Indigitech Podcast

That first $5 typewriter Nicole Robertson got when she was a little girl helped put her on the path to becoming a network television journalist. But she went far beyond those early reporting days to become a leading communications pro focusing on national and regional Indigenous organizations. 

Nicole, a Cree member of Mathias Colomb First Nation, has dedicated her life to creating awareness about Indigenous peoples through the media. Robertson is a national speaker and has been invited on many occasions to present master classes on communications, as well in lending her voice as a master of ceremonies or keynote speaker for many national conferences. Her journalism career has taken across North America and into the United Kingdom; writing, directing, producing, and reporting on issues that encompass Indigenous communities. 

In 2001, Nicole created and founded Muskwa Productions & Consulting, which specializes in communication advisory services that include media and public relations, media training, social media, event and video production. Muskwa Productions is assisting Indigenous peoples in their communication strategies and needs to create accurate representations of their news and events in educating and informing mainstream media, Canadians and the world in sharing their stories. 

Nicole Robertson’s story was published in a book on Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs by Second Story Press. The Cree Entrepreneur is serving as a Board Director for Travel Alberta which is under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism through the Province of Alberta. Ms. Robertson recently completed her term as a member of the First Nations Women’s Council on Economic Security through the Province of Alberta.  

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Mike Kuba has had a varied career in security both in the public and private sector. He is a go-to trainer for Indigenous communities that want to provide their own security instead of hiring outsiders. His contact information: [email protected].

1:27  Frank describes his move from a national Indigenous financial institute to the newly created NationFUND business. 

2:06  Growing up in northern Manitoba and watching the devastating impact of a mine closure. 

3:14   How a Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Studies and an aptitude for numbers helped shape his career in finance. 

5:04 The value of relationship-building and his role as a translator between 'creatives' and 'the bean-counters.' 

6:04  He joins the FNFA thanks to his wife's chance airport encounter with Ernie Daniels. 

12:13 He sees progress, but systemic barriers are still there. 

15:05 How a colonial mindset limits economic development in some First Nations. 

18:00.  Policy barriers as reserves as seen as 'the Queen's land.' 

19:20 The Covid pandemic strikes just as Frank and his partners establish their business. 

21:12  The marketing model to find new business. 

24:26  Taking the Robin Hood approach to leveraging $$ in community development. 

26:14  The Malahat Studio project that shows development can be more than a convenience store. 

26:54   The need for equity and the right to sit at the table. 

28:08   He sees growth in renewable energy and local food production technology. 

31:18   The need to tread a fine line when exploring Indigenous tourism. 

33:58   Author Frank Busch and his award-winning Grey Eyes book. 

39:41   How to contact Frank for more information – www.nationfund.ca

If the Indigenous economy in Canada is going to hit $100 billion per year, it will be due in part to the tenacity and no-quit attitudes of young entrepreneurs like Tara Everett. The doors to her co-working space aren't open yet, but not for lack of effort. This 29-year old Anishinaabe woman in Winnipeg (Treaty One territory) has a unique business idea with an opportunity for the right kind of investor.

David Paul of the ARC Group is a senior consultant specializing in business and community development from Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick.

Victoria LaBillois, a very determined Mi'kmaq entrepreneur, has come a long way from her first entrepreneurial venture – a t-shirt printing business. She built a construction company, invested in other ventures and is now a mentor to Indigenous women across Turtle Island.

Victoria served the Indigenous public service, working at the Band, regional and national levels.  She holds both a BA and MBA from the University of New Brunswick at Fredericton. Coach to many, Victoria serves as mentor for the Coady International Institute’s Indigenous Women in Community Leadership and New Brunswick’s JEDI Aboriginal Business Accelerator Program.

Victoria is bilingual and actively learning Mi’gmaq. Victoria is the go-to MC for community events. She belongs to a woman’s hand drum group, sharing ancestral songs. Giving back is important to Victoria; she recently served as co-chair for a national Steering Committee with the Canadian Construction Association, overseeing development of an Aboriginal Engagement Guide for SMEs.

Victoria is a proud alumnus of the 2017 Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference; with time spent examining Northern Ontario issues through a local lens and exploring relationships between leadership and community.

Karen MacKenzie is a proud Cree-Métis woman and the co-founder and president of MacKintosh Canada, an indigenous-owned, international consulting company.

From his upbringing in Squamish Nation in B.C. to his studies at the London School of Economics, Jason Calla talks about his journey and the critical need for infrastructure in First Nation communities (and a better way to fund it.)

Ernie Daniels talks about his journey from growing up on Salt River First Nation in the NWT to his career as a CPA and now head of FNFA. 

Harold Calla remembers the day his business on Squamish Nation in British Columbia was turned down for a payday loan and what the bankers told him about needing "ministerial approval." 

Today, the executive chair of the First Nations Financial Management Board guides an operation that provides training and sets standards to help launch communities toward economic prosperity and financial security. 

Recorded at the First Nations Leading the Way conference in Treaty 7 Territory, Calgary, Alberta on May 30, 2019. Here for FNFMB website.