One of Adele’s favourite sayings is:
There is nothing so constant as change.
And, as we’ve just entered a season of change – saying goodbye to the warmth of summer as we welcome the beauty of fall and get ready for the chill of winter – things are changing at AIRO as well...
One thing we’ve always been upfront about since we opened our doors on June 1, 2016, is that AIRO had a pre-determined lifespan of approximately five to seven years as a microlender, with perhaps a few additional years as a consultancy. AIRO’s predicted lifespan was based on the amount of money we had available to lend to businesses or invest in the community and the length of time Jane and Adele could devote to this incredible adventure.
Before you get too upset...we aren’t closing up shop!
But we are reaching a major milestone. After December 31st, 2021, we will no longer be issuing loans. We’re sure you want to know why, so let us explain...
Our lending cap has generally been up to $10,000 and, after looking at client cash flow needs, we determined early on that 24 months was the ideal length of time for most businesses to repay their AIRO loans. Some of our loans have been repaid in fewer than 24 months, it’s true, but not one has been repaid in fewer than 12 months.
With that 12-month timeline in mind, we’ve decided that 2022 is our “transition year” from micro-lender to consultancy, which means we anticipate our clients having all their loans repaid by December 31, 2022. To give new clients the 12-month repayment window, December 31, 2021, is our end-date for new lending.
What do we mean by ‘consultancy’?
AIRO has worked. It’s worked better than we could have imagined when Jane first brought together a group of friends (including Adele) in December 2015 so she could float the idea and get feedback. The beauty of AIRO being so successful is that it’s also abundantly clear that it can be replicated in rural communities throughout North America! Helping others establish their own version of AIRO, documenting our success, and ensuring that the AIRO legacy continues to benefit our community will become our new focus. The proof of how well AIRO has worked is in our most recent numbers:
| AIRO’s Numbers as of October 1, 2021 |
| Total Number of Applications Received |
159 |
| Total Dollars Directly Invested to Date |
$711,302 |
| Businesses Funded / Applicants |
68 out of 132 applications (4 pending) |
Community Projects
Funded / Applicants |
19 out of 27 applications / proposals |
| Job Creation (total of approved & pending applications) |
184 full, part-time, and seasonal jobs |
| Cost Per Job Created |
$3,866 |
| Total Number of Loan Defaults |
1 out of 87 projects funded |
What about all our clients?!
Our clients have become like family. As folks who have ever had a loan with us will tell you, the email they get thanking them for their final payment includes the line “once a part of the AIRO family, always part of the AIRO family”. We will remain available to our clients in the same way we always have...for help with almost anything you can imagine – both business and personal – because, with small business owners and operators, it’s next to impossible to separate the one from the other.
The clock of change is ticking!
In the meantime, there’s still time for entrepreneurs to apply for a loan from AIRO before December 31, 2021, with a 12-month repayment plan that ends December 31, 2022. If you know of a new business that needs our help or an existing business that needs to grow, don’t hesitate to send them our way!
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The full-length documentary is going online late next week – watch your inbox for the link!
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Trailer for RURAL RENAISSANCE: How the Citizens of Annapolis Royal Reinvented Canada’s Oldest Town
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Know An Entrepreneur Who Is Ready To Dream Big...or step up for one of the opportunities our Local Logic report identifies?
If you have a business idea you want to get off the ground or know someone who does, forward this email to someone who could use our help or go to our website and choose the appropriate application form, submit it, and we’ll reply with the next steps.
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