If you're an ACTI grad, you probably stopped thinking about starting a business a while ago, because you're busy running one. You put a price on your idea, asked someone to buy, and they said yes. Then someone else did.

This is about what comes next, and about a financing program some of you may be closer to qualifying for than you realize.

Futurpreneur

Futurpreneur Canada helps entrepreneurs aged 18 to 39 access financing and mentorship to start and grow a business. Its Core Startup Program can currently give eligible entrepreneurs access to up to $75,000 in financing, including financing available through BDC, plus up to two years of one-to-one mentorship. For a young business, that is real capital.

Why Now Might Be the Time

Since you launched, you've dealt with customers, sent invoices, changed prices, and discovered expenses that somehow never appeared in your original spreadsheet. You know what customers actually want now, and it may not be what you first guessed.

You may also be starting to hit limits. Maybe you need equipment, or you're carrying more inventory, or demand is outrunning your capacity, or there's a marketing opportunity you finally understand well enough to act on. When the next move costs more than this month's sales can comfortably cover, financing becomes worth a serious look.

The test is whether you can say exactly what the money would do. Equipment makes sense when it changes what the business can produce. Advertising makes sense when you know who the customer is, what they'll buy, and what it costs to acquire one. Inventory makes sense when you know you can move it. The money should have a job before it arrives.

And just because someone will lend you more doesn't mean you should take more. Borrow the amount that funds a move you understand.

You've Already Done Much of the Work

Futurpreneur asks for a business plan and cash-flow projections, and you built both at ACTI. Please don't pull the old plan out of a folder, change the date and send it in. You have real numbers now, and you can compare what you expected with what actually happened. If your customer changed, or your price did, or the service you thought would be an add-on became your best seller, put that in. A plan built around the business you have today is much stronger than the one you wrote before you opened.

Could You Qualify?

Each Futurpreneur program has specific requirements, but the general criteria include being 18 to 39, being a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, living in Canada, and operating a Canadian business. You'll need a viable business plan and cash-flow projections, and you'll need to agree to a personal credit check.

The startup financing programs are generally intended for businesses that are pre-launch or still relatively new. So if you finished ACTI recently and assume you're already too far along, check before you rule yourself out.

Futurpreneur also has a Side Hustle Program, which can provide eligible entrepreneurs with up to $25,000 in financing plus mentorship while they continue earning full-time income elsewhere. If you're keeping the paycheque for now, that may be the better fit.

We'll Help You Apply

If you're an ACTI grad between 18 and 39 and this sounds interesting, we'd like to help. We'll look at your business as it stands today: your numbers, what has changed, and what you want to do next. We'll help you update the business plan and cash flow, explain what Futurpreneur is looking for, and help you put together a stronger application.

You should also know if borrowing money doesn't make sense for your business, we'll tell you that too.

So if you've caught yourself thinking "if I just had the money to…", finish that sentence and email it to dart@acti.org with the subject line "Futurpreneur."

Built at ACTI. Still building.