“We Know What Works”

How Labs4 Indigenous Entrepreneurship Hubs Are Reshaping Innovation in Canada

Tia Laroque-Graham never saw herself in the world of startups. Growing up, she didn’t have a computer until high school.

“We didn’t know entrepreneurship was an option,” she says. “You saw yourself becoming a teacher or a nurse, maybe a social worker. But nobody told us that this other path was for us, too.”

Today, Larocque-Graham leads pawâcikêwikamik, an Indigenous innovation collective hosted by Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT). She’s one of three women shaping a bold new future for Indigenous entrepreneurship in Canada, alongside Amy Jackson (Director of Mittohnee Pogo-ohtah at RRC Polytech in Manitoba) and Ashley Richard (Director of Indigenous Entrepreneurship at FlintHub, located at United College at the University of Waterloo).

Together, these three Indigenous entrepreneurship hubs form a core pillar of Labs4, the Canada-wide initiative accelerating research commercialization by connecting post-secondary institutions through applied, equity-centred innovation programs.

When Labs4’s national leadership team began designing its innovation framework, the leaders of the three Indigenous entrepreneurship hubs weren’t handed a template.

“Labs4 said: bring in the people you trust and co-create something that reflects your communities,” says Richard.

That decision mattered.

“We had the freedom to do it right,” says Larocque-Graham. “We weren’t being told what Indigenous entrepreneurship should look like. We were asked: ‘What do you need? What’s missing? What do you know will work?’ Because we know what works.”

The result is an Indigenous entrepreneurship initiative that is nationally coordinated, locally rooted, and culturally grounded.

Designed for Connection and Community

At first glance, the three Indigenous innovation hubs within Labs4 may look like conventional incubators. Each offers mentorship, training programs, funding, and access to expertise. But step inside, and something deeper comes into focus.

“One of our participants told me, ‘I found a family,’” says Larocque-Graham. “That’s what makes it different. These aren’t surface-level relationships. They’re transformational.”

Each hub reflects the people and places it serves. In Winnipeg, Mittohnee is creating a permanent space for entrepreneurs to develop and test products, connect with mentors, and access business services. Jackson envisions it becoming a go-to hub for Indigenous entrepreneurs across Manitoba, including those in northern and remote communities.

In Saskatchewan, pawâcikêwikamik is rooted around the seven Grandfather Teachings and around tobacco teachings received from Elder Kathy Wapepah-Eashappie, who will serve on the hubs’ national advisory council. The collective provides access to Elders, mentorship and training, an innovator in residence, financial supports, access to cutting edge technology, fellowships, entrepreneurial boot camps, and cultural programming woven through every phase of the journey. “Reciprocity and giving back are two of our biggest drivers,” says Larocque-Graham.

FlintHub in Ontario is open to Indigenous entrepreneurs across Canada and the US. Richard’s team works one-on-one with participants to understand their specific barriers and goals. Need help with taxes? They’ll cover the cost of a CPA. Need a quiet space for a newborn while you pitch? They’ll make it happen. From entry-level training to diploma programs and alumni support, FlintHub adapts to each entrepreneur’s reality.

Rooted in Culture

No two hubs look the same. That’s by design.

“You can’t apply a universal cultural model across hundreds of Nations,” says Richard. “So instead, we’ve built flexibility into the system. Each hub leads with its own teachings, its own protocols, its own priorities.”

Culture is the foundation everything else is built on. Together, the three incubators model a new kind of innovation delivery: one where ceremony, reflection and tradition are powerful engines of transformation.

“We start with ceremony,” says Larocque-Graham. “We bring in Elders, create space for sharing, and reflect our values in the way we run the entire program. Once participants feel safe and grounded in who they are, they’re ready to explore new ideas.”

At FlintHub, Richard draws on both lived experience and council input to embed Indigenous teachings in programming design. From firekeeper circles to an Elder-in-Residence, every aspect is informed by community, not imposed upon it.

And at Mittohnee, Jackson emphasizes how being “community-minded” isn’t a strategy, but a way of being. “We come from diverse Nations and backgrounds,” she says. “But we carry shared teachings into every part of our work: humility, generosity, responsibility to one another.”

One of their goals is to make visible — and viable — the models that have been working in community all along.

One of the most common sentiments shared by Indigenous entrepreneurs is the desire to build something that gives back. As Jackson explains, “Most entrepreneurs I work with aren’t solely asking, ‘How do I make money?’ They’re asking, ‘How do I use this to support my community?’”

A Vision of What’s Possible

Western models of innovation and entrepreneurship, and their KPIs, don’t fully capture the story of Indigenous entrepreneurship. Ask each of the three hub leaders what success looks like in five years, and you won’t hear about metrics. You’ll hear about people.

“Success is seeing our students thriving,” says Larocque-Graham. “Owning their businesses. Living their dreams. Creating wealth in ways that reflect their teachings and values.”

“As Indigenous peoples, we not only have different outlooks on business, but our own measurements of success. A huge part of championing Indigenous innovation and entrepreneurship is allowing us to define what that looks like at all stages of the journey.”

“It comes down to self-determination,” says Jackson. “This isn’t about informing someone else what’s best for us. It’s about building it ourselves.”

That self-determined, human-centred vision is already producing real-world outcomes. Participants trust the hubs because they see themselves reflected in the people delivering the programs. They don’t need to explain their experiences. They’re understood, supported and celebrated.

“When you walk in and see people who look like you, who share your values, it changes everything,” says Larocque-Graham. “You know it’s a space where you can be ambitious, creative, loud, soft – all of it. Because it’s your space, too.”

That sense of belonging is matched with concrete goals. At Mittohnee, Jackson is building toward an ecosystem that aims to double the number of Indigenous-led businesses it helps launch year over year, with a permanent space in Winnipeg to support them.

At FlintHub, Richard sees room for growth across the spectrum, from introductory training to academic accreditation.

“We’re aiming to graduate hundreds of entrepreneurs across Canada,” she says. “But more than that, I want us to expand how we think about Indigenous business. Not just startups, but innovation, creativity, community transformation.”

The thread that binds these futures together is imagination, a reclaiming of what’s possible.

“We already know Indigenous communities are key economic drivers,” says Jackson. “But that’s not always recognized. I want our hubs to spotlight what’s already happening and help take it even further.”

Respecting What Already Works

While Indigenous Hubs are leading powerful, culturally grounded programs, Labs4’s national leadership emphasizes the importance of honouring that work without redirecting or reframing it.

“From the start, it was important to me that the network be committed to not co-opting or reframing Indigenous programming to fit within other models,” says Dr. Jolen Galaugher, RRC Polytech’s Executive Director, Research Partnerships and Innovation and part of the Labs4’s national leadership team.

She adds: “We trust in the expertise and know-how of the Indigenous leaders in our network. The strength of Labs4 lies in recognizing that the regional and Indigenous hubs may work alongside one another – sometimes literally. They are distinct but aligned in purpose within the Labs4 vision of supporting research-based entrepreneurship and Indigenous entrepreneurship and equity of access in all our programming.”

“It’s important that we not ask Indigenous leaders to pause the work they are already doing well in supporting Indigenous entrepreneurship to teach non-Indigenous hubs how to do Truth and Reconciliation work instead. When we accept that we have our own learning to do, that’s when we begin to be taught.”

Richard agrees. “Indigenous entrepreneurship is about building futures defined by our own values: centering community, culture, and sustainable growth. It’s important to recognize that this work is distinct from Truth and Reconciliation. That journey belongs to non-Indigenous institutions, programs, and organizations.”

“The Calls to Action were released nearly a decade ago, and we expect that our partners, and others, have already begun that process. Indigenous hubs are focused on supporting our entrepreneurs and responding to the needs of our communities, not the indigenization of others’ efforts. I’m confident that through our work, meaningful opportunities to work alongside non-Indigenous programs and partners within Labs4 will arise. I think that’s what drew us to this network, the fact that we’d be able to build something rooted in who we are.”