By Bob Kayseas

1. Understanding how Indigenous
community factors affect Indigenous
entrepreneurial process
Bob Kayseas, Ph.D.

2. Purpose of interest

3. Purpose of interest
• My own heritage (community)
• The situation that exists in many communities;

4. 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).

5. Purpose of interest
• …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).

6. 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…

7. 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…

8. 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.

9. 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

10. Entrepreneurial environment
• (1) Venture capital availability
• (2) Presence of experienced entrepreneurs
• (3) Technically skilled labour force Suggests that these
affect both the
• (4) Accessibility of suppliers entrepreneurial process
• (5) Accessibility of customers or new markets and the outcomes
• (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

11. Case Studies
Membertou First
Nation, NS
Neskonlith First
Nation
Osoyoos Indian Shubenacadie First
Band Nation
Lac La Ronge Indian Band
Onion Lake First Nation

12. How and what affect the
entrepreneurial process?

13. 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’

14. 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.

15. 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).

16. Dependency
For 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).

17. 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).

18. 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).

19. 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).

20. Findings

21. The intersection of First Nations systems and
the western world
Western world
Western world
First Nations
First Nations
economic, legal, social
economic, legal, social
Systems
Systems
political systems
political systems

22. The Indigenous Community Venturing Model

23. Projects that my research
led me to…

24. Business Readiness
Investment Gateway

26. Business Readiness
26

27. Investment Development
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28. Saskatoon Tribal Council

29. Saskatoon Tribal Council
* STC
* STC
Investments Ltd
Political & Corporate Structure
Investments Ltd
Partnership as
Partnership as
represented by Treaty Assembly
Treaty Assembly
represented by
STC Investments
STC Investments
Corporation
Corporation Saskatoon Tribal Council
Saskatoon Tribal Council
*First Alliance Elders
Elders Is the 77 STC FN Chiefs who also are the
*First Alliance Is the STC FN Chiefs who also are the
Construction Board of Directors for each Corporation
Construction Board of Directors for each Corporation
Solutions Ltd
Solutions Ltd
Partnership as
Partnership as
represented by
Senators
Senators
represented by
First Alliance Tribal Chief
Tribal Chief
First Alliance
Construction
Construction
Solutions Corp
Solutions Corp
STC Investments Vice Chief
Vice Chief
STC Investments
LP owns 30%
LP owns 30%
*STC Casino SDC Development
SDC Development Saskatoon
Saskatoon Cress Housing
Cress Housing STC Urban
STC Urban STC
STC
*STC Casino
Holdings Ltd Corporation
Corporation Tribal Council
Tribal Council Corporation
Corporation First
First Health &
Health &
Holdings Ltd
Partnership as Inc.
Inc. Nations
Nations Family
Family
Partnership as
represented by Services Inc.
Services Inc. Services
Services
represented by Cattail Holdings Ltd.
STC Casino Cattail Holdings Ltd. Inc.
Inc.
STC Casino (Partnership with
Holdings Corp. (Partnership with
Holdings Corp. Muskeg Lake)
Muskeg Lake)
* Dakota Dunes SDCDC owns 40%
SDCDC owns 40%
* Dakota Dunes
Community
Community
Development
Development
Corporation
Corporation
*Affiliated with STC First Nations –
*Affiliated with STC First Nations –
separate Board of Directors
separate Board of Directors

30. Kinistin First
Kinistin First
Nation
Nation
Whitecap
Whitecap
Dakota First One Arrow
One Arrow
Dakota First
Nation First Nation
First Nation
Nation
Assembly of Nations
Assembly of Nations
Government
Government
House
House
Mistawasis First
Mistawasis First
Nation Muskeg Lake
Muskeg Lake
Nation CC & C, Elders, Senators,
& C, Elders, Senators,
Cree Nation
Cree Nation
TC, TVC
TC, TVC
Muskoday
Muskoday
First Nation Yellow Quill
Yellow Quill
First Nation
First Nation
First Nation

31. Membership of the seven
Membership of the seven
STC First Nations
STC First Nations
Senators, Elders, Veterans
Senators, Elders, Veterans Assembly of Nations
Assembly of Nations Legislative Authority
Lead Political Body
representing Seven
Vice Chief Tribal Chief Chief’s Council Nations AND
Vice Chief Tribal Chief Chief’s Council Lead Governance
Body – oversees all
STC Holding operations at a
strategic level
Co.
Board of Directors of
Board of Directors of
STC Entities Operations
STC Entities
(structure yet to be determined)
(structure yet to be determined)

32. 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)

33. Institute for Tribal Energy Asset
Management, and Mining (ITEAM2)
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34. • Questions