After years of living with skin irritation, Toronto entrepreneurs Mila MacCuish and Lucy Ji launched their own high-end skin-care line in 2024, successfully turning their business into a six-figure enterprise in just 11 months.
But despite being profitable, the self-funded company didn’t have enough cash to go into a second round of manufacturing, leading to what MacCuish calls a “crossroads” for the business.
“My worst nightmare is selling out, and having people coming to us wanting product and not being able to give that to them, and they go somewhere else,” she said during a recent webinar hosted by the Indigenous Prosperity Foundation.
“So it was that option, or it was, we need to find money to fund our next production round.”
Eventually, the business partners secured a loan through Futurepreneur, which provided bridge funding to get the company, Irritated., over the hump. The organization also set them up with a mentor who provided business guidance, a relationship that’s still in place today.
In retrospect, MacCuish said, they should have started looking into funding options earlier. But the pair worried they were too young and inexperienced for a bank or funding agency to take them seriously.
“We had complete imposter syndrome,” she said.
That’s why it’s important to talk about the realities Indigenous businesses face and what support is available to make their entrepreneurship journeys easier, said Michelle Okere, the Indigenous Prosperity Foundation’s executive director.
Over two years, the foundation surveyed more than 100 Indigenous entrepreneurs and business owners, reviewed existing literature, interviewed entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders, and assessed existing programs and capital support.
The resulting report, Financial Literacy and Access to Capital, was released in early October.
“We wanted to better understand Indigenous entrepreneurs’ needs, specifically as it relates to making confident financial decisions and how the systems around them could become more accessible, responsible, and culturally aligned,” Okere said.
Ninety of 102 respondents said they had used personal savings to finance their business, while 54 had used grants and 37 had used bank loans, she noted.
Forty-one respondents said they weren’t aware of Indigenous-focused financial institutions or programs available to them. When asked what would be most valuable to help them move their business forward, respondents overwhelmingly said one-to-one mentorship or coaching.
“The findings suggest to us that while knowledge matters — yes, it’s important — knowledge alone can’t solve for all barriers that exist for Indigenous entrepreneurs,” Okere said.
Brittanee Laverdure is the director of the Truth and Reconciliation Office at RBC Origins, RBC’s truth and reconciliation program.
Entrepreneurs who are early on in their business journey most often have a passion or purpose behind their enterprise, she said, but need more guidance on basic business building blocks, like maintaining a good credit score, developing a solid business plan, and how to access capital to help it grow.
“It’s really about being able to meet the clients where they’re at,” Laverdure said.
As part of its suite of business services, RBC has established partnerships with other institutions, including Indigenous-led organizations that tailor their services to Indigenous clients.
The National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA), Indigenous Prosperity Foundation, Futurepreneur, and Powwow Pitch are among RBC’s partner organizations that can provide culturally specific programming, Laverdure said.
“I think all entrepreneurs want to be able to sustain themselves, their family, and their community, so there has to be a little bit of groundwork,” Laverdure said.
“And I think they can just lean on their bankers a little bit, with the partners that we have, to be able to have that mentorship training or other opportunities to grow.”
The Indigenous Prosperity Foundation is focused on helping early-stage startups through Indigenous Launchpad for Entrepreneurs, Okere said.
Program participants receive five hours of online learning and are matched with a mentor that can support them over 12 weeks. They can also receive up to $5,000 in startup funds to support the business, “which, when you’re in that early stage and you’re self-funded, can really go a long way,” Okere said.
Laverdure acknowledged that Indigenous entrepreneurs might be reluctant to place their trust in financial institutions, given past conflict related to property ownership and loans.
She noted that RBC, as part of its reconciliation plan, has a mandate to “listen, investigate, and learn” what Indigenous business owners need and how they can help. Cultural training for staff and leadership has been “embedded” in the organization, she said.
Though it might feel “scary” to walk into a bank and start that conversation, Laverdure said, bankers have experience with a variety of scenarios, and if they can’t help, they’ll connect the entrepreneur with someone who can.
“I think it’s really going to trust, and when you have trust, there’s more safety. The walls start coming down, and people become more comfortable,” Laverdure said.
“As an organization, we’re really trying to break those walls down, and I think that is just about listening, learning, investigating, and growing continuously. We’re growing as an organization. That’s why we have partnerships.”
These are all things MacCuish said she wished she knew when she and Ji were first starting Irritated. She encourages other young entrepreneurs to research and take advantage of all the support available, and said there’s no shame in asking for help.
Now that Irritated. is profitable, she said the company is ready to give back to the community, which was a guiding purpose when they started out.
She and Ji are in the early stages of launching an Irritated. scholarship, which will provide financial support to an Indigenous student studying business. MacCuish is hopeful they can partner with the University of Alberta, the alma mater of MacCuish’s parents.
“Money is opportunity,” she said. “Don’t be ashamed, especially as an Indigenous entrepreneur, to make money. That is what is allowing us now at this point to be able to give back a small amount.
“It’s because we are not ashamed to go out there, make a good margin, have good profitability, and that’s allowing us to come back and give back.”
