Obviously, investing in social enterprises is not the same as investing in regular private enterprises.
We have been investing in this type of enterprise for more than 15 years. We have even developed a guide specifically for analyzing social economy projects. This guide is based on our experience and we share it with other banking institutions that are close to us, including a Mouvement Desjardins fund. We also share it with government officers who are tasked with analyzing projects. The guide already exists.
It is always possible to support us. This guide was developed for the Quebec context, but it can be reworked for the Canadian context, translated in both official languages and published. We are prepared to share this experience. What is more, part of the guide is online on our website.
Indeed, it is different. It is important for people tasked with analyzing this type of cooperative project and not-for-profit agencies to understand the difference between social enterprises and other enterprises. How come a project backed by a private enterprise has little chance of working, but a project backed by a cooperative supported by members has more chances of working? The analysis has to be approached differently.