History and Structure
In 2006, the Government of British Columbia passed the Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust Act, which established us as an independent not-for-profit corporation. We were created to support investments that help grow and diversify the economy of the Southern Interior of BC. Since then, we have received a total of $60 million to steward, for the benefit of the region.
The Trust is independently governed by a 13-member Board of Directors. We have two Regional Advisory Committees (RACs), that represent the Columbia-Kootenay and Thompson-Okanagan regions of our service area. Each RAC appoints four Directors to the ETSI-BC Board. RAC members include local government elected officials and MLAs. The Provincial Government appoints the remaining five Directors, all of whom reside in our service area.
From L to R: Phil Barker (Retired) , Diana Lockwood, Kevin Acton, Sue Clovechok (Retired), Steve Morissette, Sharon Shepherd (Retired), Paul Donald (Board Chair), Alan Harrison, Sue Cairns, Sue McKortoff, Peggy DeVries, Julie Kimmel, Laurel Douglas, Wayne Kaboni. (missing: Lincoln Smith & Gladys Fraser)
In April 2021, following extensive consultation with over 400 stakeholders, we re-launched the organization as the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior (ETSI-BC) and re-focused our direction from being a commercial lender to supporting the region’s communities, First Nations, non-profit business support organizations, accelerators, industry groups and public post-secondary institutions, with special focus on the smaller rural communities and First Nations, and on being a first-in seed funder of new innovative initiatives to help strengthen local economies.
Since our re-launch, our strategic plan has been focused on creating value for our region by providing grant funding, resources, training and connections, guided by our five Strategic Pillars:
For more information:
Our Impact to Date
By 2020, SIDIT had invested nearly $63 million that helped leverage other funding for a total project value of over $245 million invested in the region. This included:
- $49 million in venture and growth loans to businesses in the region,
- $7 million in grant funding to the region`s six main post-secondary institutions,
- $3.5 million in support of economic development projects, and
- $3.5 million for local governments and non-profits, primarily in support of tourism, agriculture, and sport-related projects.
By March 31, 2025, the impact of ETSI-BC has been significant. Since inception, the organization has
- Approved Funding $72,669,466
- Number of projects 1151
- Total project value $265,908,106
- Jobs created or maintained 26,126
