Iqaluit (May 09/05) - For Nunavummiut who want to start their own small businesses here, options are limited simply due to a lack of banking services.

Throughout the territory, only Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit have banks.

The rest of Nunavut's communities rely on bank machines and the Internet - although high speed Internet still hasn't arrived in the territory.

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) and Atuqtuarvik Corporation commissioned a study to find out if a Nunavut Bank would better serve people in all 26 Nunavut communities. The study concluded that a Nunavut Bank wouldn't work because, ultimately, it would be too costly ($15-$20 million) to create.

NTI president Paul Kaludjak is far from giving up on cash-strapped Nunavut businesses. He was encouraged by what he learned about the potential of the Investment Partnership model described in the report.

"We are looking for a partnership arrangement and an agency model type to enhance availability of capital to Nunavut," said Kaludjak in an interview last week.

The Partnership Initiative would ultimately have NTI partner with First Nations Bank or Peace Hills Trust with the understanding a "Nunavut Division" will be created down the road.

NTI would enter into a deal with the partner, outlining how the parties would work together on various financial plans in and outside of Nunavut.

Kaludjak wishes Nunavut didn't have to partner with a southern firm, but right now, that is the only way, he said.

"A southern partnership is where the strongest market has always been. We wanted to go to Nunavut, but it looks like we'll have to go to southern firms.

"We are continuing to look at different partnerships-people who can lend a hand utilizing some capital for us. The key here is access," he said.

"I maintain that we are always impacted by the vacuum effect, where all the cash goes down south and very little is left in Nunavut. We wanted to turn that around to where Nunavut becomes the vacuum."