Series - Canada’s Social Finance Ecosystem - What’s Next?

The social innovation ecosystem still doesn’t understand Indigenous innovation. This project is working to close the gap.

Author Kylie Adair
The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples’ Wìdjìwàgan project runs online courses for Indigenous innovators and settler ecosystem supporters

Why It Matters

The rate of new businesses in Indigenous communities is growing at five times the rate of non-Indigenous entrepreneurship. The size of the Indigenous business economy is expected to grow from $30 billion to $100 billion by 2025. If impact investors want in, they need a much deeper understanding of what makes up Indigenous innovation.

var TRINITY_TTS_WP_CONFIG = {"cleanText":"The social innovation ecosystem still doesn\u2019t understand Indigenous innovation. This project is working to close the gap.. This story is in partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).\u00a0 \u00a0 What you know as social innovation might actually be Indigenous innovation.\u00a0 \u201c \u2018Social innovation\u2019 is a Western term for how Indigenous people have always built business ,\u201d reads the homepage of a Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) project called W\u00ecdj\u00ecw\u00e0gan.\u00a0 Molly Damiani, CAP\u2019s manager of social innovation explains: \u201cSo much of social innovation is inherent in many Indigenous nations in Canada and around the world. \u201cThere are so many characteristics that align with

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