Rise Asset Development

Exit: March 2019

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Rise Asset Development empowers entrepreneurs recovering from mental health or addiction challenges by providing access to financing and business advisory support. Recognizing the interdependency of financial well-being to one’s overall quality of life, Rise provides low interest small business loans, training and mentorship to individuals facing barriers to employment. Through its programs, Rise provides access to capital and business mentoring to its clients, so they can pursue self-employment opportunities.

“

LIFT initially focused on developing a national scaling strategy and then moved to implementation of the Rise scaling strategy with strategic capacity building support. LIFT also engaged some of its partner network to provide additional assistance in key areas. When we started working with LIFT, we were active in four cities in Ontario. Rise is now active in eleven locations in four provinces and will scale to two more locations by 2021.”

Lori Smith Chief Executive officer

Opportunity

Help expand Rise’s reach from coast-to-coast.

Plan

Develop and implement a national growth strategy to support Rise’s growth across Canada. Identify and develop a clear vision, business model, governance plan and targets.

Impact

Increased funding from non-government sources to 63% from 35% (2018 vs 2015)
Grew annual revenue by 45% to almost $1 million
Established operations in 11 locations across four provinces, with plans for further expansion
Improved team culture, promoting collaboration and strategic thinking
Created and implemented a performance measurement system to track impact and demonstrate success
Strengthened systems and processes to create a more efficient organization

partners

We thank the following partners for their support in executing the LIFT plan: