Financial support for Indigenous entrepreneurs

This program promotes entrepreneurship in Indigenous communities and seeks to increase the number of viable Indigenous-owned businesses. The program has 2 components: access to capital and business opportunities.

Access to capital

The program provides Indigenous businesses with access to non-repayable contributions for:

• supporting eligible business proposals
• leveraging additional funds

The National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA) manages the program and distributes the funding through a network of 59 Aboriginal Financial Institutions (AFIs) across Canada. The AFIs can offer capital and other business support services to Indigenous businesses.

The amount of funding available for a business proposal depends on its scope and its estimated budget. Individual Indigenous entrepreneurs may receive up to $99,999 in funding assistance.

Eligible recipients include:

• First Nation and Inuit communities and their governments, including tribal councils
• Indigenous individuals
• Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations and associations, except those with charitable or religious purposes
• businesses owned and controlled by Indigenous peoples
• Canadian owned and controlled banks, credit unions and trust companies authorized to make commercial loans and are provincially or federally regulated
• private equity providers
• provincial or federal crown corporations
• municipal governments, labour organizations, universities, colleges and other learning institutions

There is no deadline to apply.

Give your application the best chance at approval. AKR Consulting Canada has a 90% funding approval rate across all Canadian funding programs.