Youth develop business, entrepreneurship ideas at First Nations University of Canada annual camp

Business entrepreneurship ideas and teachings will be flowing all week at the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) during its annual youth entrepreneurship camp.

Jason Bird is a business and administration lecturer at FNUniv and the co-ordinator of the program.

He says the camp has students between 15 and 19 years of age learning the concepts and ideas of entrepreneurship and business as a potential career choice and area of study.

"We want to give this idea to students that you can do business in a kinder, friendly, gentler way. You can do business in an Indigenous way," Bird says. "You don't have to be cutthroat."

Bird says students from across Canada will learn how to work on their career while also keeping their traditional and personal values in mind for their ideas and businesses. Over the next week, the camp will go over things like planning, marketing, finance and accounting.

"We're just trying to give the youth exposure. This is an avenue for them and a lot of students will go for social work, health, nursing," he says.

"They'll go for areas where [they're] directly helping people, and that's where Indigenous people are at our heart. That's where we generally fall in."

Aiden Akan-Kinistino, 18, is from Ochapowace First Nation and is living in Regina. This is his second year in the camp as he prepares for his studies at FNUniv in business administration in the fall.

"A lot of the stuff we're doing is going to be going toward what I want to do in business," Akan-Kinistino says.

As for his business idea, he says over the last few years he has been developing an idea about a fashion design company.

WATCH| Indigenous teenagers from across Canada learning aspects of becoming entrepreneurs at summer camp: 

Indigenous teenagers from across Canada learning aspects of becoming entrepreneurs at summer camp

1 year ago

Duration 1:41

Sometimes, summer camp can be more than a fun experience for kids — it can shape their future. That's the case for a Regina teenager who's attending the Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurship camp for a second year.

His idea is based around clothing, like shirts, pants, hats and sweaters, that feature and showcase the work of Indigenous designers.

"I definitely would make things that aren't just screen-printed logos," Akan-Kinisitino says. 

He says he feels designers and artists aren't much in the spotlight for his generation and creating something like this would give easier access for artists to sell and promote their work.

"I'd have their art on my stuff and I'd distribute it, but they would get part of the cut."

With Akan-Kinistino starting university in the fall, Bird says the program aims to give more students an opportunity to experience university life.

The students wake up and eat breakfast at the Luther College dining hall every morning before making the short walk to FNUniv for classes, exercises and presentations all day.

"They're staying at the dorms, they're kind of attending classes, they're getting a feel for how a campus functions."