NACCA Webinar Series

NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Ten – Making 2021 Our Year

Join us January 26 at 3:00 pm EST for the tenth show in our series: Crisis Recovery for you, the Indigenous Entrepreneur. Join us to celebrate making it through 2020. Together we’re looking ahead to 2021 with hope and resilience.

We’ll be joined by elder, Donna-Lise Lamothe telling us stories of resilience and overcoming hardship. We’ve done it before and we will continue to do it.

Brenda MacIntyre, Juno award winning, Medicine Song Woman will sing to us of hope and moving forward with strength.

And more…

We’re celebrating who we are and our ability to grow through adversity. We will come out of this time stronger, more resilient and with the knowledge that we are part of a community helping each other.

This a free Zoom webinar.  To join us please register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6416112446613/WN_B9p8CRCwRPmHOli4XjPcVQ
Once you register you will receive the webinar link via email.


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Nine – Understanding Your Financial Information

October 27 at 7pm (EDT)

Finance is the language of business. Your financial information tells you how you are doing in your business. It tells you what parts of your business are working well and which need attention. It tells you the results of any experiments or trials or new offers you are running.

At any one time, there are 1-3 numbers you should be tracking and those numbers change based on what is most important in your business. Things such as profit, margins, accounts receivable, accounts payable, sales, expenses, bank balance, cash flow. Many of these can be reported by customer, product/service or time to give you even more granular and relevant information.

Recording will be posted soon – technical glitch


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Eight – Funding Alternatives

September 29, 2020 at 7:00pm ET

Recording will be posted soon – technical glitch


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Seven – Managing Debt

September 15, 2020 at 7:00pm ET

You can view the recording on the Zoom website here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/-T1Q0mJAzIVIC68B5U-W-W2XCBBQi3VG0LCYm8maYzWWFm3EWMTpPS0_b3ROpA6g.CcP3RuZf9dlxZRDV

Business owners are taking on debt in unprecedented amounts.  Much of that debt is personal.  How can you manage that debt?  What does it mean for your personal credit score?  What does it mean for Canada’s economy when business debt increases like this? Are there innovative solutions on the horizon?

Eva Wong, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Borrowell, a financial technology company that helps Canadians make great decisions about credit joined us with insights about how to manage your debt.

We also heard from Indigenous entrepreneur Dr Michelle Corfield about how she manages her debt.


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Six – Emergency Loan Program Update

September 1, 2020 at 7:00pm ET

You can view the recording on the Zoom website here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/38t3bJ3wykROE5Xcx2z7A6hwNa65eaa8gCMbr_sIxUiEFHyH2wke_9mtxdrcx57_

Sincere appreciation to those who were able to join us for episode six as we discussed the Emergency Loan Program (ELP), which was designed specifically for Indigenous entrepreneurs by NACCA and delivered by the network of Aboriginal Financial Institutions (AFIs).

We heard from Caledonia Glendale from NEDC (www.nedc.info), and Stacie Coutlee and Gail Joe of CFDC of CFIN (cfdcofcifn.com) as they shared their experiences administering the ELP over the last few months.

We were also joined by an amazing group of entrepreneurs.

Sisters Aunalee and Sophia Good, are the owners of Ay Lelum. They are a second-generation Coast Salish Design House from Nanaimo, BC, Canada. They design and produce clothing and fabric patterns featuring Traditional Coast Salish Art by their father William Good and brother W. Joel Good of the Snuneymuxw First Nation Hereditary Chief Family. Their garment design is mentored by their mother, Sandra Moorhouse-Good, who had the very first Coast Salish clothing line with their father called Ay Ay Mut in the 1990s.​​ Their clothing captures the essence of Coast Salish art, language, and music through their showcase of wearable art garments.

We also met Jordan and Candice Camille,  full-time horse trainers & owners​ of Camilles Horsemanship. Based in Kamloops, BC, Jordan and Candice raise and sell horses, specialize in natural horsemanship, young horse development, and offer horsemanship lessons. On the side, Candice also is the owner of Candice Camille Photography known for her unique ability to capture the beauty of her animal subjects along with their emotions and the essence of their nature.​


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Five – Social Media and Business Promotion

August 18, 2020 at 7:00pm ET

You can view the recording on the Zoom website here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/yeNSLZDPzU9JBdLjyBHNYoF4Rrrbeaa8hygd-6UFyh7BjlQO0PJ1Kpe63RCAshaj

“How do I get my story out there?”

That’s the promise of social media.  Send the right messages on the right platform at the right time and you will attract the right customers for your business.  From all over the world.

In many ways, it is that simple.  The secret is consistency x authenticity = success.

You’ll hear from two people who will share with you the best ways to showcase your authentic story.

Matt LeMay is a bestselling, multiple award-winning filmmaker, who writes, shoots and edits his own work.  Matt is an innovator in the field of educational documentary film with a strong focus on reconciliation and the environment.  www.lemaymedia.net

Meet Krysta Furioso of OnlyChildHandicrafts who is dancing this dance on Instagram  www.instagram.com/onlychildhandicrafts.  Telling her story and showing her beautiful work has attracted over 14,300 followers. Find out how she did it and what it means to her and her business.


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Four – Food Sovereignty and Indigenous Agriculture

August 4, 2020 at 7:00pm ET

You can view the recording on the Zoom website here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/uM4pJpOuyDhJfqv28E_Fe44dBo3Beaa8h3UbrPIPmE8r0TpjokUk9ZGWIEXeBax-

Part of business and, indeed, community planning is examining the “what ifs”. We know our food supply is precarious, but we also know it would take a pretty significant event to disrupt it. Well, we got that significant event with Covid. Many of us saw stretches of empty shelves for the first time. The farther we get from the main centres, the bigger those empty spaces are.

Agriculture is a web of businesses including growing, production, packing, transport and distribution involving energy use, recycling, labour, retail, and technology.

Covid underscores how important it is to control as much of these as we can within our community. So that when disaster strikes, we know we’ll be able to eat.

The fourth webinar in our series looked at what it takes to build this kind of web or ecosystem and how your business can be better by being a part of it. Making your community stronger and more resilient.

We were joined by Shaun Soonias, Director of Indigenous Relations at Farm Credit Canada and Jennifer Wright from the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council.

Sonny Grey is an Industry Leader, Agriculture Developer, and Entrepreneur with a keen eye for identifying overlooked opportunities that exist in the North and turning them into successful business ventures. He spoke about creating a web of opportunity within your local food ecosystem.

As always, what you learned here can apply to your business whatever industry you are in.


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Three – Tourism

July 21, 2020 at 7:00pm ET

Webinar recording available here.

Join us to find out what is happening in the tourism industry. You’ll hear about the good, the bad, and the ugly. Learn what you can do for your tourism business and the lessons from tourism that you can apply in your non-tourism business. And, as always, you get to ask your questions.

Join us as we welcome Teresa Ryder, Director of Business Development from Indigenous Tourism, and Shae Bird, Executive Director at Indigenous Tourism Alberta.

Our Indigenous entrepreneur for this webinar is award-winner Sharon Bond from Kekuli Cafe.  Sharon will discuss how her business feeds off the tourism industry and how she has adapted to this pandemic and its negative effects.


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode Two – Shifting your business online

Our previous webinar for Indigenous entrepreneurs was Tuesday July 7.
Our topic for Episode Two was “Shifting your business online”.

Thank you to our panelists Taralee Hammond and Jude Gerrard from the Nova Scotia Community College.  Through their network of 14 campuses, they provide Nova Scotians with inclusive and flexible access to education and the specialized, industry-driven training for today and tomorrow’s workforce.  They offer more than 130 programs and hundreds of courses to nearly 20,000 students each year.  Visit their website at NSCC.ca

And thanks as well to our guest Indigenous entrepreneur Angela DeMontigny, an internationally-renowned fashion designer of Cree-Metis heritage who moved her business online. Visit her website at angelademontigny.com

The recording of the webinar is available here on Zoom.


NACCA Webinar Series – Episode One – Funding for your business

A big thank you to those who were able to join us June 9 at 7pm for the first show in our series: Crisis Recovery for you, the Indigenous Entrepreneur.  It was a huge success with over 110 registrants, despite the very short notice!

We’d also like to thank our CEO Shannin Metatawabin for his opening remarks and also answering some of the questions live in the Chat!  The information about the various business support programs was beneficial, thanks to our panelists Gerry Huebner, Chief Strategy Officer here at NACCA, Todd Evans, National Lead, Indigenous Exporters, Export Development Canada (EDC), and Ryan McLean, Vice President, Financing, Interior, North, Indigenous at Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC).

And we appreciated the insight from Karleigh and Kaleb Warkentin, the brother and sister team from Aztec Towing.

You can view the recording of the webinar here on the Zoom website.

Speaker Info

Gerry Huebner
Chief Strategy Officer, NACCA

Todd Evans
National Lead, Indigenous Exporters, Export Development Canada

As National Lead for Indigenous Exporters, Todd’s role is to advance EDC’s understanding of the specific needs and challenges of the Indigenous business community and to help develop a longer-term strategy for serving this market.  Mr. Evans is responsible for EDC’s engagement with external stakeholders and Indigenous clients.  He works closely with his EDC colleagues and senior management to support the growing export needs of Indigenous businesses.

Prior to taking on his current role, Todd was a Principal with EDC’s Economics team. His previous positions at EDC include Director of Economic Analysis and Forecasting and Director of the Corporate Research Department.  Before joining EDC in 1997, Todd worked with various public and private sector organizations including Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, the Economic Council of Canada, the Conference Board, and HLB.  His areas of expertise include economic development and international trade.

During his time with EDC, Mr. Evans led a number of initiatives including development of the Corporation’s Canadian Economic Benefits framework, developing the Global Export Forecast and he is a key author of EDC’s Integrative Trade methodology.  He has published several articles on issues around international trade, investment, and global supply chains.  Mr. Evans has a BA degree in economics and statistics from Memorial University of Newfoundland and a MA degree in economics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Originally from Newfoundland and Labrador, Todd is proud of his Mi’kmaw culture and is dedicated to passing on traditional knowledge to younger generations.  He is a traditional pow wow dancer and plans to spend a lot more time on the pow wow trail when he retires.

Ryan McLean
Vice President, Financing, Interior, North, Indigenous at BDC

View Ryan’s LinkedIn page

Based in Kelowna, I am responsible for overseeing BDC’s teams providing financing and consulting services to Entrepreneurs in the Interior and North of BC, the Territories, and across the country in our Indigenous Banking Unit.

I lead a proactive and dedicated team who are focused on fulfilling our mandate in creating and developing strong Canadian businesses through financing and consulting services, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.

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