The administrators of the federal Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund, which has turned down more than 85 per cent of applications so far, have not created a way for rejected applicants to seek an independent appeal of the decisions, despite that being part of the administrators’ contract with the federal government, documents show.
Ottawa announced the loan fund last May as a way to help Black business owners who require capital, which has been a long-standing barrier for some in the community. Entrepreneurs can apply for loans of between $25,000 and $250,000. The program is run by the Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE), a coalition of five Black business organizations, with money provided by the federal government and the Business Development Bank of Canada. BDC has final approval of the loans.
More than 16,000 entrepreneurs have applied for loans, but few have received…
