Social Capital Partners’ collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment

March 18, 2014| News release

TORONTO, Mar. 18, 2014 – Social Capital Partners (SCP) and the Ontario government’s Office of Social Enterprise are collaborating to explore a pay-for-performance model that will increase access to employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, new Canadians and other traditionally disadvantaged groups. With support from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment, SCP will conduct a feasibility study commencing this spring. Based on the findings from the study, the expected outcome will be the implementation of a pilot in partnership with one or more Canadian bank lenders.

The concept for this new social finance initiative has emerged as an extension of SCP’s current work. Through the Community Employment Loan Program launched in 2006, SCP facilitates access to financing for entrepreneurs and franchisees who commit to hiring individuals at a disadvantage in securing work. The terms of these Community Employment Loans are directly linked to outcomes: for every employee a business owner hires and retains from one of SCP’s community partners, the interest rate on the loan decreases.

Building upon this work, SCP is partnering with the Ontario government to develop the next phase – a modified new model that has significant potential for scale because it would be delivered, in part, through bank branches in local communities. The idea is to adapt the key features of the Community Employment Loan – namely financing terms that improve based on employment retention outcomes – and make them available to every small business owner and entrepreneur taking on a small business loan. This transition, which entails the integration of a social finance tool into a mainstream financial institution offering, is pivotal to achieve true scale.

Economic policy Labour & skills Leveraging capital Local economies Small business

Share with a friend

Related reading

VideoThe Ownership Solution

Watch the video: Why would a company sell to its employees?

Canada is facing a $2-trillion business handoff. What if employees owned more of it? In this video, our Director of Policy Dan Skilleter explains why a company would sell to its own employees, how it happens and who stands to benefits. Spoiler alert: employee-owned companies are shown to be 8-12% more productive, share more wealth with their workers, keep businesses Canadian-owned and shore up the resilience of local communities and the broader economy.

BlogThe Ownership Solution

How Canada can curb the serial acquisitions quietly reshaping our economy

In many cases, threats to the affordability of everyday goods and services are the byproduct of what competition experts call serial acquisitions—a pattern of larger firms buying up a series of smaller players to try and corner the market. As Michelle Arnold and Kiran Gill explain, a fair and competitive economy does not emerge by accident. The Competition Bureau's proposed Merger Enforcement Guidelines will play an important role in preventing bigger firms from creating unfair playing fields that hurt Canadian small businesses, workers and consumers. The next step for the bureau should be aggressive enforcement of the new guidelines.

Submission

From Guidelines to Action: Feedback on the Proposed Merger Enforcement Guidelines

The Competition Bureau's proposed Merger Enforcement Guidelines represent meaningful progress against trends towards corporate consolidation in Canada. In our formal feedback submission to the bureau, Social Capital Partners outlines that we strongly support the new guidelines. However, we believe that the operationalization of these guidelines will be the real test of their impact. Guidance documents shape expectations, but enforcement outcomes shape behaviour. Serial acquirers are sophisticated actors who model regulatory risk into their strategies. To succeed, the bureau must demonstrate visible capacity to track, analyze and challenge roll-up patterns that are driving up prices and sacrificing quality and service in key sectors.

Skip to content