Tribe Network continues to increase its services for Black and Indigenous entrepreneurs

A community organization dedicated to empowering Black and Indigenous entrepreneurship will receive $500,000 over three years from Emera.

That brings total contributions from Emera, the parent company of Nova Scotia Power, to Tribe Network to $800,000 since 2021.

Tribe Network specializes in mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs of colour from its office on Barrington Street in downtown Halifax.

"Access to coaches and people who have done it before, that was something that was lacking for me and something that would have benefited me," said Alfred Burgesson, founder and CEO of Tribe Network.

His organization now provides those services so clients can get off to a good start and have a better chance for success.

"From the very beginning they've been very supportive by encouraging me and connecting me with other business owners," said Tiffani Young, CEO of Natural Butter Bar, a company based out of Dartmouth that sells natural hair and skin care products.

"They've been connecting me with mentors and coaches who have helped me come up with strategies and navigate the business world, because this was all very new for me."

Young operates her business out of her home. Working with Tribe has allowed her to take courses and secure grants that have been key in getting her business up and running.

"This allowed me to access funding and I got to dictate how the money was spent which was really something different, something I hadn't experienced before," said Young. "It was really nice to be in control of the money that was received."

Kendall Darling runs a company called Pilot X, a transportation business that connects users directly to on-demand drivers and local moving companies.

"Tribe has helped us so much in terms of connecting to our community of different business owners, Black, racialized business owners, across Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada," said Darling, who grew up in the Caribbean and came to Nova Scotia to study business in university.

"Having the benefit of an advisor or a coach so you can go on a call and speak to different things that are happening to your business has really helped us decrease the level of issues and challenges that we've been through."

Strong growth

Thanks in part to corporate support, Tribe Network is showing strong growth.

"We are seeing this network grow across Atlantic Canada and other parts of Canada and to be honest we are starting to see people who don't really live here in Canada that want to utilize our program and immigrate here to start businesses," said Burgesson, who was born in Ghana but raised in Nova Scotia. 

"We went from serving a very small group of people in 2021 to now helping a thousand people three years later."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.