A new Manitoba pilot, launched on Friday, will offer low interest loans of up to $10,000 to recent immigrants who are enrolled in training and career development programs. Recipients will be given five years to repay the microloans, and can use the money for living expenses, educational fees, fees related to licensing, and tools, equipment and work clothes.

The Manitoba government is contributing $250,000, while Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), through its foreign credential recognition loans pilot, is providing $1.2 million for the initiative. The two year pilot, called Recognition Counts! Micro Loans for Skilled Immigrants, will be administered by Supporting Employment and Economic Development (SEED) Winnipeg, a non-profit agency with a mission to increase economic development in low-income communities.

The goal of the program is to help immigrants get the qualifications and licensing necessary to work in their vocation in Canada. One of the first program enrollees is Dr. Esam Beshay, a dentist from Egypt who will use the loan to complete the process for getting a license to practice dentistry in Canada.

The microloan program is similar to the Immigrant Access Fund, a program funded jointly by the provincial government of Saskatchewan and HRSDC’s foreign credential recognition loans pilot to provide microloans to recent immigrants for education and training programs.