New $5-million fund aims to help aboriginal women become entrepreneurs
Lou Ann Solway says she learned to hustle early. The 47-year-old cow-calf rancher, who is a member of the Siksika Nation, has spent more than two decades growing her business in an industry dominated by men.
“I want to thank the people who were set against me … because I wouldn’t be here today without them,” she said Tuesday, speaking from 70 Quarter Circle Ranch, about 100 kilometres east of Calgary.
Her success required hard work and determination. But it also required a bank loan — something that remains out of reach for many aboriginal women.
The Indian Business Corp. (IBC), which lends to indigenous entrepreneurs, is launching a $5-million fund Wednesday that will grant loans to 75 aboriginal women across Alberta over the next five years.
“I’d like to see other women in business ... and not to feel alone,” Solway said, explaining that she successfully applied for her first loan in the early 1990s after initial rejections. “The main thing is don’t give up.”
A report, funded by the Indian Business Corporation and the Business Development Bank of Canada, found aboriginal women are facing significant barriers to financial services, including lack of access to collateral, equity and credit. They are also hindered by a lack of education and confidence, as well as an inability to work fulltime if they are primary caretakers at home.
Alberta has five existing aboriginal financial institutions including the IBC, but there aren’t resources allocated specifically for indigenous women, said the report to be released Wednesday. The new loan program aims to fill that gap.
“The most alarming thing for me was … when I realized these women do not have access to collateral,” said Nicole Bryck, project manager for Impakt, the Torontobased consulting firm that produced the report.
“If you’re living on the reserve, you don’t own the land you’re living on ... you can’t get a traditional loan as easily.”
The first two loan recipients have been approved and women from any industry can apply, she said.
Nicole Robertson, president of Muskwa Productions and Consulting, said distrust in banks as well as institutional racism continues to discourage aboriginal women from starting businesses.
The Cree entrepreneur, who used an IBC loan to launch her communications business more than 15 years ago, isn’t immune to discrimination, she said. Recently, Robertson, 42, had trouble cashing a cheque in her name at a bank despite presenting appropriate identification.
“They gave me such a hard time,” she said, explaining she eventually cashed the cheque at an aboriginal bank. “It’s not like (discrimination) has changed according to your status, pulling up in a nice vehicle, wearing nice clothes.”
Robertson touted the long-term benefits of supporting aboriginal women entrepreneurs — “I know these 75 women are going to have a ripple effect in our community.”