers must be in place to receive funds, and if the proposal is accepted, SIIF would aid the business in following through with the plan.

The fund is structured to allow credit unions to invest back in communities. Vice-president of credit and operations for the Credit Unions of B.C Jim Craig says the financial institutions act they must follow specifies that credit unions must create an investment lending policy. He says the policy restricts the ability to invest in start-ups of businesses because the failure rate of start-ups is quite high, so investing into SIIF is their way of investing into communities. “We purchased, in essence, a portion of this fund and that $1.2 million gets combined from funds from other credit unions and SIDIT. That allows us to create a place for these start-up firms to grow, to get capitalized and start up their business.”

The boundaries for businesses which might look to SIIF for funding runs east from Kamloops to the Alberta boarder (including Revelstoke, Golden) and south from Kamloops to the U.S. border.

SIDIT is a public trust created by the government of British Columbia with a $50 million allocation to support economic development in the Southern Interior. SIIF was created in early October, 2009, with the mandate to “provide significant returns and long term value for the benefit of shareholders investing in the future of the B.C. Southern Interior region.” For more information about SIIF or how to apply for funds, visit www.siifund.ca.