New Report: Redefining Wealth
What if we measured the wealth in culture, community, and future generations of businesses, not just monetary gains?
Our community research partners told us they define success differently. It's holistic.
Our new report, Redefining Wealth: The true value of First Nations' Community Based Enterprises, explores exactly that, building on years of research with First Nations’ communities to rethink how we measure success. Why? So we can support policy design to better understand First Nations’ enterprises and overcome the lack of trust they experience when engaging with mainstream partners.
This is more than just a report.
Through our research, we’ve found that mainstream methods can’t fully capture the success of Community-Based Enterprises (CBE). We must include social and cultural outcomes. The second phase of our research project tested that idea, and we’re confident it’s true. What we discovered is that failing to measure and think differently comes at a cost. It lessens the impact of First Nations’ economic self-determination.
This report makes it clear: the cost of getting it wrong is too high. We must do better and change how we measure success.
Key themes in the report:
Community Based Enterprises: Building skills and knowledge in First Nations’ communities, especially in business, will help new industries grow. We found the CBE model best explains how communities manage and are responsible for their businesses. Targeted support for CBEs is required.
Trust as a foundation: First Nations’ people encounter structural barriers and systemic disadvantages that are a direct result of the colonial experience. They face a structural trust deficit; mainstream institutions have a perception that First Nations’ enterprises are higher risk investments than non-Indigenous enterprises.
Access to capital: Accessing finance and capital is the greatest barrier to First Nations’ economic and community development.
The expense of misalignment: When institutions rely only on familiar ways to measure success, they keep unfair systems in place and limit how we understand wealth and wellbeing. This leaves out Indigenous voices and lessens the impact of development led by First Nations’ communities.
Beyond mainstream metrics: Outcomes and indicators of success are often set by funding bodies rather than in collaboration with communities. Homogenised thinking, where all solutions and communities are considered the same, make it easier for the funder or investor to compare across communities. However, this approach does not necessarily meet the needs of the community, whose outcomes are linked to the land, waters and culture of place.
We identified CBE as the best model to show the many layers of governance and accountability that communities use to run their businesses, and the outcomes that First Nations’ people are achieving. It also shows how communities are using CBE to navigate the mainstream market, while simultaneously meeting cultural and social obligations and outcomes.
While the term ‘community-based enterprise’ helps describe this approach, it isn’t always the language used broadly. Some might call it community-led or First Nations-led.
What is a Community-Based Enterprise?
In our communities, the way we live and care for each other is deeply connected to our culture and way of life.
A CBE is more than a business. It’s a way for our people to do things that honour our ways and care for our people. CBEs are founded by community and are run to meet the needs of First Nations’ people and families in the community. They may or may not turn a profit. But they create real benefits like guiding the next generations, keeping culture strong, and building economic independence, all while respecting community values. Most CBEs work within both formal and informal governance systems: formal structures meet legal and funding requirements, while informal, or traditional governance, follows our cultural ways of leading, making decisions, and solving problems. Together, these systems keep the enterprise strong and connected to community.
However, there is a deep structural trust deficit of First Nations’ enterprises from mainstream institutions. They often see them as higher-risk investments than non-Indigenous businesses.
Why this matters:
The CBE model matters because it centers community control and culture in how businesses operate. Unlike typical businesses that focus mainly on profit, CBEs prioritise strengthening culture, creating jobs, and supporting social goals. All led by the community itself. It supports self-determination and sovereignty for First Nations' communities. It keeps wealth circulating within the community rather than being extracted. And it creates tailored solutions to local challenges that respect cultural ways.
Where to from here?
Failing to think and measure success differently for First Nations’ businesses comes at a real cost. It lessens the impact of First Nations’ economic self-determination. It lessons our right and ability to make our own decisions about economic development and financial futures, in ways that align with our cultural values, priorities, and long-term aspirations.
We need to do better and think differently.
We're sharing these findings to support anyone who works with or evaluates First Nations’ businesses to learn what works well and how to do it better.