According to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada is ranked 3rd in the list of top Countries for Entrepreneurship just above United States. The government support, the entrepreneurial eco-system, and the societal perspective on Entrepreneurship have contributed to this ranking.
The latest program that the Canadian government has added to encourage Entrepreneurs is the ‘Startup Visa’ program. Policy makers in Canada have understood that Entrepreneurial immigrants are the foundation on which the US economy has thrived. To replicate this model, the Canadian government owned Bank – BDC is inviting applications from Immigrant Entrepreneurs for Financing and consulting services. Not all Businesses qualify for the visa program.
The selection process is rigorous, and BDC Venture Capital reviews over 1000 Business plans every year. Criteria for Businesses are:
1) It should have a distinct and sustainable competitive advantage
2) It’s intellectual property, and knowledge should provide a strong barrier to entry for competitors
3) It should have a suite of technology development in a broader set of markets.
4) It should have skilled and committed team.
5) It should have a clearly defined Business plan with realistic targets
6) It should be in a market that has the opportunity for sustainable growth
7) It should be a dominant player in the market place, and should have the potential to increase in value through mergers, acquisition or Initial public offering.
8) It should have a well-defined exit strategy within a 3-5 year exit window
Immigrant Entrepreneurs whose company meets the above requirements can get the first round of financing in the range of $250,000 to $3,000,000 and subsequent financing rounds can infuse funding in the range of $1 million to $10 million USD. The candidates who will be considered for the ‘Startup Visa’ should have at least $25,000 of initial investment from an approved and qualified Canadian investor.
For more details visit Startup Visa
About the Author
I am Atul Jose, Founding Consultant of F1GMAT, an MBA admissions consultancy that has worked with applicants since 2009.
For the past 15 years I have edited the application files of admits to the M7 programs: Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Chicago Booth, Kellogg School of Management, and Columbia Business School, together with admits to Berkeley Haas, Yale School of Management, NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, SDA Bocconi, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, McCombs, and Tepper, plus other programs inside the global top 30.
My work covers the full MBA application deliverable: career planning and profile evaluation, application essay editing, recommendation letter editing, mock interviews and interview preparation, scholarship and fellowship essay editing, and cover letter editing for funding applications. Full bio with credentials and admit history is here.
I am the author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, the best-selling essay guide covering M7 MBA programs. I have written and updated the guide annually since 2013, which makes the 2026 edition the thirteenth.
The reason I still write and edit essays every cycle: a good MBA essay carries a real applicant's voice. Writing essays for F1GMAT's Books and Editing essays weekly is how I stay calibrated to what current admissions committees respond to.
Contact me for school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative development, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing, or guidance documents for recommendation letters.