DELIA
MICROLOANS FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
In 2019–2020, Northumberland CFDC, with the support of FedDev Ontario and the Government of Canada’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), launched Delia, a microloan platform designed to address the lack of access to capital for women-owned companies in Southern Ontario. With the support of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISDE), Delia is now available across Canada.
The DELIA Term Sheet at a Glance
- Microloans normally in the $15,000 range
- Prioritizing diverse, intersectional and underserved Women entrepreneurs
- Interest rate: Prime +2% to Prime +4% risk-rated
- Standard 2-year term
- Secured by GSA and personal guarantee, insurance assignment, no collateralization
- No prepayment charges
- Instant pre-qualification via online application (can be completed in less than 30 minutes)
- Concurrent mentoring, training and development opportunities for select microloan recipients (1:1 advisory sessions, workshops, etc.).
- If the application is approved, a Loan Administration Fee of 1% of the principal will apply (to be deducted from the advance).
Information to Have on Hand for your application
- Scanned image file of documents confirming your personal identity and that of any major shareholders/owners/principals.
- Articles of Incorporation/Business
- Registration
- Business Bank Account online sign in information (username and password)
- Other online business account sign in information (e.g. cloud-based accounting software, payments, e-commerce services, etc.)
- Business performance metrics (e.g. income, expenses, gross margin calculation, etc.)
- Other optional documentation you may wish to include, such as a business plan (a concise document outlining major planning assumptions).
Basic Applicant Eligibility
Loan applicants must be a Canadian citizen or a legal entity owned and controlled by a Canadian citizen, including
- a sole proprietorship, an unincorporated business that is owned by one individual;
- a for-profit small Canadian business federally/provincially/territorially incorporated in Canada that is controlled directly or indirectly by one or more resident persons;
- a for-profit co-operative corporation incorporated under a federal, provincial or territorial co-operative Act, or;
- a social enterprise that earns revenue from the regular supply of personal property/goods and services and meets the profitability and equity criteria above;
- not-for-profit organizations are not eligible for loans.
Individuals submitting loan applications must be:
- At least 19 years of age
- A Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident
- Residing in Canada
Eligible businesses are those which are over 50% Women-owned. In the case of a Sole Proprietorship, the Sole Proprietor is a woman.
Further, the business is managed and controlled by one or more Women, where a woman is a signatory of the business’s legal documents and financial accounts, and which is operated independently from businesses that are not owned by Women.
Applicants must have and maintain:
- a valid and separate business bank account and satisfy basic liquidity requirements,
- a Business Number registered with the Canada Revenue Agency.
DELIA is restricted from making loans to companies primarily engaged in certain activities, such as:
- holding or managing real estate
- extracting resources
- selling, marketing or providing gambling, pornography, alcohol, tobacco, weapons or illegal goods.
Prioritizing Diverse, Intersectional and Underserved Entrepreneurs.
DELIA is committed to prioritizing the following diverse Women-owned businesses:
- Indigenous/First Nation
- The official language minority community (French)
- Black
- Visible minority
- 2SLGBTQI+
- Recent new Canadian
- Persons with disabilities
- Located in a rural or remote area
Inclusive of gender non-binary entrepreneurs.
Use of proceeds
Eligible expenses that can be financed by a DELIA microloan include:
- Capital assets (including machinery/equipment, leasehold/property improvements)
- Office and equipment rental
- Salaries and benefits (excluding the owner’s salary)
- IT/Software license purchase
- Professional services
- Inventory/Supplies
- Intellectual Property
- Working Capital (e.g. payroll, lease payments, accounts management, rent, overhead costs)
- Digital (including website/E-commerce development)
- Marketing/advertising/business promotion
- Employee training
- Short-term receivable financing (i.e. financing to service a contract)
- Business start up costs (legal fees, business incorporation fees, business plan preparation, etc.).
Ineligible expenses include:
- Capital expenditures on real property (e.g. land/building purchases)
- Goodwill
- Amortization Costs
- Purchase of assets for more than fair market value
- Owner’s salary
- Payment of bonuses
- Refinancing existing debt
- Purchase of stocks/shares
- Franchise fees
- Research and development
- Management fees
- Dividend payout
- Increase to shareholder or management committee compensation.
DELIA investment may not be used for any of the ineligible expenses listed above.
DELIA Application Process
Begin by clicking APPLY NOW.
Applicants will be taken to NCFDC’s fintech-driven DELIA lending platform powered by CORL (which will generate a credit enquiry).
The application normally takes no longer than 30 minutes and sometimes as little as 10 minutes if you have all of your information ready and are able to link directly to online accounts. You will be instantly informed of your application status (PRE-QUALIFIED or IN REVIEW). A DELIA representative will contact you regarding the final decision (APPROVE or DECLINE). If APPROVED, NCFDC will issue a Letter of Offer and Loan Agreement to successful applicants and ultimately disburse funds via EFT directly to your business bank account.
Normally, successful applicants can expect to receive funds net of two weeks from the date of submission of a full and complete application.
At the same time, NCFDC reserves the right to carry out extended due diligence in review of any application and does not guarantee any amount of funding to any applicant. Lending decisions are made in the sole and unfettered discretion of NCFDC.
