SUNDRE — A local effort to launch an opportunity for people to invest in the community is taking the next step.
The Sundre Investment Group Cooperative was recently formally incorporated and is now at the point of selling memberships, said Mike Beukeboom, who is among several founders.
“That was the big thing. We are officially registered with the Alberta Securities Commission,” Beukeboom said during a phone interview.
The driving aspiration behind this new initiative is to foster local economic stewardship, he said.
“That probably would be the focus of anything that we’re talking about now,” he said. “It’s a great time to start talking with folks, getting them prepared to understand what economic stewardship is.”
In a nutshell, it boils down to investing local dollars in local businesses, he explained.
“We’re quite excited about this," he said.
The founding group — Greg Campkin, Katie Jo Munro, and Beukeboom — have been working with a lawyer with “expertise in investment cooperatives and making sure that everything’s registered properly and legally. We’re kind of at that stage now where we can move forward.”
To that end, he said the co-op planned to host its inaugural annual general meeting on Nov. 21 at the Sundre Elks lodge in an effort to sign up members.
Still early on in the co-op’s attempt to build momentum, there currently are no specific projects that have been committed to, he said, adding those are conversations yet to be had as the group grows.
“We are discussing some projects. So as members come in, we can discuss those projects with them. I’d be getting ahead of myself, I think, and ahead of the group, if I were to discuss something that doesn’t turn out to happen,” he said.
“But there are a couple of really interesting investment opportunities potentially coming up.”
Those investment options are to be discussed in greater depth during the upcoming annual general meeting as well as future meetings, he said.
Explaining the procedure, he said if a particular project is determined to be of interest to the cooperative, that a vetting process including, for example, a review of business plans would follow.
“The goal is to not only support and help new and existing businesses take the next steps forward as entrepreneurs, but also to provide a return on investment for the investors as well,” he said. “So, it really, truly is a win-win for the community.”
