Case Studies in Aboriginal Business

OrigiNative
Kateri Stevens
 Purdy Crawford Chair in
Aboriginal Business Studies
Shannon School of Business
Cape Breton University
1250 Grand Lake Rd, Box 5300
Sydney, NS B1P 6L2
©2016

The Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies was www.cbu.ca/crawford

established at Cape Breton University in 2010 in response to

Aboriginal community leaders’ expression of the need for
entrepreneurship, business investment, and corporate skills
training for the purpose of creating a model of self-reliance.

Named in honour of Canadian lawyer and corporate boardroom

leader, the late Mr. Purdy Crawford, the Chair aims to promote
interest among Canada’s Aboriginal people in the study of business
at the post-secondary level.

The Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies focuses

its work in four areas:
• Research on what “drives” success in Aboriginal Business
• National student recruitment in the area of post-secondary
Aboriginal business education
• Enhancement of the post-secondary Aboriginal business curriculum
• Mentorship at high school and post-secondary levels

“Meaningful self-government and economic

self-sufficiency provide the cornerstone of
sustainable communities. My wish is to
enhance First Nations post-secondary
education and research to allow for
the promotion and development
of national Aboriginal business
practices and enterprises.”

Purdy Crawford, C. C.
(1931-2014)
 ORIGINATIVE

Nina Kent, a young Anishinaabe woman, had been running OrigiNative in Eskasoni,
Nova Scotia for less than a year when she realized she needed more space to produce
large batches of her bath and beauty products. In summer 2016, she was
contemplating whether to rent additional space or continue producing them in her
home kitchen.

NINA ALEXIS KENT

Nina Kent grew up in Obashkaandagaang (Washagamis Bay) located in Northwestern

Ontario, 200km east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. After finishing high school, she completed
a two-year diploma in Peace and Conflict Studies at Sault College, Sault Ste. Marie, ON.
She then obtained a four-year undergraduate degree in Community Economic and
Social Development from Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. In 2014, Nina
moved to Cape Breton to pursue an MBA in Community Economic Development at
Cape Breton University. During her post-secondary studies, Nina had worked many
different part-time jobs, including one as a facilitator for Nahmah Miigwan Services. She
was also an after school program coordinator at the Indian Friendship Centre, and
president of the native student council at Sault College.

Nina initially relocated to Sydney, Nova Scotia to pursue her MBA in CED, but later
moved to Eskasoni First Nation, the largest Mi’kmaw reserve in Cape Breton, Nova
Scotia with a population of more than 4500. During the holiday season, Nina decided to
make her own Christmas gifts to save money and become engaged in a new hobby.
She made bath bombs scented with the natural herbs and medicines used in many
First Nation cultures. They were a success and her friends and family wanted more.
She recognized an opportunity and a potential niche market, and began thinking about
providing more people with natural bath and beauty products with a First Nation
perspective.

ORIGINATIVE BUSINESS

As part of her MBA program, Nina Kent was enrolled in an entrepreneurship course
that required students to write a business plan. She focussed her project on her idea
for First Nation-inspired natural bath and beauty products. Soon, Nina decided to invest
her own money into her business; she won a scholarship of $1500 and put it all into
start-up costs for her business. With her completed plan and some experience under
her belt, Nina applied for a grant from Cape Breton Island Future’s Fund (CBIFF). She
was awarded a $10,000 dollar grant.

OrigiNative by Kateri Stevens 1

She established a home-based business, which produced a variety of lightly-scented
bath and beauty products, such as bath bombs, candles, and lotion bars (Exhibit 1).
Nina avoided using harsh chemicals that can harm the body in her products, particularly
strong artificial scents and sodium laureth sulfate (a detergent found in many products).
These stronger chemicals give the waxy feeling of squeaky clean skin, but strip the skin
of natural oils. Instead of artificial fragrances, Nina used essential oils, as well as all
natural and chemical-free traditional plants harvested in the local area, primarily sage,
sweetgrass, and cedar.

Nina named her business OrigiNative, which she felt promoted her business as
something for everyone. OrigiNative combines the ideas of original plants picked from
traditional territory and the term native as a widely accepted way of describing anyone
native to their land, province, or community. Native is a term also used to describe First
Nation peoples. Nina felt combining “original” and “Native” would indicate that this
product is for everyone – not just the First Nation community; however, inspirations
from Aboriginal culture formed the brand.

Nina wanted her logo to reflect Aboriginal culture. With start-up funding, she hired a
graphic designer to prepare the OrigiNative logo (Exhibit 2). The base of the logo is a
wordmark that has a flame dotting the first “i.” A feather, inspired by First Nation
culture and the practice of smudging, appears above the OrigiNative wordmark. It
features the four well-known colors of Aboriginal culture, red, yellow, white, and black,
which represent the four sacred directions (east, west, north, and south).

The tagline “Smudge Yourself” was chosen by Nina; it the traditional practice of
smudging oneself with a First Nation medicine. When First Nation individuals smudge,
they use sage, sweetgrass, or cedar. The aroma and smoke from these plants is
considered medicine that cleanses their spirits and creates positive energy. Nina felt
that her bath bombs were also a way of smudging and cleansing a person’s spirit, for
example, by taking a bath using a bath bomb that contains First Nation medicines
which can be absorbed through the skin – another form of taking a medicine. Bath
bombs make you feel clean and energetic, which is the same way a person feels after
smudging with traditional First Nation plants. Also, bathing rituals help customers when
they are feeling unbalanced by promoting self-care. Thus, Nina’s products promoted
positive energies that help people emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Nina produced her bath bombs and candles in her own kitchen in Eskasoni and stored
them in her refrigerator or other parts of her home that were cool and dry. She ordered
essential oils, citric acid, and other ingredients online, because they were not available
locally in bulk quantities. Nina harvested First Nation plants by hand in Mi’kmaw
territory. The production of her body lotion bars, however, was outsourced to a
company in Wolfville. For $2 per bar, they would produce the bars using her recipe,
ingredients, and branding. It was a more economical option.

2 Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies

Nina sold her products online and shipped them across Canada. Nina’s customers
primarily were First Nation individuals and organizations from Nova Scotia and Ontario;
many were friends, friends of friends, family, or extended family. Most of them were
located within a 100km radius of either her home community in Ontario or her current
location in Eskasoni. She advertised through social media, such as Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter (Exhibit 3). Social media was a powerful tool that helped Nina
increase her sales revenue and grow her customer base through networking. Facebook
was Nina’s favourite way to advertise, using her own business page. She promoted her
business on Facebook by paying one dollar per day for a sponsored ad. Facebook
analytics let her know how many people she reached each day and sometimes she
reached up to 1000 per week. Nina felt that positive feedback and viral marketing
helped her save money in advertising, because it did not have a significant financial
cost, though it did require an investment of time.

COMPETITION AND PRICING

While preparing her business plan, Nina conducted market research. She noted little
competition in Cape Breton for handmade products. Local crafters only made natural
bath products to supplement their sales, but had not concentrated on it as
comprehensive business. Her primary competitors, then, would be large well-known
companies such as Lush, Sequoia, and Mother Earth Essentials. Her research led her to
believe that these competitors offer products that are not all natural, because of the
GMO ingredients they use. She felt that she had an advantage by offering products that
do not include harsh chemicals.

Nina’s handmade bath and beauty products cost slightly more than those of her
competitors, because she based the prices on the actual cost of her labour and the
ingredients used. Nina felt that her competitors had an advantage on pricing, because
they can sell their product for less by utilizing mass production. She knew that shipping
was very costly for her and her customers, and she feels that offering a shipping
discount would increase sales revenue. The shipping discount for customers was
something she was working on and was hoping to offer in the near future.

INCREASING PRODUCTION

OrigiNative had been in operation for less than a year when Nina began wondering
whether she should continue to produce her bath and beauty products in her home
kitchen or whether she should rent additional space. Her business was profitable and
she was comfortable with her current production methods and volume. She did not
have any employees, but sometimes she outsourced work to her friends to fulfill large
orders. By making OrigiNative products in her home kitchen, she was saving on
overhead costs, but the actual production interrupted her personal space at home. Her

OrigiNative by Kateri Stevens 3

kitchen could not be used for anything else while she was producing batches of her
products and the finished items took up space in her fridge and other cool, dry areas of
her home. It also couldn’t serve as a storefront.

Nina could rent commercial space for large batch production, which could also provide
space for storage and possibly serve as a storefront. Alternatively, she could even
purchase a small shed in which to work and store products. The costs associated with
these options, however, were a concern for her. There was no suitable commercial
space available in Eskasoni, so she investigated rental options in the Sydney area and
specifically on the Membertou reserve. Based on her research, it appeared that rent
would be approximately $1,000 per month. She felt more comfortable with a range of
$500-700. A small shed (10’x12’) would cost approximately $2,000 and could be
located in Eskasoni, but it couldn’t serve as a storefront. A bigger space could help Nina
increase sales revenue because she would be able to scale up production and store
more inventory, but she feared it could be a risk to her still young business. Nina also
wondered whether she should apply for other grants to allow her to invest in additional
production space and employees.

CONCLUSION

Despite having operated OrigiNative for less than a year, Nina Kent, a young
Anishinaabe woman, was already experiencing success with her bath and beauty
products. Now profitable, in summer 2016, she needed to decide whether to rent
additional space to enable larger scale production and storage of inventory.

4 Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies

 EXHIBIT 1
OrigiNative Bath and Beauty Products

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 EXHIBIT 2
OrigiNative Logo

6 Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies

 EXHIBIT 3
Instagram Post

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