WINNIPEG (CBC) - Young entrepreneurs with a bright idea can get a hand launching their business through $100,000 in micro-loans now being offered provided by the University of Winnipeg and the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.

People aged 18 to 34 with a solid business plan or a newly launched business can qualify for micro-loans of up to $15,000 under the program. The low-interest loans would be repaid over three- to five-year periods.

The university's faculty of business and a committee of 16 people from Winnipeg's business and financial community will scrutinize the proposals.

Once approved for a loan, the budding entrepreneur will be matched with an experienced business mentor for the first two years of the new venture.

"As the businesses prosper and they repay the loans, that then goes back into the opportunity fund, so there's a real proper circle and loop to the idea that a community itself can make a major contribution," said university president Lloyd Axworthy.

"At the same time ... we can also provide an economic stimulus for our neighbours in this inner city."

Axworthy said the new initiative is about building Winnipeg's business community and building relationships in the inner city. The program is not limited to inner-city or even Winnipeg participants, but university officials said they expect most of the entrepreneurs will focus on the neighbourhood.

"I find it gratifying to know that in a couple of short years - maybe months - we will have a new restaurant, a new web-design company, a new daycare centre, because a young person with a big dream has been able to turn to the opportunity fund, our new partners, the Canadian [Youth] Business Foundation, and our business advisers for support," he said.

The university is contributing $50,000 to the loan fund through its foundation's opportunity fund, which also provides tuition credits to middle-school students and bursaries to students.

The university foundation's contribution will be matched by the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, which has been providing mentoring and financial support to young entrepreneurs for more than a decade.

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