“We Lift Each Other Up”

How an Indigenous-led entrepreneurship incubator helps founders turn community needs into thriving ventures

When entrepreneurs talk about the moment their ideas began to take shape, they rarely describe a single breakthrough. More often, it’s a series of sparks: a need they recognized, a solution they imagined, a community they wanted to serve. What Indigenous entrepreneurs don’t always have is a place to bring that idea forward with the guidance, space, and culturally grounded support to turn possibility into momentum.

In Manitoba, that place is Mittohnee Pogo’ohtah, an Indigenous business incubator and accelerator at Red River College Polytechnic. Guided by Director Amy Jackson and Program Coordinator Kelly Krakalovich, Mittohnee provides founders with mentorship, training, networks and a community-centred environment shaped by cultural teachings and ceremony.

The incubator is part of a triad of Indigenous-led entrepreneurship hubs across the Labs4 national network, alongside pawâcikêwikamik at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies and FlintHub at United College and the University of Waterloo.

Together, these hubs form a national effort coordinated in vision but rooted locally in community needs, priorities and ways of knowing—an approach that honours the principle at the centre of Labs4’s Indigenous programming: the work succeeds because Indigenous leaders are the ones shaping it.

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 the most common sentiments shared by Indigenous entrepreneurs is the desire to build something that gives back. “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?’” says Jackson.

“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.”

“I want to make sure our people feel safe online”

When Darion Ducharme, a member of Lac Seul First Nation, founded Teqare in 2021, he had one aim: help First Nations protect themselves from rapidly evolving digital threats. His company delivers culturally grounded workshops on cyber safety, scam prevention, financial literacy, and digital literacy for youth, Elders, and whole communities.

The need is urgent—and growing. As scams become more sophisticated, remote and northern First Nations face barriers that make digital safety even more complex. Darion saw this firsthand while working in telecommunications, where Elders would arrive at his kiosk after falling for scammers posing as government officials. He knew he had the skills to help.

Teqare has already delivered training to more than 70 First Nations and more than 100 schools. One of his proudest moments came last summer, when he spent seven days in Lac Seul training every staff member, every school, and the chief and council.

“It means a lot to know my First Nation is safer online now,” he says. “People feel empowered to use technology without fear.”

For Teqare to grow beyond Manitoba, Darion needed stronger systems, broader connections, and space to develop the structures necessary to operate at a national scale. At Mittohnee, he found the support he needed.

Mittohnee connected him with mentors who helped refine his business model, improve internal processes, and think strategically about growth. The program also opened doors by flying him to a national conference in Ottawa, where he gained insight into federal approaches and met leaders shaping cybersecurity policy.

“The way Amy and Kelly care—you can see it from the very beginning,” he says. “They honour us through ceremony and help bring us to the next level.”

Darion now has a three-year goal: to provide at least one cybersecurity workshop to every First Nation in Canada and to develop a social enterprise model to ensure communities that can’t afford travel or facilitation costs can still access training.

Teqare is already receiving requests from outside the country. What began as a local effort is becoming a national movement with global potential.

“Indigenous people shouldn’t have to dig through 10 websites to find one opportunity”

For Zachary Flett of Sagkeeng First Nation, the problem he saw was clear: Indigenous entrepreneurs, students and creators were missing out on funding not because they lacked ambition, but because the information they needed was scattered across countless websites, agencies, deadlines and systems.

He founded IndigiHub to fix that.

IndigiHub is a centralized platform that gathers funding opportunities, grants, programs and business supports in one place, while highlighting Indigenous innovators and success stories. It’s designed to be simple, transparent and empowering.

“My goal is to make access to support simple and reliable so more Indigenous people can turn their ideas into impact,” he says.

At Mittohnee, Zachary strengthened the business foundations that would allow IndigiHub to grow. Financial workshops helped him clarify revenue streams. Intellectual property sessions helped him protect the platform he was building. Weekly mentorship gave him practical tools he could apply immediately.

But the biggest shift was internal.

“Hearing other Indigenous founders talk about their ideas made me think bigger about what IndigiHub can be,” he says. “Mittohnee pushed me to see the national potential. For me, IndigiHub is just the beginning. It’s a way to help more of us move forward with clarity, confidence and connection.”

The cohort environment—rooted in mutual support, shared experiences, and culturally grounded learning—helped Zachary articulate IndigiHub’s long-term vision and gain the confidence to pursue it.

“Being part of Mittohnee reminded me how much impact collaboration can have when we come together as Indigenous entrepreneurs,” he says. “Entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be a solitary pursuit — it can be a shared effort to lift each other up.”

“Our communities deserve an Indigenous-led way to share their news”

Renata Meconse, from Pinaymootang First Nation, has spent her career in Indigenous communications, working in journalism, government and community media. Over the years, she saw the same challenge surface time and again: Indigenous communities needed a non-partisan, non-political, professional press distribution system—a place to share announcements and news reliably, without the noise that often buries Indigenous stories.

She imagined Indigenous Newswire: a clean, streamlined platform modelled after national newswires, but built for Indigenous communities, leaders, businesses and organizations.

The idea was clear. Turning it into a functioning business was harder.

“I never felt ready,” she says. “I always felt like I didn’t know enough or didn’t have the technical skills to pull it off.”

Mittohnee helped Renata turn Indigenous Newswire from an idea into a functioning business by giving her the structure, guidance and confidence she needed to move forward.

Through the program, she formally registered her business, opened her business account, clarified her rates and market positioning, shaped her service offerings, and created the marketing materials she’d been putting off, including business cards. The hub’s learning sessions, applied workshops, and dedicated work time helped her work through each practical step, while the cohort environment—surrounded by other Indigenous entrepreneurs facing similar challenges—gave her the encouragement, accountability and sense of belonging she needed to prepare for launch.

“It’s very supportive because we’re together as Indigenous entrepreneurs who have similar experiences,” she says. “Our challenges are unique but also shared. Mittohnee recognizes that and supports us.”

Renata is now fully operational and preparing to introduce Indigenous Newswire publicly.

She has some advice for others who share her entrepreneurial spirit but lack the confidence to move forward: “It’s easy to think you’re not ready. You just need to take that step. You learn as you go.”

A vision for the future

Across the Indigenous Entrepreneurship Hubs connected through Labs4, Indigenous-led innovation grows from community. National coordination and local grounding draw on teachings, relationships and protocols that support entrepreneurs as they build.

Success here looks different. It’s measured not in speed or scale, but in how founders bring their learning back to their Nations, how they support one another, and how their ventures reflect their values, responsibilities and hopes for the future.

Mittohnee’s role in that work is clear: to offer a place where Indigenous entrepreneurs can develop their skills, deepen their confidence, refine their ideas, and pursue growth in ways that honour who they are and where they come from.

For founders like Darion, Zachary, and Renata, the transformations set in motion at Mittohnee are only the beginning.