Our partnership with NCFDC continues with the second round of DELIA, a fintech-driven microlending platform now available to women-owned businesses across Canada, in all Provinces and Territories.
Background
In 2019, as part of the Government of Canada’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), DELIA was developed and piloted by NCFDC in partnership with Corl, to help address the access to capital for women-owned enterprises in southern Ontario. The highly successful project backed 42 companies with $675,000 in targeted microloans, with the support of FedDev Ontario.
Today, with follow-on strategic capitalization from Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED Canada), DELIA is active at a national scale–targeting a new round of microlending in the latest effort to help close the well-documented gender access to capital gap in Canada (See for example RBC, 2022; CBC, 2022; and for a recent comprehensive backgrounder, WEKH, 2022).
The Technology
In order to streamline access to capital, DELIA offers applicants an online application with the potential for instant pre-qualification through the use of an automated credit engine powered by Corl’s AI technology.
In order to eliminate bias, an applicant’s business is assessed quantitatively based upon a determination of its objective merit across multiple dimensions, through linked accounts, essentially yielding a Corl score and risk rating.
Predictive analysis is adjusted based on macro-assumptions about the unrealized potential of women entrepreneurs (that accessing capital yields a higher rate of success for this traditionally underserved client segment).
Decisions are made quickly via a simplified online process, loans risk-rated and disbursed at the earliest possible opportunity through automation, further accelerating timelines for realization of business growth and success of women-owned firms in Canada based on their merit and recognized potential.
Our Common Goal
As the DELIA data set evolves, Corl continues to work with NCFDC to continuously hone and optimise the credit engine. By 2024, DELIA is expected to stand as a revolving and evergreen Canadian microloan fund for women entrepreneurship, the legacy of our strategic partnership with NCFDC and an example of our approach to corporate responsibility.
“I’d like to commend Wendy Curtis and the team at NCFDC for seeing the potential of adapting Corl’s software to the economic development and alternative lending space,” said Founder & CEO Derek Manuge. “We’re excited to be a part of this endeavour and to make a difference for women entrepreneurs.”
To find out more and apply today, visit ncfdc.ca/delia.
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