Published
May 21, 2024
Author
Block
Published
May 21, 2024
Author
Block
Partner Profiles is an interview series that spotlights Block’s community partners — both organizations and individuals — and the work they do to increase access to the economy.
In this installment of the series, we talk with Magnolia Perron and Zachary Pashe, who lead NACCA’s ADAAWE Indigenous Business Hub in Ottawa, Canada.
A few years ago, Canada’s National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA) launched ADAAWE — a hub for Indigenous entrepreneurs in downtown Ottawa, Canada. The ADAAWE Hub supplies aspiring and established business owners with a place to grow their ideas, form community connections, and access knowledge and resources. Block partners with ADAAWE to help supply some of the hub’s resources, like card readers and point-of-sale equipment.
Magnolia Perron and Zachary Pashe are the folks behind ADAAWE; Magnolia manages the business hub and Zachary is the hub’s team lead. We talked with the pair about what the hub offers Indigenous entrepreneurs and the importance of creating support systems for every community.
Can you introduce yourselves?
Zachary Pashe, born in Manitoba, Winnipeg, member of Dakota Tipi First Nation. I’m the ADAAWE Business Hub Team Lead, which means I coordinate everything for ADAAWE from the programming to the community and day-to-day operations.
Magnolia Perron, hailing from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory but living in Ottawa. I manage NACCA’s women and youth programming as well as the ADAAWE Business Hub. I was already working at NACCA when we were developing the hub, so I was involved with the planning committee pretty early.
How did the business hub come to be? When did it open?
Magnolia: The business hub opened in October 2022.
The initial thinking behind creating an Indigenous business hub was to support procurement efforts. And then when we brought on folks to help us do a feasibility analysis, that’s when we identified, well, Indigenous businesses in the National Capital region really don’t have a space to come together to work on their business.
We began doing outreach with communities and connecting with other organizations to say, “Hey, we’re opening this space, we’d love to connect with you and see what our organizations can do together.” When we opened, we had identified around 20 to 25 Indigenous entrepreneurs in the community. And on that first day we opened our doors, we brought them together to do a bit of engagement to say, what would you like to see? What’s your vision for this space?
Zachary: I can officially say that we’re over 270 members now, which is amazing. It just keeps on growing.
Indigenous artist Emily Kewageshig’s mural, entitled Dagwaagin, decorates the far wall.
The interior of the business hub looks pretty cool. Can you tell me more about the hub’s layout?
Zachary: At the front entrance we have our amazing pop-up shop that hosts all of our Indigenous entrepreneurs’ beadwork and products. The shop is a way of showcasing the Indigenous business community while also giving our members an avenue to test new products, learn about consignment policies, things like that.
In the middle of the hub is the meeting room slash gallery area. There are a lot of laughs and a lot of ideas that happen in that space.
We have a dedicated desk area and a tech library to support our members’ work — full of laptops, iPads, webcams, stuff like that. We have Square Readers that they can rent out. You’ll also find one of my favorite rooms, the production studio. That space features state-of-the-art technology and production equipment, like cameras, light boxes, and a green screen.
Then there’s a boardroom space that we share with NACCA, which has offices on the second and third floors. The boardroom is really a privilege — it’s open to member-led events, for example, we’ve had a member host a moccasin workshop in the room. We also use the space for monthly mixers, where we invite members of the community to come, connect, and network.
Community hub members pose in front of artwork by Indigenous artist Robert Lariviere (@falldowng).
Tell me a bit about some of the events you host.
Zachary: In August, we hosted our summer Indigenous market. It was a beautiful day, and we had maybe 20 vendors set up outside — it also happened to be Pride Weekend in Ottawa, so it was festive. And we gave out Square Readers to, I don’t know, three-quarters of the vendors? Because they didn’t have one, or the one they had was old and outdated. It was really special to be able to do that.
Can you tell me more about the challenges Indigenous business owners face?
Zachary: There are challenges accessing space for their businesses and answers to their business questions. When we first opened the hub, we had many members tell us about the difficulties they’ve had trying to figure out [business ownership] on their own. So that’s really why we created ADAAWE — to give our community a space where they can come to collaborate, participate in business workshops, access resources, and find the answers to their questions. We want to help the Indigenous business community thrive and we want to start empowering the next generation. We’re just trying to make it as easy as possible for our community, to erase any barriers.
Magnolia: I’ll just add that in the context of ADAAWE, we wanted to create a space where entrepreneurs can come together, network, support one another, and be part of a community. If you’ve talked to any entrepreneur, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, they’re going to tell you that entrepreneurship is really, really lonely. And while there’s other resources in Ottawa like coworking spaces or hubs for entrepreneurs, being an Indigenous space for Indigenous people is really special. You’re connecting with people that come from very similar lived experiences, or the same values and culture. And I think it’s like being with family.
“We want to help the Indigenous business community thrive and we want to start empowering the next generation.”
Can you share a bit about what economic empowerment means to you?
Magnolia: When I hear the words economic empowerment, I think about creating pathways for Indigenous peoples to fully participate in and benefit from economic activities while preserving their identity and culture. For so long, Indigenous peoples in Canada have been excluded from the economy and from opportunities. I see entrepreneurship as a way for us, as Indigenous peoples, to reclaim our spot in contributing to the Canadian economy. And ultimately, it’s about giving people options.
And one cool thing that we've seen through our hub members is adaawe, which is an Algonquin Anishinaabe word that means “to trade” or “a place of trade.” Our members will be looking for a caterer for an event they’re hosting, and they’ll hire a fellow member for the job. They support one another and procure products and services from one another. When we empower one entrepreneur, there’s a ripple effect.
Published
May 21, 2024
Author
Block
Partner Profiles is an interview series that spotlights Block’s community partners — both organizations and individuals — and the work they do to increase access to the economy.
In this installment of the series, we talk with Magnolia Perron and Zachary Pashe, who lead NACCA’s ADAAWE Indigenous Business Hub in Ottawa, Canada.
A few years ago, Canada’s National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA) launched ADAAWE — a hub for Indigenous entrepreneurs in downtown Ottawa, Canada. The ADAAWE Hub supplies aspiring and established business owners with a place to grow their ideas, form community connections, and access knowledge and resources. Block partners with ADAAWE to help supply some of the hub’s resources, like card readers and point-of-sale equipment.
Magnolia Perron and Zachary Pashe are the folks behind ADAAWE; Magnolia manages the business hub and Zachary is the hub’s team lead. We talked with the pair about what the hub offers Indigenous entrepreneurs and the importance of creating support systems for every community.
Can you introduce yourselves?
Zachary Pashe, born in Manitoba, Winnipeg, member of Dakota Tipi First Nation. I’m the ADAAWE Business Hub Team Lead, which means I coordinate everything for ADAAWE from the programming to the community and day-to-day operations.
Magnolia Perron, hailing from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory but living in Ottawa. I manage NACCA’s women and youth programming as well as the ADAAWE Business Hub. I was already working at NACCA when we were developing the hub, so I was involved with the planning committee pretty early.
How did the business hub come to be? When did it open?
Magnolia: The business hub opened in October 2022.
The initial thinking behind creating an Indigenous business hub was to support procurement efforts. And then when we brought on folks to help us do a feasibility analysis, that’s when we identified, well, Indigenous businesses in the National Capital region really don’t have a space to come together to work on their business.
We began doing outreach with communities and connecting with other organizations to say, “Hey, we’re opening this space, we’d love to connect with you and see what our organizations can do together.” When we opened, we had identified around 20 to 25 Indigenous entrepreneurs in the community. And on that first day we opened our doors, we brought them together to do a bit of engagement to say, what would you like to see? What’s your vision for this space?
Zachary: I can officially say that we’re over 270 members now, which is amazing. It just keeps on growing.
Indigenous artist Emily Kewageshig’s mural, entitled Dagwaagin, decorates the far wall.
The interior of the business hub looks pretty cool. Can you tell me more about the hub’s layout?
Zachary: At the front entrance we have our amazing pop-up shop that hosts all of our Indigenous entrepreneurs’ beadwork and products. The shop is a way of showcasing the Indigenous business community while also giving our members an avenue to test new products, learn about consignment policies, things like that.
In the middle of the hub is the meeting room slash gallery area. There are a lot of laughs and a lot of ideas that happen in that space.
We have a dedicated desk area and a tech library to support our members’ work — full of laptops, iPads, webcams, stuff like that. We have Square Readers that they can rent out. You’ll also find one of my favorite rooms, the production studio. That space features state-of-the-art technology and production equipment, like cameras, light boxes, and a green screen.
Then there’s a boardroom space that we share with NACCA, which has offices on the second and third floors. The boardroom is really a privilege — it’s open to member-led events, for example, we’ve had a member host a moccasin workshop in the room. We also use the space for monthly mixers, where we invite members of the community to come, connect, and network.
Community hub members pose in front of artwork by Indigenous artist Robert Lariviere (@falldowng).
Tell me a bit about some of the events you host.
Zachary: In August, we hosted our summer Indigenous market. It was a beautiful day, and we had maybe 20 vendors set up outside — it also happened to be Pride Weekend in Ottawa, so it was festive. And we gave out Square Readers to, I don’t know, three-quarters of the vendors? Because they didn’t have one, or the one they had was old and outdated. It was really special to be able to do that.
Can you tell me more about the challenges Indigenous business owners face?
Zachary: There are challenges accessing space for their businesses and answers to their business questions. When we first opened the hub, we had many members tell us about the difficulties they’ve had trying to figure out [business ownership] on their own. So that’s really why we created ADAAWE — to give our community a space where they can come to collaborate, participate in business workshops, access resources, and find the answers to their questions. We want to help the Indigenous business community thrive and we want to start empowering the next generation. We’re just trying to make it as easy as possible for our community, to erase any barriers.
Magnolia: I’ll just add that in the context of ADAAWE, we wanted to create a space where entrepreneurs can come together, network, support one another, and be part of a community. If you’ve talked to any entrepreneur, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, they’re going to tell you that entrepreneurship is really, really lonely. And while there’s other resources in Ottawa like coworking spaces or hubs for entrepreneurs, being an Indigenous space for Indigenous people is really special. You’re connecting with people that come from very similar lived experiences, or the same values and culture. And I think it’s like being with family.
“We want to help the Indigenous business community thrive and we want to start empowering the next generation.”
Can you share a bit about what economic empowerment means to you?
Magnolia: When I hear the words economic empowerment, I think about creating pathways for Indigenous peoples to fully participate in and benefit from economic activities while preserving their identity and culture. For so long, Indigenous peoples in Canada have been excluded from the economy and from opportunities. I see entrepreneurship as a way for us, as Indigenous peoples, to reclaim our spot in contributing to the Canadian economy. And ultimately, it’s about giving people options.
And one cool thing that we've seen through our hub members is adaawe, which is an Algonquin Anishinaabe word that means “to trade” or “a place of trade.” Our members will be looking for a caterer for an event they’re hosting, and they’ll hire a fellow member for the job. They support one another and procure products and services from one another. When we empower one entrepreneur, there’s a ripple effect.