The Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) of the Government of Canada is encoded in DELIA’s FinTech-driven lending model developed in partnership with CORL. Northumberland CFDC provides an easy, online application process and instant decisions on commercial loan applications up to $50,000. DELIA prioritizes investment in innovative women-owned and women-led enterprises in Eastern Ontario.

Successful loan recipients will be automatically inducted into a concurrent program providing advisory and support services, networking opportunities, accelerator space, and entrepreneurial skills development through the Venture13 innovation and entrepreneurship centre in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada.

Applications will be closed after the total available capital is exhausted and until recapitalization.

The objective of DELIA is to close existing service and access to capital gaps in Eastern Ontario to help to ensure under-represented women successfully can start, scale up and expand their ventures with dedicated financing and strategy support services. It is expected that DELIA will have two cohorts by 2023 and will support a minimum of 30 businesses.

In delivering this initiative with the support of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) Northumberland CFDC is fully committed to diversity and inclusiveness. Women- owned enterprises remain underrepresented in the Canadian economy, however, they experience faster growth relative to men-owned enterprises (Source: Statistics Canada). Now is the time to strive for the potential of equal gender participation in economic advancement.

Artemis is the Greek Goddess of the hunt. DELIA is one of her many and diverse titles, meaning from Delos, the island where she was born. When you think of DELIA, think of a strong deal for women.