Magnolia Perron is the Indigenous women and youth program officer at the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA). She is a proud member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte and belongs to the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.
Magnolia is a Carleton University graduate with a diploma in Indigenous Policy and Administration. She has a master’s in Indigenous Nationhood from the University of Victoria. In addition, she attended the AFOA and Harvard Business School’s Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities certificate program in 2019.
NACCA is a network of over 50 Aboriginal Financial Institutions. In her role as Indigenous women and youth program officer, Magnolia helps Indigenous women looking to start or grow a business and curious to learn more about accessing financing through their network by providing the information they require.
Indigenous Network
Aboriginal leaders, the Government of Canada, and a Native Economic Development Program came together in the late 1980s and early 1990s to address the lack of available capital to finance Aboriginal small-business development.
As a result, Aboriginal Financial Institutions was created to offer repayable, interest-bearing loans to Aboriginal small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that could not secure loans from heavily regulated traditional lenders due to their lack of risk tolerance.
Several AFIs formed National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA ) to retain their autonomy. NACCA was established to increase the number of Aboriginal business owners in Canada and give them opportunities to succeed.
Today, NACCA is a network of more than 50 AFIs that provides direct development loans to Aboriginal communities and enterprises, providing a return on investment rate to GDP. NACCA seeks new funding sources to ensure the network is financially sustainable.
The AFI network has provided 50,000 loans totaling $3 billion to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people-owned businesses. By increasing AFI capability and encouraging the growth of Indigenous businesses, NACCA aids the network. The objective of NACCA is to promote the wealth of Indigenous people in Canada and to open up business opportunities for them. These initiatives help Indigenous people and communities nationwide become more self-sufficient and sustainable on a social and economic level.
Their mission is to represent Aboriginal Financial Institutions and act as a national spokesperson for the growth of Aboriginal businesses. Their efforts aim to support sustainable, successful Aboriginal enterprises with fair access to funding and services.
NACCA maintains a Quality Management System that guides its provision of financial assistance programming and advocacy support for the network of Aboriginal Financial Institutions operating across Canada.
The National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA) is the umbrella organization for a network of 59 Aboriginal Financial Institutions (AFIs) across Canada. For more information about their works and initiatives, visit their website at https://nacca.ca/.
Indigenous businesses must network with institutions that work for their upliftment. To learn more about these organizations, subscribe to Indigenous SME Business Magazine and for the latest updates, check our Twitter page @IndigenousSme.
