In the second, or intermediate, stage (3-5 years) integration becomes the primary objective. At this stage social finance models move away from assisting individuals in their career training and employment and toward enabling entrepreneurial newcomers to access capital for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Social finance models in this second stage are focused on assisting enterprises and service provider organizations, rather than on individuals. While these models do not necessarily target individual newcomers, what is critical in their structure is that there are no barriers to newcomers accessing these funds if their enterprises fit the required criteria.
Research conducted by Purpose Capital and the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation identified a few social finance models that provide affordable capital to newcomer entrepreneurs and settlement agencies:
SOCIAL INVESTMENT FUNDS
Access to this type of capital for the second stage of migrant integration is generally delivered through social investment fund (SIF) models as opposed to the micro- loan models. SIFs are entities that act as intermediaries by pooling capital from a variety of sources and investing in social sector organizations.
FINANCE FOR MIGRANT-OWNED SMES
Similar to social investment funds, SME loan programs provide access to capital that would not be offered by traditional lending institutions. However, SME loan programs are designed to support newcomer entrepreneurs, and not service provider organizations.
Notes
*The content on this page summarizes information presented in the Social Finance for the Settlement and Integration Sector in Canada Market Assessment Report (April 2016), produced by Purpose Capital and the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation. Please consult the full report before making any attributions or references to this work.