Participants in the 2024 Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurship Camp, which took place at the First Nations University of Canada’s Regina campus.Supplied
One week seems like an ambitious timeline to build out a business and pitch it to professionals, but that’s what 18 Indigenous youth from across the country came together to do this summer.
At the First Nations University of Canada’s (FNUC) Regina campus, the group of 16- to 18-year-olds participated in the annual Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurship Camp from July 29 through Aug. 2, learning the fundamentals of marketing, advertising and finance, and applying them to their own business ideas.
Jason Bird, a professor at the university and the program co-ordinator for the camp, says one of the main goals was to help Indigenous youth build confidence by living and learning away from their home communities. It’s important, he explains, because many of the participants spent some of their most recent schooling years online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The goal is to give these students a university experience. They stayed on campus for five days. They were here the whole time and they lived in the dorms,” Mr. Bird says.
“And essentially, what happens at the camp itself and the skills that we’re trying to teach is business environment skills. So [we begin by asking], ‘What do you know about business? Do they teach business in your high school? Are you aware of these business concepts?’”
Mr. Bird says that while the students may continue to experience the after-effects of the pandemic on their communities, they might not immediately consider business as a way to support themselves and those around them.
“We just want to show them that in business, you still can – just by being who you are – actually give back. [It doesn’t matter] if they take business or they go into education or social work or health … as long as they’re seeing that confidence and that ability to move forward and say, ‘Yeah, I have something to give’ and see themselves in those places,” adds Mr. Bird, a member of the Peepeekisis First Nations.
Jason Bird, program co-ordinator for the camp, says one of the main goals was to help Indigenous youth build confidence.Supplied
“I told them ‘If you’re out there doing that same thing – no matter where you are – you’ll get that same feeling every time because you’ll realize you’re helping people and that’s really the goal.’”
Students started by coming up with a business idea on their second day and pitching it by the end to sponsors such as the Hudson’s Bay Foundation and Indigenous Services Canada. The time in between is spent learning in the classroom and collaborating on ideas. The structure enables them to apply the technical knowledge of budgets and marketing plans to their ideas before presenting their final proposals as if they were on Dragons’ Den.
“They tried hard,” Mr. Bird says. “Some of them built websites. They had to draw a logo, plan their products … They did very creative things in a short amount of time and for me, that was a way to show them it isn’t impossible. Real entrepreneurs take several months, sometimes years to do this.”
One of the presentations Mr. Bird says really impressed him and the judges this year came from an Innu student. At just 16 years old, she created a business plan for an Indigenous tourism company that would connect three communities along a river in Labrador. Visitors would travel the river in canoes, stopping in each community for a night, living and eating off the land and from the water for three days upriver followed by three days back.
“I said to this student, ‘You could probably find funders if you decided to create this because I know a lot of people that would want to do this little trip – learning real Indigenous culture right off the land, whether they are non-Indigenous or Indigenous people.’”
The presentation of the final business plans to sponsors was rewarding for Danielle Lumberjack, a student at the university who helps co-ordinate the camp. She says it was especially exciting to see local projects or services that she would get involved in or use.
“We had a youth from Fort Qu’Appelle who had such a great idea but was really struggling with it and I feel coming to the camp gave her a lot of confidence to move ahead with it,” Ms. Lumberjack says.
“Her idea was to make an app for communities … an online community cultural hub where you could see where different events are happening in Saskatchewan or Treaty 4 (area). And I feel like that would be really great because that’s something that I would use.”
Now in her third year of the undergraduate business program at FNUC, Ms. Lumberjack points out she did not have access to such a camp when she was going through high school. She says it’s why she chose to get involved with the Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurship Camp and it’s also why she adds she hopes the program returns.
“There are a lot more camps coming up [but] I really wish I had this program [and] that these programs were promoted a lot more for Indigenous youth,” Ms. Lumberjack says.
“Because a lot of these resources are just experiences for Indigenous youth to go out of their communities and experience something on their own, engage in leadership experience or experience a little bit of independence.”
Mr. Bird agreed, adding that such programs allow Indigenous youth to leave their communities but also to return with greater confidence in themselves and their ideas, which they can then give back. “With business, we don’t think of it in Indigenous communities with greed. It isn’t about taking, it’s more about what you can give,” he explains.
“We were telling those students, ‘If you create an idea, you’re giving something back and you have to think of it that way. The investment in yourself is investment in others and that’s a good quality to have.’”
One in a regular series of stories. To read more, visit our Indigenous Enterprises section. If you have suggestions for future stories, reach out to IE@globeandmail.com