How to Start Getting Funding as an Indigenous Entrepreneur in Canada

The path in one paragraph

If you are a First Nations, Métis, or Inuit entrepreneur in Canada, the main door to business funding is not a government website — it is your local Indigenous Financial Institution (IFI). Through your IFI you can access the federal Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program's non-repayable contribution of up to $99,999 for an individual entrepreneur or up to $250,000 for a community-owned business, usually paired with a developmental loan from the IFI itself. If you are an Indigenous woman, the Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Program adds coaching, training, and microloans through the same IFI network. And if the contribution plus the IFI loan still is not enough, the BDC Indigenous Entrepreneur Loan offers up to $350,000 in repayable financing. The whole route runs through one first step: find your local IFI at nacca.ca.

Step 1: Find your local Indigenous Financial Institution first

Everything in this guide starts at the same place: your local IFI. Indigenous Financial Institutions are autonomous, Indigenous-controlled, community-based financial organizations that provide developmental lending, business financing, and support services to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit businesses in all provinces and territories. NACCA — the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association — is the national voice for more than 50 of them, and its directory map currently lists 52, covering every province and territory.

Go to NACCA's IFI directory map and find the institution serving your region. That institution is your front door: it assesses the federal contribution, its own developmental loan, and business support services in one place. Métis entrepreneurs may instead be served by a Métis Capital Corporation — Indigenous Services Canada names Apeetogosan (Métis) Development Inc., the Métis Financial Corporation of BC, Louis Riel Capital Corporation, the Métis Voyageur Development Fund, and the SaskMétis Economic Development Corporation on its program page.

Do not start by applying anywhere else. There is no AEP application form on canada.ca, and no government office takes AEP applications directly.

Step 2: The AEP Access to Capital contribution — the non-repayable money

The Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program (AEP) is a federal program from Indigenous Services Canada that promotes entrepreneurship and seeks to increase the number of viable Indigenous-owned businesses. It has two streams; the one this guide covers is Access to Capital. The other stream, Access to Business Opportunities, funds group projects to support Indigenous entrepreneurship and is a different application — ask your IFI about it only if your project is a group initiative rather than your own business.

The Access to Capital facts, straight from Indigenous Services Canada's program page:

• It is a non-repayable equity contribution — plus business services — to start, expand, or acquire a business. You do not pay the contribution back.
• Individual Indigenous entrepreneurs may receive up to $99,999 in funding assistance.
• Eligible Indigenous community businesses may receive up to $250,000.
• The amount depends on your proposal's scope, demonstrated need, and estimated budget. The ceiling is not the typical amount — plan around what your IFI says a business like yours receives.
• There is no deadline to apply. The program provides annual, ongoing funding through the IFI network.
• Eligible recipients are Indigenous individuals, including businesses owned and controlled by Indigenous Peoples, and Indigenous organizations and associations — except those with charitable or religious purposes.

The program is devolved: it is administered by NACCA through IFIs and Métis Capital Corporations across Canada. That is why Step 1 comes first — your IFI is the one that takes your application, and eligibility varies between IFIs, so your local institution confirms whether you qualify.

Step 3: Build your application package with your IFI

Your IFI does more than pass your application along. It provides the developmental lending and business support services that sit alongside the contribution: the usual shape is the non-repayable AEP contribution plus a loan from the IFI for the rest of the project cost, with business planning help included. Treat the package as one conversation, not two applications — your IFI assesses the contribution and the loan together.

Bring the pieces that let your IFI say yes:

• What the money buys. A specific list — equipment, a lease, inventory, a business purchase — with costs attached. The AEP contribution is judged on scope, demonstrated need, and estimated budget, so vague totals weaken the application.
• Whether you are starting, expanding, or acquiring. The contribution covers all three, but the evidence differs: a startup needs a plan and projections, an expansion needs current numbers, an acquisition needs the purchase terms.
• Your business structure. The business should be registered and have its accounts in order before you borrow in its name — our guides to registering a sole proprietorship and opening a business bank account cover the mechanics.
• Your own contribution. Lenders want to see your own money at risk alongside theirs. The AEP contribution is equity, not a substitute for your own stake.

If your IFI says the contribution does not fit your project — for example, because your organization has a charitable or religious purpose, which the program excludes — ask what does fit before you walk away. The IFI's own developmental loan and the programs in Steps 4 and 5 may still apply.

Step 4: If you are an Indigenous woman — the Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Program

Indigenous women entrepreneurs have a dedicated program inside the same network. NACCA's Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Program (IWE) supports Indigenous women turning ideas into businesses through NACCA and its network of IFIs, with funding, training, and advisory services. The route is the same first step — connect with your local IFI — then:

1. Meet with a Business Support Officer for coaching, goal-setting, and guidance.
2. Access training to build confidence in entrepreneurship, finance, and marketing.
3. Apply for microloans to launch or grow your business.
4. Receive ongoing support at every stage.

The program's published results give a sense of its scale: over 5,000 advisory sessions, nearly 5,000 women trained, and more than 600 loans accessed, unlocking $11.4 million to start and grow Indigenous-owned businesses. Ask your IFI whether the IWE program is running at your institution and what microloan amounts it currently offers — no maximum microloan amount is stated on NACCA's program page, so do not plan around a figure from a third-party list.

Step 5: If you need more than the contribution — the BDC Indigenous Entrepreneur Loan

When the AEP contribution plus your IFI's developmental loan still does not cover the project, the next door is the Business Development Bank of Canada. BDC's Indigenous Entrepreneur Loan is a repayable loan — this is the point in the guide where the money stops being non-repayable, so read the terms as a loan:

• Financing of up to $350,000 to grow or scale your business.
• Flexible repayment terms designed to protect your cash flow.
• Preferred rates, with no processing or annual administration fees.
• A loan that gives back: BDC contributes annually to charitable organizations supporting Indigenous communities, based on the outstanding principal balance of your loan.

BDC has worked with Indigenous entrepreneurs for over 30 years and describes the loan as part of its commitment to reconciliation. Apply through BDC directly — this is the one route in this guide that does not run through your IFI — but talk to your IFI first anyway: it can tell you whether the BDC loan or a larger IFI loan is the cheaper fit for your project, and whether the two can be combined.

Step 6: What the Indigenous Growth Fund is — money for your IFI, not for you

You will see the Indigenous Growth Fund (IGF) named on funding lists, sometimes described as if it were a grant you can apply for. It is not, and applying to it directly will waste your time.

The fund is an open-ended investment fund, structured as a limited partnership, managed by NACCA. With CAD $153 million currently committed by accredited investors, it enables Indigenous Financial Institutions to expand their lending to Indigenous entrepreneurs and their small and medium-sized businesses across Canada. Its own page states the rule plainly: the fund makes portfolio investments to IFIs rather than lending directly to individual businesses, and those IFIs then offer loans to Indigenous businesses.

What it means for you: your IFI has more capital behind it, and can make larger developmental loans than it could alone. You reach that capital the same way as everything else in this guide — through your local IFI. (BDC's own pages describe the same fund as $150 million, the size at its first close; this guide uses NACCA's current figure of $153 million committed, from the fund's own page.)

Step 7: Do not confuse this with an ISC funding proposal

One last distinction, because the two processes share a department name and are easy to mix up. The Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program in this guide is business funding, applied for through your local IFI, with a non-repayable contribution at its core. Submitting a funding proposal to Indigenous Services Canada is a separate process for community and organizational projects, submitted through ISC's own proposal system — it is not how you fund a business, and your IFI is not involved.

If your project is a business you own, or a community-owned business, start with your IFI and this guide. If it is a community program or project proposal to ISC, follow our companion guide to submitting an Indigenous Services Canada funding proposal instead. If you are unsure which one you are, one call to your IFI settles it.

Before you go: the checks that save a second application

First, you have found your local IFI on NACCA's directory map — that is the front door, not canada.ca. Second, you know which money is which: the AEP contribution is non-repayable (up to $99,999 individual, up to $250,000 community-owned), while the IFI developmental loan and the BDC Indigenous Entrepreneur Loan (up to $350,000) are repaid. Third, you can state what the money buys, with costs, and whether you are starting, expanding, or acquiring. Fourth, if you are an Indigenous woman, you have asked your IFI about the Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Program's coaching, training, and microloans. Fifth, you have not applied to the Indigenous Growth Fund directly — it invests in IFIs, not in individual businesses. Sixth, you are sure you want business funding through your IFI, not an ISC funding proposal — and if it is the latter, you are following the companion guide instead.

Related guides

• How to Start Submitting an Indigenous Services Canada Funding Proposal in Canada — the separate ISC proposal process for community and organizational projects; not the business-funding route in this guide.
• How to Get a Small Business Loan in Canada — the CSBFP government-backed loan, Futurpreneur, BDC, and what lenders check — the wider loan landscape behind Step 5.
• Business Grants and Funding Programs in Canada — the broader federal and provincial grants and funding landscape, for programs outside the IFI network.
• How to Register a Sole Proprietorship and Get a GST/HST Number in Canada — the business number, name registration, and GST/HST mechanics lenders expect in place before you borrow.
• How to Open a Business Bank Account in Canada — the documents banks ask for, so the funding lands in a real business account.

Sources

• Indigenous Services Canada, "Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program: Access to Capital" — the program's two streams, the non-repayable equity contribution, up to $99,999 for individual Indigenous entrepreneurs and up to $250,000 for eligible Indigenous community businesses, amount depending on scope, demonstrated need and estimated budget, no deadline to apply, eligibility (Indigenous individuals and businesses owned and controlled by Indigenous Peoples; Indigenous organizations and associations except those with charitable or religious purposes), administration by NACCA via IFIs and Métis Capital Corporations, and apply by contacting your local IFI or MCC directly —
• National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, "Indigenous Financial Institutions Directory Map" — IFIs as autonomous, Indigenous-controlled, community-based financial organizations providing developmental lending, business financing and support services to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit businesses in all provinces and territories; the map currently lists 52 IFIs —
• National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, "The Indigenous Growth Fund" — CAD $153M currently committed by accredited investors, portfolio investments to IFIs rather than lending directly to individual businesses, IFIs as autonomous, Indigenous-controlled, community-based financial organizations, and over 50 IFIs in Canada —
• National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, "Indigenous Women Entrepreneurs" — the Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Program (IWE): funding, training, and advisory services through NACCA and the IFI network; connect with your local IFI, meet a Business Support Officer, access training, apply for microloans; over 5,000 advisory sessions, nearly 5,000 women trained, more than 600 loans unlocking $11.4 million —
• Business Development Bank of Canada, "Indigenous Entrepreneurs" — the Indigenous Entrepreneur Loan: financing of up to $350,000 to grow or scale, flexible repayment terms, preferred rates with no processing or annual administration fees, and BDC's annual contribution to charitable organizations supporting Indigenous communities based on the loan's outstanding principal balance —

No figure of "59 IFIs" is stated in this guide, because it could not be verified on an opened official page: NACCA's own pages say "over 50 IFIs" and its directory map currently lists 52. No typical AEP contribution size and no project-cost percentage cap are stated: third-party funding round-ups quote a typical individual contribution of $10,000–$50,000 and a 40% cap, but neither figure appears on an official page, so neither is carried here — ask your IFI what a business like yours typically receives. No processing timeline for an AEP application is stated, because Indigenous Services Canada publishes none: ask your IFI for its current timeline when you apply. No maximum microloan amount for the Indigenous Women Entrepreneurship Program is stated, because NACCA's program page gives none. A $50,000 loan figure for the Women Entrepreneurship Loan Fund appears in NACCA's annual report but was not verified on an opened page, so it is not stated either. Re-check the Indigenous Services Canada AEP page and nacca.ca on the day you apply: they govern over any summary, including this guide.