Hydro-Québec is freeing up $5 million over five years to support First Nations and Inuit women entrepreneurs in starting or developing their businesses.
Posted at 5:25 p.m.
These amounts will allow the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Economic Development Commission (FNQLEDC) to expand its service offering and support more Aboriginal women.
In particular, it will be able to offer microcredit or a financial contribution for the establishment of a business and the development of a commercial infrastructure, the state-owned company announced on Wednesday in a joint press release with the FNQLEDC.
“Women from all our nations will be able to benefit from the support of our team of experienced advisers in carrying out a business project or in developing an existing business. The women thus supported will become role models for generations to come,” said the Commission’s Acting Director General, Jinny Thibodeau Rankin, in the press release.
She points out that Aboriginal women’s interest in entrepreneurship has been growing for several years.
Thanks to this collaboration, Aboriginal women entrepreneurs will also be able to obtain marketing support under the “First Nations Identification” brand created by the FNQLEDC, in particular allowing them to authenticate their products and services.
Hydro-Québec’s contribution stems from exchanges with women entrepreneurs, or women wishing to become one, from the First Nations and the Inuit nation.
“Last November, during the Greater Economic Circle of Indigenous Peoples and Quebec, Hydro-Québec made a commitment to the First Nations and the Inuit nation to deepen the dialogue with them. It is precisely through dialogue that support for Aboriginal women entrepreneurs has emerged,” said Julie Boucher, Vice-President of Sustainable Development, Community Relations and Communications at Hydro-Québec, in a press release.