Small Business Loans for Women in Central Canada

Paro Centre for Women’s Enterprise

Located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, the Paro Centre operates over 30 peer lending circles throughout the Thunder Bay, Greenstone, Patricia and Superior North regions. These groups of four to seven women meet monthly to “exchange advice, provide support, approve and guarantee each other’s loans and monitor payments”.

If you are a woman who wants to become economically independent by starting a business or finding a job, Paro also operates the Gateway: A Path to Self Employment program which offers business development programming to women in Thunder Bay and area who are unemployed and eligible for Employment Insurance (EI), have been eligible on EI in the last three years or have been on maternity benefits in the last five years. Women receive Self-Employment Benefits (SEB) for the duration of the program.

Women are statistically better at paying back loans, if you are looking for financing and you are a woman, you should consider using the statistics supporting the reliability of women in paying back loans when approaching friends and family. If you gain loans from your friends and family for your business venture, be sure to document your loan at www.documentyourloan.com