The Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF)is taking business support a bit more micro, with a new funding stream dedicated to small- and mid-sized companies.
OCIF Express is a new, $5 million pool of cash that’s providing a quicker, streamlined funding mechanism for businesses looking to hire skilled talent, or provide training to their teams.
The funding itself is a part of an overall $100 million investment made by the City of Calgary to help attract and develop economic interests in the region. Companies must apply to tap into the OCIF. To date, 30 projects totalling $85 million have been awarded.
OCIF director Derek Armstrong said they recognized through feedback from the local business community that going through the typical OCIF funding process can be onerous and lengthy for Calgary small- and medium-sized businesses. It created a barrier for many companies to access potential funding to build their companies.
“OCIF Express was put out there in response to that feedback,” he said.
“It’s for those smaller, simpler projects and to really help fuel Calgary businesses as fast and as efficiently as possible.”
They’ll deploy the $5 million in two separate funding streams – one for companies to hire talent and another stream to provide employees with in-house training. The funding does come as a top-up incentive to hire or train people, and the successful companies must make an initial investment in the hiring or training.
While there are guidelines for companies considering an application, Armstrong said that they’re trying to make the process as simple as possible. The Express portal is only open for three weeks, with the competition for funds closing on Nov. 8. They hope to award the cash, after an evaluation process, in December.
Stress the competitive aspect.
“It is likely going to be a competitive process, and we are likely to be oversubscribed,” Armstrong said.
They are hoping to boost certain sectors with the OCIF Express funding, too. Armstrong said the OCIF mandate is to diversify, grow and build resilience in Calgary’s economy.
Fast-growing sectors are being targeted for this funding, including clean energy transition, ag and agtech, life sciences, health, aerospace, advanced manufacturing and the creative industries and digital technology, Armstrong said.
“It’s really about the needs of the community. We have, through all our research and through all our analysis and feedback from the community, that this is what is needed at this time,” Armstrong said.
“I would say there’s no additional motivation other than that and to really maintain the momentum that Calgary’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is seeing right now.”
Interested companies can apply to either funding stream through this website.
