INDIGENOUS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
A CATALYST FOR POSITIVE CHANGE BY TODD LEWYS
Michelle Cameron, vice-chair of the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce
THESE DAYS, THERE’S A LOT OF EXCITEMENT AT THE INDIGENOUS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. S purred on by a proactive approach, the number of new Indigenous-owned businesses is growing steadily, says Michelle Cameron, vice-chair of the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce. “This year, we changed how we did things in the past,” she says. “As much as we used to do, we made the commitment to do even more. We’re putting on more events and webinars and have been promoting more business-to-business networking.” This forward-thinking approach is already paying dividends. “We’ve increased our membership by 70 and are seeing a lot of growth in the number of Indigenous entrepreneurs who want to start a business,” Cameron says. “Growth in our membership is on a real upward trend. That wasn’t necessarily the case in the past.” In a strange but good twist of fate, it seems the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered some of that growth.
“I think COVID made people think. Did they want to go back to their old job or was it time to try something new?” says Cameron, who owns the successful company Dreamcatcher Promotions. “And if they were thinking of starting a business, they had to think outside the box. More than anything, I think people realized that if they could survive COVID, they could survive anything.” Not only that, but the businesses that did start up during the pandemic or shortly after simply refused to give up. “They used it as fuel — business owners knew they couldn’t give up because people would lose their jobs,” she says. “So businesses actually gained momentum. It sparked a fire. Entrepreneurs that may have been a bit hesitant thought ‘We can do it if they could do it.’” Today, the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce is focusing on doing all they can to equip existing and potential entrepreneurs to succeed in their chosen field of business. “Prior to this year, we thought ‘What could we do better to foster growth?’” Cameron notes. “The answer was to put on more events, and make them bigger and better, with a focus on business-to-business networking.”
Rhonda Forgues, executive director of the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce
“We’ve increased our membership by 70 and are seeing a lot of growth in the number of Indigenous entrepreneurs who want to start a business."
– Michelle Cameron, vice-chair of the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce
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WINTER 2023
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