Capitalizing Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurs Across Canada

While there are both structural and systemic barriers to Indigenous entrepreneurship and youth entrepreneurship in Canada, which will take decades to change, we would like to research and develop a mechanism (fund, supports, etc) to increase the access to capital of Indigenous youth entrepreneurs in the short term so that entrepreneurship becomes a truly viable avenue for Indigenous youth. In short, this “mechanism” needs:
1. To complement, leverage, and/or improve, not compete with, existing capital providers.
2. To align with, or better yet leverage, existing networks of Indigenous youth entrepreneurship.
3. To be culturally appropriate, not harm the entrepreneur, nor bind them into colonial ways of
oppression that dominates the existing capital system.
4. To both fit into an existing capital and entrepreneurial ecosystem, while challenging the existing
structures and systems that make up that ecosystem.
5. To be legally and regulatorily within the abilities of a registered Canadian charity.
6. To have the potential to integrate business development supports and capacity building, if
needed.

Faculty Supervisor:

Melanie O’Gorman

Student:

Partner:

Wakopa Financial

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Winnipeg

Program: