Procurement

By Daniel Nychuk, 1^st year MDP Student

My name is Daniel Nychuk. I am a Métis man born the youngest of three siblings and grew up on a family farm in Osborne, Manitoba. I have a background in business as I completed my Bachelor of Commerce Honors degree in Accounting and Finance from the Asper School of Business.

 This summer, I had the opportunity to work for the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The ICC represents businesses and organizations that are Indigenous-owned and managed that provide support or services to our community and play a significant and relevant role in the economic development of this Province. The ICC performs many functions to foster the growth of the Indigenous business community. The ICC also represents non-Indigenous entities that provide support or services to our community, and we acknowledge that Manitoba businesses recognize the value of working as a collective on critical issues concerning Indigenous business initiatives.  

 My role as the research and Procurement Intern was to help co-develop and implement a strategy for the ICC to become a procurement Centre for excellence for our members and all Indigenous Businesses. Before I began my term at the ICC, I was very unfamiliar with the importance of procurement, especially to Indigenous businesses. Throughout my term, I expanded my knowledge of the current procurement practices and policies and now know why my role was put into place at the ICC. I am excited to see what the future holds as the ICC takes on more of a role in procurement. Overall, this has been a fantastic experience, and I am happy to say that I have taken a role to continue working during the fall term. 

Daniel Nychuk (centre) at an ICC event

 

Going Global During the Pandemic

By Alexander Keone Kapuni Oldroyd, 1st year MDP student

We all have stories of how the COVID-19 pandemic turned our lives upside down, stories of lost jobs, lost travel opportunities, cancelled graduations, postponed weddings, ruined vacations, of quarantine restlessness and isolation. Many of us may yet hope to avoid catching the virus, but none of us is untouched.

In times like these I try to remember the first law of thermodynamics—energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed from one state to another. When things break bad, I’m often tempted to dwell on the things I’ve lost, the things that have been “destroyed.” My field placement in Colombia? Gone. My sister’s wedding? Ruined. My conference presentation? Cancelled. But the truth is, all of these opportunities and plans haven’t really been destroyed, just transformed. In their place are new opportunities, new plans to be made, different experiences to have. In the grand scheme of things, I like to believe that there is no loss, only opportunities for change.

When all my plans for the summer fell through, it was difficult at first to see how this crucial time in a grad student’s life between their first and second year could be salvaged for me. Gradually though, new perspectives and prospects to fill my time replaced the old ones. I realized this was the perfect chance for my wife and I to drive down to Texas to quarantine with my family, who we weren’t expecting to see much this year. Classes were moved online and jobs that we couldn’t have accessed before due to geography were suddenly available remotely. My sister found a way to hold an intimate and beautiful wedding ceremony that we will never forget. Best of all, I was able to find an excellent new field placement with Carol Anne Hilton and the Indigenomics Institute.

The Indigenomics Institute works with Indigenous nations and organizations, governments, and private industry to strengthen Indigenous economic capacity and achieve Indigenous economic and community objectives. My role has been to help lay the conceptual groundwork for an upcoming Global Indigenomics Initiative, which will bring together Indigenous peoples from all over the world to promote global Indigenous economic resurgence.

I’m also preparing the Institute’s 2020 10-to-Watch List, a series of articles highlighting 10 remarkable Indigenous and Indigenous-focused organizations and innovators working to build the Indigenous economy in Canada (I also helped create the inaugural 2019 10-to-Watch-List). My work has brought me into contact with some amazing changemakers and taught me much about the state of affairs for Indigenous peoples all over the world. In a time where I’m stuck in one place, it’s poetic to take such a global perspective.

Remote work has its difficulties. There’s no replacing the camaraderie and direct mentorship of working on-site, but I have been able to develop greater independence and self-reliance, and my work-life balance has never felt better. In the beginning, I often had a hard time focusing and staying accountable, but I’ve found that diligently scheduling my day, keeping track of my hours and activities, and setting goals for myself helps me stay productive. Working through this pandemic has helped me develop new competencies that I might not have otherwise.

I’m grateful to Carol Anne Hilton and the Indigenomics Institute for helping make my summer feel like a success, and I’m glad for the chance to practice resilience and adaptability. Here’s to many more messy and transformative seasons to come. 

My workspace over the summer, along with my co-worker Appa (right). We work well together.

Recapturing economic leakage at Northern Manitoba

By Elijah Osei-Yeboah, 2nd year MDP student

In Manitoba, development is uneven, favouring the south. One strategy the province intends to adopt to correct this imbalance is recapturing economic leakage ― reducing the expenditure on goods and services accessed outside the north. Currently, many countries and communities believe free trade promotes economic growth, therefore, it is impossible to avoid leakage entirely. Hence, the goal is to reduce it. An economic development forum was organized in Thompson April 9 – 10, 2019 for northern development stakeholders like economic development officers, chiefs, councillors and other staff of municipalities. This was seen as an opportunity to gather preliminary data for reducing leakage.

There were 100 respondents. They were given sticky notes to indicate the goods they bought outside the north, why they bought them, if they were accessible online, which new businesses can be easily established and the ones which can quickly accelerate northern economic growth. The sample size and non-probability techniques adopted (convenience and purposive) are not statistically significant but the findings can be a part of preliminary studies to recapture leakage. 

When I started my placement, the data had been gathered. My assignment was to enter and analyze the data and write a report on it. I analyzed the data with Microsoft Excel and presented the findings with charts and tables.  Some of the findings were that the two most accessed goods and services were (a) clothing and accessories, and (b) recreation, entertainment and sports (examples include electronics, events, hunting/ fishing/ camping and recreation vehicles/ equipment). The main justification for shopping outside the north was that the goods they needed were unavailable locally. Less than a quarter (22%) of the respondents purchased their goods online. Online shopping is very convenient but it is fraught with problems including delivering wrong products, items sometimes do not fit well, consumers often pay for shipping, etc. 

Elijah in front of the Manitoba Growth, Enterprise and Trade office

Sustainable Community Development at UWCRC

By Silvina Antunes, 2nd year MDP student

For my domestic field placement, I have been fortunate to work at the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation (UWCRC) learning about project planning, project management, and self-sustaining community development projects. 

My office at UWCRC

 UWCRC is an amazing not-for-profit organization that is focus on community revitalization both in the university context and in the greater Downtown Winnipeg community with parallel organization, UWCRC 2.0. One of the most exceptional things about UWCRC is that they are focused on projects which are self-sustaining, meaning that they do not require ongoing funding to continue operating, but are instead able to continue functioning as a result of the income they generate. Development projects often have a limited lifespan due to limitations in terms of available funding so it is very interesting to see this innovative model being used within our community right here in Winnipeg!

My work at UWCRC is related to a visiting artists program that is planned to be implemented in a new UWCRC building and is a result of a partnership between UWCRC and a Winnipeg arts organization. As part of my work, I have so far had the opportunity to report on research surrounding the feasibility of this program, as well as do some market research. Currently, while classes are still in session, I am only completing my placement part-time but I look forward to more work that is to come as school ends and I begin my placement full-time!

Building the Social Entrepreneur Ecosystem

By Silvina Antunes, 1st year MDP student

I was lucky enough to spend three months (that flew by way too quickly) working in Colombo, Sri Lanka with Lanka Impact Investing Network (LIIN), a small organization working to help social entrepreneurs realize their fullest potential.

Throughout my time here, I have heard the word ‘ecosystem’ used more often than in my 10th grade Biology class. At first, I didn’t understand the use of this term but as I heard it explained more and more, I began to understand. How can we promote change if the wider systems stay the same? In situations like this, only the exceptional will survive, and it would be extremely difficult for new social entrepreneurs to break into the market. This is where building the ecosystem comes in.

Conference attendees outside the venue

If a supportive environment is created where social entrepreneurs can access the services they need to begin, build and eventually, scale up, it will increase the opportunities and therefore, the popularity of social entrepreneurship in the country. This is truly a holistic approach to looking at business. Building the ecosystem comprises of the creation of tools at all levels from accessing capital to begin creating a product to market access to financial measurement tools.

The greatest task I took on this summer in terms of helping to build the ecosystem was assisting in the creation and facilitation of a conference, attended by high level business people, large financial institutions and impact investors who are already working in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this conference was to raise awareness about impact investing, investing into social enterprises, for those who are already making investments in conventional ways or people involved in investing on a daily basis. The conference was attended by approximately 50 people and was a great success! 

I was also able to work with entrepreneurs to assist them in aspects of their business where they felt they needed such as in building business plans, doing social media marketing, etc. and to refer them to some partner organizations who specialized in some of these areas. Additionally, we worked to build more partnerships so that LIIN-affiliated social entrepreneurs could access services beyond what LIIN is able to offer such as financial management.  
 

LIIN entrepreneurs selling their products at a Saturday market in Colombo

All in all, it was a wonderful three months. I was able to work in the most supportive environment, I learned more than I ever thought possible in such a short time and I made friends that I am sure will last a lifetime. I truly could not have asked for a better experience and although I am sad it’s over, I am happy to be returning home with new relationships, new skills and a new, more positive outlook on economic development.