Fund officers are presently developing investment support services for 1995. This includes organizing annual roundtables of the chief executive officers and financial managers of investee firms to exchange data and indicate areas requiring assistance.
The first investment made by Working Opportunity was $250,000 in the industrial waste recycler Canadian Oil Filter Recovery Corporation of Kelowna, British Columbia, in February, 1993. Rapid development of the investment portfolio followed and now stands at fifteen transactions at a value of $20.6 million. At its current rate of growth, the fund's investment activity is projected to reach or surpass $25 million by the beginning of 1996.
By the middle of 1995, Working Opportunity's portfolio was large and comprehensive enough to mirror several of the investment standards described earlier. Consequently, certain early characteristics of fund investing can now be discerned.
For instance, the fund has already begun to make investments outside of the Greater Vancouver region and in areas such as the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan. A strategy of cross-province advertising and networking with local chambers of commerce, community organizations, municipal governments and unions in rural and remote centres is expected to yield new projects in the near future.
Working Opportunity's investment activity also indicates some early orientation towards specialized manufacturing and technology enterprises. Most of these highlight products targeted to expanding niche markets at home and, more significantly, for export abroad. According to fund officers, it is probable that subsequent investing will be of the same ilk. This investment pattern suggests that Working Opportunity is operating in close approximation of mainstream venture capital institutions.
At this point, project dollar sizes have tended to be small as compared with the other leading funds which is consistent with Working Opportunity's lower minimum investment threshold ($100,000). A portfolio mix of investments by development stage, including both fledgling enterprises and established firms, is likely to see further diversification over the course of 1995 and thereafter.
As Working Opportunity must invest only in the small business sector, all investee companies have small workforces which, in mid-1995, totalled 450 employees.
Working Opportunity`s porfolio is still young, however, there is evidence of rapid expansion among investee firms. For example, fund officers report approximately 40 percent growth in sales and employment. Investee companies are also contributing heavily to exports — most acquire over 80 percent of revenue overseas — which is of relevance to Working Opportunity's unique mandate for supporting trends in the British Columbia economy. It is anticipated that firms will generate over $65 million in revenue in 1995.