Raising capital is a complex process, requiring a diverse set of specialized skills, including finance, legal, regulatory, tax, marketing, technology, and administration. Most businesses do not have these skills internally because raising capital is an occasional process rather than core business. Instead, community-based businesses end up having to select multiple service providers and managing them to deliver the desired solution. This is not only time-consuming, but also a bit like herding cats, requiring significant skill and effort by the community-owned businesses. What community-owned businesses really need is an integrated solution.
Such an integrated solution exists in the private sector, where investment banks help companies offer securities successfully to raise the capital they need. However, no such integrated solution provider exists for community-owned businesses in Western Canada. Too often, the result is that community-owned businesses decide not to pursue a capital raise, resulting in capital-constrained businesses that are not able to reach their full potential. In other cases, community-owned businesses spend inordinate amounts of time and money to cobble together a solution that all-too-often create problems down the road.
Community Capital Solutions Co-operative is stepping into this gap, offering an integrated investment banking solution for community-owned businesses in Western Canada.