His Bead Store among the new Sasktel Business Spotlight winners
Dakota Mcleod, 21, has been building his beading enterprise since he was just 14
If there’s one thing you could say about Dakota Mcleod, it’s that he doesn’t waste time. He took up beading at 14 years old, was making beading kits by 16 and, two years later, opened His Bead Store online to solid success.
This led to the launch of a brick-and-mortar store in Saskatoon, and today he is busy with a new outlet in Regina — and plenty of plans for the future, too.
Still, it came as a surprise to the young Métis entrepreneur, now 21, when he was recognized in Sasktel’s Small Business Spotlight promotion.
“It was an honour, especially considering my company is only three years old,” he says. “An organization as big as Sasktel supporting my efforts means a great deal to me.”
The Small Business Spotlight reflects the telecom’s firm belief (stemming from its many years working with entrepreneurs in a variety of industries) that small businesses are the lifeblood of Saskatchewan’s communities.
For 2023, a panel of judges at Sasktel evaluated 541 nominations and compiled a list of the top 10. From there, voting was undertaken to determine a grand prize recipient (Kinder Surprises Antiques) and a runner-up (His Bead Store).
As is the case with so many entrepreneurs, Mcleod started his business with nothing other than passion. “I went with my mother to a conference that had beading workshops and was instantly hooked,” he says.
Proud of his Métis heritage, Mcleod shares that Métis culture is distinct from other Indigenous people in that it has its own beadwork, patterns and designs.
“We’re known as The Flower Beadwork People for the five-petal flower common in our beadwork,” he says.
Acquiring beading skills allowed him to honour his cultural roots as well as fulfil his artistic ambitions — and it soon brought an innate business sense to the fore when, after receiving a $10,000 Gabriel Dumont grant, he sold beadwork supplies to schools and community groups.
Mcleod decided that selling kits was the best way to introduce eager novices to the craft, and resulting online sales were swift.
“The thing about beading is it’s endemic to so many cultures,” he says. “It’s an art form that everyone can claim as their own.”
Mcleod humbly downplays the hard work it took to launch his Saskatoon retail outlet, and he credits Sasktel as one of many keys that helped put him on the map. Since many Elders and rural customers don’t use the internet, phone orders are standard at His Bead Store — although Mcleod relies on internet services in addition to his Sasktel Business Phone plan.
Despite the Saskatoon store’s success, Regina was no less of a risk. However, rather than promoting the stores as craft outlets, Mcleod ensures that both venues are also rich in Indigenous offerings. Today, they carry hides, artwork, traditional food and handcrafts from Indigenous people throughout Canada.
Additionally, His Bead Store is a source for Gabriel Dumont Institute publications, including children’s books, history books, Indigenous dictionaries and a how-to-bead series of books. Moreover, Mcleod and his team have contracts with the public and Catholic school boards to provide beading supplies and foster cultural education in the schools.
Workshops are another key component to His Bead Store: they run during the fall and winter, and Zoom classes proved to be enormously popular during the pandemic. “I still teach some of the classes, as do my staff of six,” he says.
The outcome of all of this is that Mcleod attracts a wide variety of locals as well as a portion of the province’s tourism trade.
“Already we’ve had several customers from the U.S. and Europe,” he says, adding that although competition in the beading sector exists, “there are plenty of opportunities for small operators like me to succeed.”
His Bead Store’s designation as runner-up in the Sasktel Spotlight promotion is especially important to Mcleod, who is in the early stages of expanding his business’s reach.
“To this day, people come into my store and say, ‘I never knew you existed,’ but my prizes will help change that,” he says, referring to free press plus $1,000 worth of Directwest billboard space.
Mcleod hopes Sasktel will maintain its Spotlight promotion so other small businesses get a chance for exposure.
“I would encourage other companies to participate,” he says. “They’ve got nothing to lose and a lot to gain.”
Learn more about how Sasktel supports businesses across the province and beyond at www.sasktel.com.