Understanding how Indigenous Understanding how Indigenous community factors affect Indigenous community factors affect Indigenous entrepreneurial processentrepreneurial process

Bob Kayseas, Ph.D.

Purpose of interest

Purpose of interest

• My own heritage (community)

• The situation that exists in many communities;

Purpose of interest

• IF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WILL ONLY REJECT THEIR OWN HISTORY, INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE AND REPLACE THESE THINGS WITH EURPOEAN VALUES AND IDEALS, THEN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WILL SURVIVE

(Ryser in Seton, 1999, 4; emphasis in original).

• …Stimulation of Indigenous entrepreneurship has the potential to repair much of the damage through creation of an enterprise culture, which fully respects Indigenous traditions but empowers Indigenous people as economic agents in a globally competitive modern world

• (Hindle and Lansdowne, 2005).

Purpose of interest

Research problem

• A core question: – what makes for successful as distinct from unsuccessful

entrepreneurship in the Canadian band community context?

• To answer this I needed to understand how Indigenous context at the community level influences entrepreneurial process.

• Intended outcome…

Entrepreneurial process

• My core focus…– Involves all the functions, activities, and actions associated

with the perceiving of opportunities

– and the creation of value based on the perceived opportunities.

• Within the context of Canadian First Nations…

Outcomes

• To describe and explain the importance of and the relationships between key contextual factors that affect successful or unsuccessful entrepreneurship within the context of the Indigenous Canadian Band community

• To assist prospective Indigenous entrepreneurs to negotiate the positive and negative influences of these factors in order to develop entrepreneurial initiatives that are likely to succeed for the benefit of both the entrepreneur and the community at large.

Entrepreneurial environment

• Considerable variation of people who choose self-employment by starting new firms across communities, regions, nations. – Causal factors?– Environmental factors?

• The ‘entrepreneurial environment’ is the combination of factors that play a role in entrepreneurship developing in a country or region

Entrepreneurial environment

• (1) Venture capital availability• (2) Presence of experienced entrepreneurs• (3) Technically skilled labour force• (4) Accessibility of suppliers• (5) Accessibility of customers or new markets• (6) Governmental influences• (7) Proximity of universities• (8) Availability of land or facilities• (9) Accessibility of transportation• (10) Attitude of the area population• (11) Availability of supporting services• (12) Living conditions

Suggests that these affect both the entrepreneurial process and the outcomes

Case Studies

Membertou First Nation, NS

Shubenacadie First Nation

Lac La Ronge Indian Band

Onion Lake First Nation

Osoyoos Indian Band

Neskonlith First Nation

How and what affect the entrepreneurial process?

YY First Nation

• 80%to 90% reliance on social assistance• 128 jobs – all in band government positions – and

another 1,000 unemployed• Failed ventures• Social environment is ‘harsh’

XY First Nation

• The chief and council operated almost all business affairs. – The Xx Mall had a debt load of approximately three

quarters of a million dollars. – The Ranch was on the verge of shutting down.

• The band is now in the process of delegating the authority for all of its business operations to the newly created Nation Development Corporation.

Xx First Nation

• Seventy percent of the band membership is ‘on social assistance’ (Interviewee, 2009).

• When asked why there was such a high dependency on social assistance payments, ‘lack of jobs, lack of skills, lack of commitment sometimes’ was offered as reasons

• One Participant attributes the reliance on social assistance as being related to, ‘anything from fear of success to or just a bad habit’ (Manuel, Martha, 2006).

DependencyFor thousands of years Native people were a part of the local

and regional economy. Yet over the last 100 years Natives have been marginalized and denied their right to provide for themselves and their families.

If you go back 100 years in our territory you find a sustainable economy, a trading people who did business with people to the north and to the south. But the conditions after contact and the takeover of our affairs by the Indian Agent soon led to complete dependence on the Indian Agent office in nearby Vernon…

Our major weakness…is all the leftover dysfunction from our colonial past – the control exerted over us by the Indian Act, the administration of our affairs by the D.I.A., family breakdown, the cycle of welfare, the victimization syndrome, the dependency syndrome are still with us today. We are like a Third World country trying to emerge from a colonial past (Chief Louis).

Land

So it is really more a matter of making sure that you release the capital that has been for so long, what is the terminology? Trapped capital. You know the fact that it is capital for First Nations (the land) is basically burdened with DIA…Nobody goes by without talking about the escalating real estate values in this country and how land prices have been going up 20, 25, 35% or more annually. And here (on-reserve) real estate gets locked and its not allowed to have the same leveraging effect or the same opportunities for being able to enjoy that elevation in value (Chris Scott, 2005).

Culture

…when people come here (Inkameep Canyon Golf Course) they are going to know that they are on a First Nations golf course. And, yeah, we may lose some customers over it but I would rather have a company that breaks even and showcases First Nation heritage… you know you are in a First Nations business, than have a business that says you have a lot of money but you have sold out and you have nothing there to identify that you are in a First Nations business (Louis 2005).

Culture

…I would rather have a company that loses money but still has the ability to stay open but has the majority or all First Nation employment, than have a company that makes a lot of money yet has very little or no First Nation employment…To me I would put a company at the bottom of the list that doesn’t have the majority or all First Nation employment as opposed to one that is making money with no native employment (Louis 2005).

Findings

The intersection of First Nations systems and the western world

First Nations Systems

First Nations Systems

Western world economic, legal, social

political systems

Western world economic, legal, social

political systems

The Indigenous Community Venturing Model

Projects that my research led me to…

Business Readiness Investment Gateway

Business Readiness

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Investment Development

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Saskatoon Tribal Council

Saskatoon Tribal Council Political & Corporate Structure

SDC Development Corporation

SDC Development Corporation

SenatorsSenators

Saskatoon Tribal Council

Inc.

Saskatoon Tribal Council

Inc.

Cress Housing Corporation

Cress Housing Corporation

STC Urban First

Nations Services Inc.

STC Urban First

Nations Services Inc.

Saskatoon Tribal CouncilIs the 7 STC FN Chiefs who also are the Board of Directors for each Corporation

Saskatoon Tribal CouncilIs the 7 STC FN Chiefs who also are the Board of Directors for each Corporation

Tribal ChiefTribal Chief

EldersElders

Treaty AssemblyTreaty Assembly

STC Health & Family Services

Inc.

STC Health & Family Services

Inc.

*STC Casino Holdings Ltd

Partnership as represented by STC Casino

Holdings Corp.

*STC Casino Holdings Ltd

Partnership as represented by STC Casino

Holdings Corp. Cattail Holdings Ltd.

(Partnership with Muskeg Lake)

SDCDC owns 40%

Cattail Holdings Ltd. (Partnership with Muskeg Lake)

SDCDC owns 40%

*Affiliated with STC First Nations – separate Board of Directors

*Affiliated with STC First Nations – separate Board of Directors

* Dakota Dunes Community

Development Corporation

* Dakota Dunes Community

Development Corporation

Vice ChiefVice Chief

*First Alliance Construction Solutions Ltd Partnership as represented by First Alliance Construction

Solutions Corp STC Investments

LP owns 30%

*First Alliance Construction Solutions Ltd Partnership as represented by First Alliance Construction

Solutions Corp STC Investments

LP owns 30%

* STC Investments Ltd Partnership as represented by

STC Investments Corporation

* STC Investments Ltd Partnership as represented by

STC Investments Corporation

Mistawasis First Nation

Mistawasis First Nation

Assembly of Nations

C & C, Elders, Senators, TC, TVC

Assembly of Nations

C & C, Elders, Senators, TC, TVC

Government House

Government House

Kinistin First Nation

Kinistin First Nation

Whitecap Dakota First

Nation

Whitecap Dakota First

NationOne Arrow First NationOne Arrow First Nation

Muskeg Lake Cree Nation

Muskeg Lake Cree Nation

Yellow Quill First NationYellow Quill First Nation

Muskoday First NationMuskoday First Nation

Membership of the seven STC First Nations

Membership of the seven STC First Nations

Tribal ChiefTribal Chief Chief’s CouncilChief’s CouncilVice ChiefVice Chief

Board of Directors of STC Entities

(structure yet to be determined)

Board of Directors of STC Entities

(structure yet to be determined)

Assembly of NationsAssembly of Nations Legislative Authority

Senators, Elders, VeteransSenators, Elders, Veterans

Lead Political Body representing Seven Nations AND Lead Governance Body – oversees all operations at a strategic level

Operations

STC Holding Co.

Organizational Values

• Cree;– Askeew Pim Atchi howin (make a living in a good way);– Wah kooh toowin (laws of familial relationships and the

respective duties and responsibilities);– Meyo Weecheh towin (principles of good relations);– Wi Taski Win (living together on the land in harmony)

Institute for Tribal Energy Asset Management, and Mining (ITEAM2)

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• Questions