Nova Scotia Community Business Development Corporations Make Big Impact

NOTE: Communications Nova Scotia will be releasing feature stories over the next few weeks, highlighting the newest charter members of the Nova Scotia "Come to life" initiative. Nova Scotia "Come to life" is a public-private sector initiative that markets Nova Scotia as an excellent place in which to live, work, invest, play and visit. The following feature story was written by Marie Weeren.

Community Business Development Corporations help small and medium-size businesses in rural Nova Scotia cultivate big successes.

The province's 13 Community Business Development Corporations (CBDCs) support rural business growth with loans of up to $150,000, as well as programming and counselling. The result is increased opportunity to combine business innovation with Nova Scotia's enviable lifestyle.

Nova Scotia's CBDCs are independent, non-profit organizations that cover the province from Yarmouth to Sydney Mines. On the mainland, CBDCs receive operating support from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency; on Cape Breton it comes from the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation. Nova Scotia CBDCs are part of a cross-Canada network of community development corporations.

"CBDCs were set up over 30 years ago and, at that time, the federal government recognized that local people should make the decisions that impact their community," says Brennan Gillis, executive director of the Nova Scotia Association of Community Business Development Corporations. "Local volunteers were entrusted with investment capital, and tasked with making investment decisions."

Since the CBDCs' inception, the federal government has provided $32.2 million in funds, which CBDCs have used to invest more than $188 million in rural businesses. CBDCs now are solely responsible for the investment fund, which has increased under their stewardship to $56 million.

The board of each CBDC -- local volunteers, the majority of which are businesspeople -- makes loan decisions.

The president of the Nova Scotia Association of CBDCs, David Harris, is one such dependable grassroots volunteer.

"Community is everything," says Harris, who lives and works in Yarmouth.

Following that philosophy, Harris has volunteered hundreds of hours with the association and the Yarmouth CBDC, while serving as president or vice-president of five businesses, including R&D Harris Excavating Limited.

Harris knows the difference CBDCs have made.

"I think they're the leaders in the rural communities for small to medium businesses," he says. "Many of the businesses in Yarmouth started because of CBDC, and the majority of them are successful, well-run businesses today."

The importance of small and medium-sized businesses is underlined in a March 2006 research document from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, stating that small businesses make up 97 per cent of the province's enterprises.

One such small business is the innovative MorSwift Machines Inc. in Digby. President and CEO Roland Swift describes the MorSwift Pneumatic Rubber Banding Machine as "an alternative to tape and vinyl strap bundling" -- an alternative that is also efficient and environmentally friendly.

Initially, the focus for the product was the lobster industry. It was Swift's cousin, a lobster fisherman, who three years ago jokingly asked him if he could invent a lobster-banding machine. Now, with innovation, the emphasis is on the produce and printing and publishing markets.

And the company has attracted international interest. One of its machines is being demonstrated in Japan, where Swift says it's being used to band bok choy and sushi containers.

MorSwift Machines Inc. has received support and guidance from a number of agencies and organizations, including the Digby-Clare CBDC.

"Our relationship with the CBDC has been awesome right from the start," says Swift. "We had tried other lending institutions, but the CBDC just made it so easy for us to obtain a loan and vice-versa -- we showed them that we were very trustworthy and that we're a very capable company."

Gillis says last year CBDCs invested more than $17.2 million in 384 businesses -- an investment that helped the companies leverage an additional $9.7 million.

"It's important that businesses have access to capital. Whether it's for start-ups, expansions or adapting new technology for greater innovation and productivity, businesses need access to capital," says Gillis. "When the banks are unable to help, that's where we come in."

With Nova Scotia CBDC's support, 324 new jobs were created in 2006-07 and 770 jobs maintained in the province.

In addition to providing loans and ongoing counsel, CBDCs administer a number of government programs in support of small business, including the Seed Capital Program, which provides loans of up to $20,000 and training funds; the Self-Employment Benefit Program, where eligible participants access training to start business while receiving Employment Insurance; and the Students In Business Program.

The Students in Business Program began three years ago as a collaborative effort among CBDCs and government partners that resourcefully met a need that wasn't being addressed -- helping students become businesspeople. The program provides interest-free loans of up to $5,000.

"It's important that students see an opportunity in their community, that they say 'Hey, maybe there's an option here to be my own boss and if I want to stay and live in one part of the province, I could do that,'" says Gillis. "It's not easy, it's not a cakewalk, but this program helps give them the tools and resources to experience entrepreneurship."

Young people also figure in the Nova Scotia association of CBDCs' work on the issue of succession planning. CBDCs are talking with provincial and federal governments about the possibility of a program to match business owners who want to sell businesses with young people or immigrants interested in taking them over.

From a business perspective, Gillis appreciates the advantages Nova Scotia has to offer, such as a highly educated workforce, the presence of a 13-campus community college and 11 universities, and the impressive performance of Truro, Pictou, Sydney and Halifax in the 2006 KPMG study entitled, Competitive Alternatives: KPMG's Guide to International Business Costs.

Gillis, who grew up in Mabou, Inverness Co. and now lives in Truro, also appreciates the quality of life that Nova Scotia affords.

"We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. I get to live and work in a place that I feel connected to, that is supportive."

Nova Scotia CBDCs also offer clients connection and support by working with community partners. Together they're doing big things with small and medium-size rural businesses.