The Chilliwack area has become a hot spot for aboriginal businesses thanks to the support of nonprofit organizations, according to a business expert.
Speaking recently to the Chilliwack Times, Bryan Gallagher – who is studying towards a PhD in indigenous entrepreneurship at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University – explained how these nonprofits assist entrepreneurs in getting their enterprises up and running, providing contacts in the community that help secure funding as well as promoting the business and finding customers.
One such nonprofit, Sto:lo Community Futures, is a volunteer group of already established professionals that offer a wide range of services to new owners, such as entrepreneurial training, creating a plan, and help obtaining financing.
A wide range of different ventures have been opened by aboriginals in the Chilliwack area. The largest is the upcoming Eagle Landing Shopping Centre, which is under development by a Squiala First Nation holding company. The facility will have almost 300,000 square feet available for retail space, and is currently the biggest commercial site in Chilliwack.
When new First Nations businesses are established, they may hire a printing company in order to create digital Business Cards to help promote their products and services.
As a result of the help of such nonprofits, growth in aboriginally owned businesses in the eastern Fraser Valley has taken off. A provincial government project developed in order to monitor aboriginal business in British Columbia claims that almost 27% of such ventures are located in the Chilliwack and Agassiz areas.Get a Free Quote for Business Cards
