By Kate Lysakowski
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T
here is no shortage of visible entre-
preneurship at work in Canada. In
fact, small businesses across the
country account for approximately 50 per-
cent of its employment. The sizable num-
ber of jobs that Canadian small businesses
create is a lucrative component towards
driving the country’s economy, yet as Troy
Wright, Founder and CEO of Lendified,
explains, as many as 20 percent of those
ventures are declined for a small business
loan. Having worked closely in several fac-
ets of the financial services industry for
more than 25 years, Wright saw the op-
portunity to begin Lendified after evaluat-
ing “the needs that customers had across
Canada and in other countries around the
world, where major players, mostly the
banks, were falling short.”
The entirely online platform Lendified
launched in February 2015 supplies small
business loans with an approval rate of 80
to 90 percent. As Wright suggests, “(Len-
dified) was born out of the opportunity to
meet the needs of small businesses in
Canada beyond what existing banks and
other financial institutions currently do.”
The differences between Lendified and
the major players are significant. The loan
experience with big banks can be lengthy,
challenging and stressful; anyone who has
done it would know the application process
could take up to as long as eight weeks,
that the some 15 different documents re-
quired to complete the application can be
difficult to obtain, and that the estimated
25 hours of time required to complete the
loan process does not necessarily merit a
positive outcome.
MARCH 2016
H
business elite canada
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