Steven Bolduc says having a provincial procurement strategy will help level the playing field for Aboriginal businesses.
Bolduc, who is from Fort William First Nation, was raised at an early age in Hornepayne, Ont. He worked his way up in the world by getting an education earning a business and psychology degree and then working with companies to gain experience.
He saved his money, organized and eventually became the owner of the digital print company Print Three in Toronto.
He said he has always loved marketing and design and starting the company was his way of incorporating that passion into a tangible business.
At first he wanted to do it in his community, but was warned that unless he was in front of the client he wouldn’t be able to get off the ground.
But the provincial government announced a plan last month to help those struggling businesses.
Bolduc said the two-year pilot Ontario Aboriginal procurement strategy will go a long way to help businesses avoid the struggles he had to deal with when he was starting out.
“This will help businesses come online and it will level the playing field,” Bolduc said.
“It will allow us to ramp up. It costs X amount of dollars to get to capacity and you have to market and all of this stuff. We need an opportunity to ramp up to make the sale and to engage clients. It’s very hard for us to be able to get there because when we are on reserve we are so far away from Toronto and the other major metropolitan areas.”
The director will allow a business to communicate with someone directly even if they aren’t in the same city.
He said it will help make those businesses successful and in turn allow them to contribute back to their communities.
He said there’s already a federal procurement strategy but it is located in Ottawa and doesn’t help those who are farther away.
Despite being certified to have access to those services, Bolduc said being in Toronto, he can’t take advantage of what the federal government is offering.
“You have to keep marketing and keep being there in Ottawa and you have to see people’s faces all the time,” he said.
“The provincial directory will be a lot easier for us because we’re much closer. We want to keep growing as a people; growing vibrantly and successfully in this culture, in this community while we’re preserving our own culture.”
