Collective Entrepreneurship Capital Investment Program (PIEC)
The financial support granted to a project is a maximum of 50% of eligible expenses, up to a maximum of $500,000. The accumulation of government financial assistance must not exceed 80% of the project’s eligible expenses.
Loan
Description:
The PIEC is aimed at social economy enterprises wishing to renovate, construct or acquire a building to promote the development of their business and their service offering.
Comments on Funding:
Goals
Supporting social economy enterprises in their real estate projects:
By promoting access to buildings adapted to their activities while limiting debt;
By increasing investment in fixed assets with better access to financing.
Two (2) financial assistance programs for social economy businesses are currently offered. Consult the following table to check which program your project qualifies for.
Important
You can only apply for one of the two programs.
You must choose the DEPART program if your company meets all of the associated criteria.
Please allow additional time for processing an application filed in the wrong program.
The processing of financial assistance applications is the responsibility of Investissement Québec, which will decide which program the project submitted by the company will apply to.
Companies will be able to submit their projects between August 9 and October 15, 2024. No requests for financial assistance may be submitted to Investissement Québec before or after this period.
Eligibility:
All sectors are eligible, except the following sectors of activity:
Financial and insurance services;
Animal services;
Beverage outlet;
To be eligible, collective businesses that produce alcohol and that apply must demonstrate that the majority (more than 50%) of their economic activity is manufacturing, that is to say that the volume of beverages produced is not exclusively consumed on site and is mainly distributed.
The following types of organizations are considered ineligible:
Professional grouping;
Employers’ association;
Religious organization;
Trade union organization;
Chamber of Commerce;
Political party;
Public and private foundation within the meaning of the Income Tax Act of Canada;
Trust;
Sports team;
Student association;
Private primary, secondary and post-secondary educational institution.
Application Steps:
Please note that it is no longer possible to submit a new application since October 15, 2024. However, you can access the customer portal to view information related to previously submitted applications.
To access the customer portal, a company must:
have a clicSÉQUR – Businesses account;
be registered for the services offered by the Ministry.
Procedure:
1. Visit the page How to register a business with clicSÉQUR Opens a new window to open an account;
2. Register for the services offered by the Ministry.
Please note that creating a clicSÉQUR – Entreprises account can take up to four weeks.
Documentation Needed:
Documents required to make a requestOpen/Close
The duly completed financial aid application form (online via ClicSEQUR);
The company’s statutes and regulations;
Financial statements for the past two years, if applicable (notices to reader are not admissible);
For start-up companies (which have been in business for less than 2 years): a business plan or a project summary and 2-year financial forecasts which must demonstrate that these activities will rely more than 40% on autonomous revenues at the end of the project;
The company’s latest annual activity report or the minutes of the last annual general meeting;
2-year budget forecasts;
At least one estimate, broken down by item, covering all planned work;
The rental contract, if the application is submitted by a tenant company;
Copy of the certificate under the Contractual Obligation Program – Equality in Employment of the company (if applicable);
Other documents required for project analysis, including documents demonstrating the eco-responsibility of the project.
For a subject company, a copy of the francization certificate or, if it does not yet hold this certificate, one of the following documents, valid and issued by the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF):
Certificate of registration with the OQLF;
Acknowledgement of receipt of the analysis of the linguistic situation;
Certificate of program application.
Financial assistance from the PIEC cannot be combined with assistance from another programme of the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy (MEIE) for the same project, but can be combined with other government financial assistance.
Other Things to Note:
In order to ensure the availability of the amounts provided for in the budget envelope, the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy (MEIE) and Investissement Québec reserve the right to suspend without notice the submission and analysis of applications to the program. https://www.investquebec.com/quebec/fr/produits-financiers/cooperatives-OBNL/programme-immobilisation-en-entrepreneuriat-collectif/Trousse-client.html
About the author
Maurice
