Northern Entrepreneurs Accessing Training (NEAT)

The Issue

Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses are essential to Canada’s economy. There are over 50,000 Indigenous owned businesses across the country that contribute approximately $31 billion dollars annually. Part of Canada’s North, Indigenous entrepreneurship and businesses play a significant role in bolstering the economy. Indigenous entrepreneurship is crucial for economic diversification, job creation and community development within the North. 

With the critical role that Indigenous entrepreneurs and SMEs play in the economy, it is essential to support skills training. Skills training equips Indigenous entrepreneurs with the knowledge and capacity to better manage and grow their businesses. 

However, Indigenous entrepreneurs continue to face barriers in accessing skills training. There can be challenges with entrepreneurs being aware of the available training and resources due to inadequate outreach and information sharing. Indigenous entrepreneurs living in rural and remote communities may find it difficult to access training centres or institutions that offer skills development programming. Additionally, many Indigenous entrepreneurs face significant administrative and financial constraints that prevent them from participating in skills training. As a result, ongoing work is needed to break down barriers for Indigenous entrepreneurs in accessing skills training and receiving support to foster business growth.

What We Investigated

The NEAT project delivered by Contact North provided Indigenous owners of SMEs and their employees with education and skills training. Contact North is a non-profit that supports underserved communities in Ontario by providing online educational programs and courses from colleges, universities, Indigenous institutes and other providers while allowing residents to remain in their community. The project ran from October 1, 2022, to December 31, 2023.

The goal of the NEAT project was to connect 300–500 Indigenous entrepreneurs with online skills training, making the training more accessible and providing support to participants in overcoming barriers to training. 

The project aimed to examine: 

• Whether Indigenous-led SMEs in northern Ontario and British Columbia would participate and find value in online skills training for their businesses and employees;
• what supports were needed by SMEs to participate in skills training; 
• what program supports increased SME participants. 

The NEAT project recruited entrepreneurs and their employees from Indigenous, rural and remote communities across northern Ontario and northwest British Columbia. To assist in the skills training delivery, the project worked with two partner colleges, Coast Mount College in British Columbia and Lambton College in Ontario. The NEAT project provided access to asynchronous courses for the entrepreneurs.

What We’re Learning

The NEAT program successfully supported over 500 individual participants in accessing topic-specific skills training. Of the training courses provided, management, business skills and technology were in highest demand for the entrepreneurs.

Businesses

One hundred thirty-nine unique Indigenous business owners used the program to identify and access skills training for their businesses and employees. Businesses represented 20 different sectors, with most businesses from retail trade (40); followed by arts, entertainment and recreation (16); and professional services (11). Of the participating businesses, 58% were located in northwestern British Columbia (81) and 42% in northern Ontario (58).

Course delivery 

During the project, 1,061 skills training courses were taken by participants, with a 77% completion rate. The majority (86%) of the courses were asynchronously delivered by the two partner colleges and had a 74% completion rate. Fourteen percent of courses were delivered synchronously by other industry-specific training partners, as the content was not available through the partner colleges. 

Relationships are the key to success
Relationship building was critically important to this project. A key component of success was consistently staying in touch and having regular check-ins with program participants. By doing this, the project team was able to identify and address any challenges participants were experiencing and provide ongoing encouragement. 

Furthermore, through this project, Contact North has been able to forge new relationships with Indigenous businesses and expand their reach. Of the 130+ SMEs participating in the project, 82 were either (1) new SMEs that had not taken training with Contact North or (2) SMEs that had previously engaged with Contact North but had not used Contact North’s employee training services. The NEAT project allowed organizations to participate in training that they otherwise may not have been able to. 

Financial incentives support participation
A key objective of the project was to make training more accessible for Indigenous entrepreneurs. The program found that providing financial support to access training is a critical factor for success. The NEAT program provided tuition and training allowances to offset costs for entrepreneurs. If training was done during work hours, the entrepreneur received a training allowance for their employees. If the training was done outside of work hours, the employee received a training allowance to compensate for their personal time. This helped reduce financial barriers to training while encouraging entrepreneurs and employees. This led to high completion rates in the program. 

Leveraging existing content through delivery partners provides multiple benefits
Using delivery partners helped to increase Contact North’s capacity to directly support Indigenous SMEs. The NEAT project decided to partner with two colleges, one in each of the two participating provinces. This enabled the existing training content and administrative infrastructure to be leveraged, allowing the partner to focus on meeting the objective of reducing barriers to accessing training. By partnering with the colleges, the project increased administrative support. The partners developed a more streamlined enrolment process and helped identify potential challenges and barriers that participants could face when navigating the process. The partners also provided technical support to participants in accessing the online content. Additionally, the partnership with the colleges allowed for significant cost savings. Using the pre-existing content from the colleges meant that funding that would have been used for content development could be redirected to direct participant support. This fuelled the project’s ability to compensate participants who engaged in training outside of work hours.

Why It Matters

This project showcased the significant advantages of collaborating with delivery partners in skills training programming. Organizations responsible for delivering such training should aim to strategically leverage existing resources and establish partnerships to enhance the reach and impact of their programs. Collaborating with delivery partners can reduce financial and administrative burdens, ensuring resources and efforts directly support end users. 

This project highlights that entrepreneurs and their employees require meaningful incentives to partake in skills training initiatives. Despite the availability of various skills training resources and programs, many entrepreneurs, especially Indigenous entrepreneurs, lack the financial means and ability to access them. To effectively support entrepreneurs, organizations must incorporate incentives into program designs. These incentives can range from financial support for tuition to mentorship and networking opportunities. By building incentives into their initiatives, organizations can ensure that Indigenous entrepreneurs have the necessary resources and support to invest in skills development for themselves and their businesses to foster growth and economic empowerment. 

State of Skills:
Sustainable jobs for economic growth

Green-related skills and knowledge are growing in significance and are becoming widespread across many sectors and occupations, requiring more workers to upskill by building upon their existing competencies. 

Read Thematic Report