Helping entrepreneurs access Indigenous Entrepreneur Loans
Today, Pow Wow Pitch, North America’s premier pitch competition for emerging Indigenous entrepreneurs, announced a national partnership with BDC ( Business Development Bank of Canada), building on the organization’s previous support for the annual Pow Wow Pitch and its commitment to support Indigenous entrepreneurs with the capital and resources to help their businesses thrive.
Pow Wow Pitch is uniting and rallying a trusted ecosystem of partners around Indigenous entrepreneurs to accelerate access to the support and resources they need, and how they need it, to help drive growth of Indigenous-owned businesses.
“Capital is a key resource for Indigenous entrepreneurs, and it is important to build partnership inroads that speed access to capital,” said Sunshine Tenasco, Founder of Pow Wow Pitch. “We are proud to be partnering with BDC to support our community to learn about and access Indigenous Entrepreneur Loans that recognize the obstacles Indigenous business owners face when financing their business.”
As the bank for Canadian entrepreneurs, BDC is committed to ensuring all diverse entrepreneurs have the financing, advice, tools and resources they need to succeed. For more than two decades, BDC has supported more than 900 Indigenous clients to access more than $450M in loans to help grow their business.
“I am a proud Cree woman from the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, and it’s been my pleasure and passion to help Indigenous entrepreneurs start and build their businesses while working with BDC,” said Monica James, Regional Manager, BDC. “We are committed to listening, learning and taking action to support Indigenous business owners. That includes working with great partners like Pow Wow Pitch to inspire our future leaders.”
The partnership between BDC and Pow Wow Pitch involves education on accessing financing and capital, engaging BDC employees as mentors, adjudicating the pitch competition, and contributing prize dollars for winning entrepreneurs.
To learn more about BDC’s support for Indigenous entrepreneurs, click here.