Créavenir

Insider Tip

The 18-to-39 age range and the 50% shareholding requirement apply across the whole program, not just the succession track — the page's eligibility bullets only spell the age out under succession, but its own heading and Laval Économique's official program listing both describe Créavenir as being for entrepreneurs aged 18 to 39, and the FAQ states the shareholding rule without qualifying it by track. Build the business plan WITH Laval Économique rather than bringing a finished one: the criterion is a plan 'developed or validated' with their help, and the team also coaches you through it. Sort out the Desjardins banking move early, since making it your primary institution for day-to-day operations is a condition, not a preference.

Evaluation Criteria

Créavenir is assessed relationally rather than by a published scoring rubric. Laval Économique states the program's objectives are to guide young entrepreneurs toward coaching solutions, to offer financing adapted to their reality 'without the usual requirements', and to provide financial leverage that eases access to conventional credit — so the assessment is calibrated to applicants who would not clear a standard bank test. The substantive gates are the business plan developed or validated with Laval Économique and its financial forecasts, the entrepreneur's demonstrated good credit behaviour (no minimum score is published), the 18-to-39 age range, the 50% shareholding, and the Desjardins banking relationship. On the established-company and succession tracks, the maintenance or creation of jobs is an explicit requirement.

Application Steps

Required Documents 9

Eligible Expenses 4

• Start-up costs for a new business, as set out in the business plan
• Consolidation costs for a company active for less than three years
• Acquisition of at least 50% of the share capital of an existing business (succession track)
• Day-to-day working capital and operating purchases drawn on the line of credit and credit card

Ineligible Expenses 1

• Laval Économique publishes no eligible- or ineligible-expense list for Créavenir — the grant and the credit facility are assessed against the business plan rather than an itemised cost schedule. Confirm intended uses with the Créavenir team before drawing.

Intake Periods

Continuous. Laval Économique's program listing publishes the intake as 'At all times' — there are no rounds, windows or deadlines.

Deadline Notes

No deadline. Laval Économique's own program listing publishes the intake as 'At all times'. Files are handled as they arrive, with the Créavenir team coaching applicants through needs assessment, the business plan and the application.

Ineligible Organizations

• Entrepreneurs younger than 18 or older than 39
• Entrepreneurs holding less than 50% of the company's shares
• Businesses that are neither incorporated nor in the process of being incorporated
• Established companies that have been active for three years or more
• Businesses unwilling to make Desjardins their primary financial institution for day-to-day operations

Stacking partner data not yet available.

Clawback Risk

Medium Risk

Mixed exposure. The $16,000 line of credit and credit card are repayable debt at prime + 0.5%, so the standing obligation is repayment, not clawback — and as a young or newly incorporated company you should expect Desjardins to look to the principal's personal credit standing. The $5,000 grant is non-repayable but conditional: Laval Économique states 'Other conditions may apply', the established and succession tracks require the maintenance or creation of jobs, and the company must keep Desjardins as its primary financial institution. Read the conditions attached to the grant before drawing on the credit.