North Shore microcredit agency reports a good year

FCAMC makes loans to entrepreneurs without regular credit access

By
Dimitris Ilias
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North Shore microcredit agency reports a good year
Seen here at the FCAMC’s recent annual general meeting are (from the left) are Mona Beaulieu (general manager FCAMC), François Mercier, (vice-president), Gabrielle Favreau-Lavallée (Studios Coco-Gaby), Ginette Demers (president), Jany Tousignant (WhatSUP), Danyelle Roy (coordinator for business development FCAMC) and Patrick Roberge (treasurer). Members of the board not present: Mathieu Roy, Mélanie Laroche, Louis-Philippe Bourgeois and Sébastien Lassonde.

(NSN) The board of the Sainte-Thérèse-based Fonds communautaire d’accès au micro-crédit (FCAMC) reported at their 2018-2019 annual general meeting on June 4 that they had a good year and that microcredit has become an indispensable tool for economic development in the Lower Laurentian region.

“Over the years, hundreds of businesses have been helped to get started thanks to the Fonds communautaire d’accès au micro-crédit,” said board president Ginette Demers. According to the annual report, the FCAMC made 28 loans, leading to the creation of 78 jobs. The FCAMC has $445,000 in capital to lend to qualifying entrepreneurs.

 

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In 2018-2019, the FCAMC also provided 1,436 hours of assistance to entrepreneurs. Despite the fact the fund’s clients are regarded as being in an elevated risk category, the FCAMC reports a 94 per cent rate of reimbursement on repayable loans.

In the coming year, the FCAMC plans to maintain current services, while increasing the size of the fund so as to be able to also raise the maximum amount payable per loan to fledgling businesses. The FCAMC has existed since 1999. It has a mandate to provide small-business loans to enterpreneurs who have limited access to mainstream financing methods.