Supporting Indigenous Young Entrepreneurs: Celebrating the success of Ohpikiwin: Journey to financial empowerment

Youth Business International (YBI), in collaboration with its Canadian member Futurpreneur is proud to announce the successful conclusion of its Ohpikiwin: Journey to financial empowerment programme. Supported by Accenture the programme launched in 2022 and assisted aspiring entrepreneurs in developing their businesses’ financial capacity and entrepreneurship skills through an Indigenous worldview, to foster Indigenous economic empowerment and prosperity in Canada and beyond.

Programme Achievements

The programme has been powerful in supporting Indigenous young entrepreneurs in Canada to navigate the unique challenges around starting and financing a start-up. Over two years and nine months there have also been numerous resources developed for use both in Canada supporting future generations of Indigenous business owners, but also around the world, enabling learnings to be implemented in other regions where Indigenous communities face specific barriers around entrepreneurship and employment.  

It was of particular importance to create resources in partnership with Indigenous communities.

Notable successes include:

• 1272 young Indigenous learners (of which 60% were female) participated in training with 91% of attendees reporting an increase in confidence in understanding Small Business Financial Resiliency.
• 16 culturally appropriate new resources were developed to provide bespoke support to Indigenous young entrepreneurs  
• Almost 400 (398) Indigenous leaders, organisations and entrepreneurs were consulted in the creation of resources to ensure grass-roots
• Two learning briefs were created and shared with the YBI global network to drive impact at scale

Legacy of the Programme

In Canada:

To ensure the learnings of the programme continue long into the future, an Indigenous Advisory Committee has been formed. The committee, made up of Indigenous individuals will ensure cultural relevance, appropriateness, inclusion, and impact are captured in co-creation of Indigenous Entrepreneur Startup Program curricula going forward.  

Globally:

A standout success of the programme is the global impact through the development of YBI’s Indigenous Entrepreneurship Working Group. This has brought together YBI members from Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Australia and the USA, alongside Futurpreneur; to share and learn from each other around Indigenous entrepreneurship.

Members of the Indigenous working group have co developed resources and guidance, available to YBI members through the networks learning portal.

“When I took part in Ohpikiwin: journey to financial empowerment, it was great knowledge because I don’t think that we are truly taught about credit, paying bills, and making sure that those bills are also paid on time because those all affect your credit scores. Being able to learn about that and being able to counteract that, and being a step ahead of that is crucial.”

Skyler Sanderson, Founder of Young Visionary and Ohpikiwin graduate.

Partnering with Accenture and Youth Business International in the formation of Ohpikiwin: Journey to financial empowerment has resulted in the permanent offering of a groundbreaking foundational program offered at Futurpreneur through our Indigenous Entrepreneur Startup Program. The co-creation and co-facilitation of the program in collaboration with Indigenous communities across Canada has provided culturally resonant and empowering capacity-building programming to young Indigenous entrepreneurs, joining them in their current journey, and inspiring and cultivating resilience and prosperity. By regularly offering Ohpikiwin: Journey to financial empowerment, Futurpreneur will continue to support the successful launch of small businesses led by young Indigenous entrepreneurs.”

Holly Atjecoutay Director, Indigenous Entrepreneur Startup Program