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Investment Co-op passes minimum goal

The fledgling Creston & District Community Investment Co-op has achieved it’s stated minimum of 50 members, and more.

It’s a go. The fledgling Creston & District Community Investment Co-op has achieved it’s stated minimum of 50 members, and more.

When the plans for a co-op to allow area residents to invest locally, inside or outside of their Registered Retirement Savings Plans, the inaugural board of directors set a minimum of 50 members as their requirement to go ahead with the co-op’s legal establishment.

With a one-time membership fee of $500, founding members can then invest up to $4,500 in shares, with the money then being loaned to startups or existing businesses that wish to expand.

By the end of Monday, with three business days left until the Thursday deadline, CDCI Co-op had signed up 61 members and banked a total of $31,500. Those members have indicated intentions to invest another $237,000 in shares, which will become lending capital.

“We have until Thursday the 15th this week to accept any more founding members, and there are a couple each day walking through the door,” spokesman Eden Yesh said late on Monday afternoon.

When the required legal processes are complete, CDIC Co-op expects to begin selling investment shares to founding members in January, in time for the investments to qualify for RRSP status for the 2016 taxation year.