The biggest challenge that any entrepreneur faces today with their start-up is finding a way to bring their ideas to life with cash flow. Any brilliant business venture needs to be backed by enough capital. That funding is used for anything, from paying down expenses, to drive expansion, recruit talent, payoff loans and establish your presence in the market.

Funding is available from different sources, but all of them differ from each other in ways that may meet your needs. Below are the top 4 funding options in 2016 to consider for your start up:

Government Grants and Loans for Small Businesses

Today there are many different small business grants and Loans for your start ups that you can use to drive cash flow. But when it comes to government grants, keep in mind that there are criteria that need to be met and some of the approval processes are particular in nature. Grants can target niche businesses, be location based or product specific.

Available Grants for your startup could include:

-Young Entrepreneurship
-Social and Economic Development
-Process Research and Product Development

NGO Financing

In addition of government grants, there is a large number of non-governmental funding available to entrepreneurs. Some, NGO’s may give you a specific amount of funding needed, will other NGO’s will only finance a percentage of what your business needs.

NGO’s are available at the local, provincial or federal level. The application process is similar to government grants and are available for many different business niches

Crowd Funding

Crowd funding is the newest method to raise capital for your business. If you are unaware of what crowd funding is, it a group contribution from a collection of people not attached to the financial sector.

There are many crowd funding platforms online. It’s a great way that allows you to take pre-orders or receive awards while donating. The negatives of crowd funding is that your idea is available to everyone who can copy and deliver to market faster than you can, the pro is that you can test market validity of your product, during the donation phase.

Private Sector and Personal Assets

The oldest method on the list is to either go to a lender using financial institution or funding the project through your personal assets. Most financial institutions will need to see you have starting capital before they lend you money. You will also need financial forecasts and a positive credit score statement. Further more you can use your assets to get the financing needed by using them as collateral.

Getting a loan against personal assets is a particularly good option for business owners who do not have enough capital to start up their business, further they do not to fill out forms or meet certain criteria’s that other funding options require. The process is usually quick and user friendly.

If any of these funding methods meet your needs, we can help you match up with your funding needs. The National Business Finance Centre can help you make the right choice. Contact us at 1-888-707-3222.