Ally Hrbachek completes the final yellow and pink icing flower on a new batch of sugar cookies as her four-year-old daughter, Addilyn, looks on.
Hrbachek enjoys baking for her husband and three kids, but it's also how the Saskatoon woman makes her living. She was training to be a psychologist before she had children. Baking began as an attempt to busy herself while at home coping with post-partum depression.
"I just decided I needed to do something for myself. I just started baking. It turned from a hobby, into a passion and now into my profession," she said.
Hrbachek is able to support her family, but says it also allows her to help others. She donates cakes and baking to low income families and single mothers, and teaches baking to inner-city youth.
"I grew up really, really poor. My mom was a teenaged single parent. I'm blessed to be where I am today. I will never forget where I came from," she said.
Saskatchewan Indigenous Economic Development Network founder and board chair Milton Tootoosis said he's proud to have supported the rapid growth of Indigenous entrepreneurship across the province. (Jason Warick/CBC)
Hrbachek, a member of Peepeekisis Cree Nation, is hoping to move to a storefront location soon.
She said she wants to serve as a mentor to young Indigenous women looking to start their own businesses.
"I'm really excited about that part of it," she said.
Milton Tootoosis said he's excited to hear about businesses like this. He's the founder and board chair of the Saskatchewan Indigenous Economic Development Network. The group celebrated its 10th anniversary this week.
"It's just tremendous. It's always inspiring when you hear stories like Ally's," said Tootoosis, a member of Poundmaker Cree Nation.
"When we talk business and entrepreneurship in the Indigenous culture, money and profit isn't the be all, end all."
Ally Hrbachek reads with her four-year-old daughter, Addilyn. Hrbachek says being a business owner has allowed her to support her family and serve her community. (Jason Warick/CBC)
Since the Network was founded in 2011, the number of Indigenous businesses in Saskatchewan has grown rapidly, and shows no signs of slowing.
In the Saskatoon region alone, the number of Indigenous business has almost doubled over the past decade, to 285 from 160, according to Tootoosis.
Spending by Indigenous business in that area has nearly tripled in the last 10 years, to $608 million in 2021 from $206 million in 2011, he said.
Tootoosis said Indigenous people long prided themselves on self-sufficiency and innovation, but that was limited by generations of oppression. The pass system, for example, required First Nations people to obtain the permission of the Indian agent to sell their farm produce or other products.
But Tootoosis said the future is bright, and he's confident in Hrbachek and the new generation of Indigenous entrepreneurs.
