Trust key to successful partnership

Page 29

The title was long and the attendance relatively small, but the 120 delegates to the Making Money in the Millennium: Creating and Optimizing Aboriginal Business and Corporate Partnerships all came away with the practical solutions they were seeking.

The conference, organized by the Economic Renewal Secretariat and held from June 9 to 11, created a bridge between the Aboriginal business and the non-Aboriginal corporate sector. Some of the 19 scheduled workshops had to be cancelled due to low attendance, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the delegates or the organizers. There was a buzz in the air that this small group was breaking new ground in Aboriginal economic development. Most of the delegates felt that the conference was different from most other economic development conferences because it focused on the practical realities of business partnerships. One of those realities, however, was an existing distrust between Aboriginal people and the corporate sector that has stifled business partnerships.

Chief Billy Diamond addressed this issue with his speech during the lunch on June 10. He spoke of his own experience of establishing a trusting relationship within his own community, as well as with the separatist government of Quebec. Distrust, he said, is based on fear, which has hampered Aboriginal development.

"No trust has created a culture of fear among Aboriginal people," he said. "Fear of rejection, fear of exploitation, fear of failure, fear of standing alone. . . But times have changed, and we cannot keep ourselves blocked into the old structures [that] no longer serve our needs.

"Fear impairs enterprising opportunities no matter how viable they may be [because] we become defensive and destructive," he continued. "Trust is critical in establishing good business relationships. Trust enhances creativity. Trust is a liberating quality. Trust releases my courage and allows me to play with those on the other side. Trust makes personal growth possible."

Breaking down that distrust and creating a link between the corporate sector and Aboriginal people was the goal of the conference, said Ann Chabot, the conference co-ordinator.

"Part of building trust relationships is talking to each other," she said. "Networking means talking, it means establishing individual relationships. It's all part of this process of building trust - it's getting people to know one another so that they can do business with each other."

But misconceptions held by the corporate sector and Aboriginal people are major obstacles to doing business. Aboriginal people are afraid of being exploited, whereas corporations think partnering with Aboriginal people is a no-win situation. Some of these misconceptions are based on a history of disastrous relationships that has seen Aboriginal people exploited or corporations sinking money into bad business deals.

Roger Hill and Pamela Sloane have been involved in brokering corporate and Aboriginal businesses for about 10 years, and they know that history must be acknowledged before progress can be achieved. Hill gave the example of how hydro dams, which have caused massive flooding in Aboriginal lands in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba is one particular example of Aboriginal people being exploited. But both Hill and Sloane said that concrete examples exist of successful partnerships between Aboriginal people and corporations. The key to these successes, they said, was that both sides went into these partnerships fully understanding the needs and motives of the other side.

"Understanding corporate culture, corporate motives and corporate priorities is important for the Aboriginal partner to know, and, likewise, understanding the Aboriginal priorities, the Aboriginal history, the Aboriginal aspirations, the local conditions and the Aboriginal values are essential to the corporate side," said Sloane. "Two-way understanding has to emerge."

They said part of what they do is to ensure both sides have a realisic expectation of what the other side can do for them. Dave White, who co-owns Moonawagin Native Crafts with his wife, knows what partnership means to small business owners like him.

"A partner has what you don't have or what you can't provide for yourself," he said. "It's not just about Aboriginal people partnering with non-Aboriginal people. It's the whole way of doing business."

This particular conference was better than most he's attended because he was getting practical answers to his questions, as well as meeting other business people with whom he could make deals. Brian Davey, the chief executive officer of the Economic Renewal Secretariat, said that he had personally heard of at least four other deals made at this conference.

But he's not surprised, considering that most of the delegates at this conference have already sold themselves on the value of partnerships between the corporate sector and Aboriginal people.

"A lot of these people [attending the conference] are actively involved in searching out capital investors, companies, and partners. There's been a lot of networking going on between the workshops," he said.

It won't take long for corporations to realize that Aboriginal communities are good places to do businesses, he continued.

"Our crude calculations at this point indicate that there is $8 billion worth of potential investment in all sectors over the next 10 years just in Ontario itself, and that's very conservative," he said. "I mean, from a national standpoint, it's probably 10 times that."

The secretariat itself is involved in brokering 11 projects right now in Ontario, with a potential investment of more than $400 million. Davey hopes to bring closure to half of those projects in the near future. The secretariat only works with First Nations from Ontario, but sees so much potential on the national level that it will probably expand.