For these Indigenous women, becoming entrepreneurs was about business and breaking barriers – The Globe and Mail
When Victoria LaBillois started selling custom-made t-shirts at powwows in the early 1990s, she didn’t know what she was doing. “I put $500 on my credit card to buy an inventory of t-shirts, and I knew nothing about business. I learned everything the very hard way,” she says.
It was trial by fire, but Ms. LaBillois pushed on, continuing to go into business for herself in a wide range of ventures. After t-shirts came selling purses, founding a construction company, and attempting to set up an internet service provider in her community of Listuguj, Que. Along the way, she got her MBA, which she wryly admits was “a bit of an overkill.” Today, she is the vice chair of The National Indigenous Economic Development Board, as well as the principal at The Eloquent Hostess, a public speaking service.
