I attended an entrepreneurship program between October and December. The program is called the Aboriginal Business and Entrepreneurship Skills Training program or “Aboriginal BEST”. Once you get past the acronym, it’s a really good program. The program is funded by the federal and provincial governments, so it’s free for First Nation, Métis and Inuit people as part of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation policy.

The program is for people who have a solid idea and want to see it happen, and for those who have an interest in business but no specific idea as of yet, and to be honest, anyone in-between. This is the impression I got anyways, with the motivational instruction of Flavio Caron, who was one of the program coordinators for the Aboriginal BEST program.

There are twelve sessions, including the following topics :

• Entrepreneurship
• Market Research
• Competitors, Competition and Competitive Advantage
• Marketing
• Laws and Insurance
• Funding: Where will you get the Money?
• Tax, Suppliers, the Hired Help, Production Process and Capability, Professional Advisors, Financial Institutions
• Personal Budget and Net Worth
• Costs and Pricing
• Start Up and Cash Flow
• Technology
• Business Plan Executive Summary

The amount of material may seem intimidating, but it’s really not, because the coordinators are extremely friendly and accommodating and they allow you to go at your own pace.

Personally, I love learning about business and the aspects of running a business, but I have never had so much fun while soaking in so much information.  A lot of it had to do with the fact that I really enjoyed the topic, but a lot of it also had to do with just being around so many like-minded people.

If you’ve ever considered running a business , I would really encourage you to take a look at the Aboriginal BEST website and get a hold of the contact in your area. Best of luck!