It was with great pride that the Société d'aide au développement de la collectivité (SADC) Matawinie team presented its activity report on June 20 at the Saint-Jean-de-Matha Golf Club. Over fifty regional partners and entrepreneurs attended the conference on business diversification, offered free of charge by the BDC for the occasion, and took part in the SADC Annual General Meeting. In 2012-2013, the organization helped generate $7 million in investments in the Matawinie RCM through its loans to businesses, and is announcing a stronger presence in the area over the coming year.
Our business services, recognized for the quality of their advice, helped generate investments of 1.1 M$ by the Fonds Stratégie jeunesse and 5.9 M$ by the Fonds d'Investissement. 60% of our activities were in support of start-ups and 40% in business expansion. A total of 433,000 $ were authorized for 10 business projects, helping to create 15 jobs and maintain 18 others.
The SADC initiated and supported a number of economic development initiatives over the year, including several to promote and support entrepreneurship. We are proud to have contributed to the relaunch of the Cellule de mentorat pour entrepreneurs de la Matawinie and to the deployment of the 15e edition of the Concours québécois en entrepreneuriat Lanaudière, which we hosted this year. Other initiatives of which we are particularly proud include our participation, with several regional partners, in the creation of the Coopérative de solidarité de la Matawinie (COOPSOM), as well as the creation of a 294-hour training course on the commercial harvesting of non-timber forest products, one of the very first of its kind in Quebec. We cannot overlook the Au fil du temps project, which has contributed to the social and professional integration of 10 young people experiencing significant difficulties in their socio-professional integration.
For the coming year, the team joins the members of the Board of Directors in announcing an ambitious action plan, focusing on our customers, our territory, our service offering and our visibility. The coming year promises to be a dynamic one for this local economic development organization in Matawinie. And finally, we would like to highlight the appointment of Chantal Bruneau as the new president of the SADC.. We wish him the best of luck in his term of office.