“Just a kid from the rez” is how he often describes himself in his Facebook posts.
That kid from the rez is now an award-winning successful business owner, author and motivational speaker.
Kendal Netmaker is the CEO of Netmaker Enterprises Corporation, the founder of sports clothing line Neechie Gear and a motivational coach at Netmaker Academy.
He was honoured with the National Indigenous Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA) Indigenous Business Awards of Excellence in Ottawa last week.
The Saskatchewan Indian Equity Foundation nominated him.
“When you get an award or any kind of recognition, what it does is, it is not about the award, it is about the recognition that you are on the right track,” Netmaker says. “If anything, it helps you create that in your mindset that other people are recognizing that you are on the right track and that encourages you to keep moving forward.”
Netmaker grew up on the Sweetgrass First Nation in a single-parent home and is the older brother to three younger sisters.
He says his family scraped by on welfare cheques and pawn shop proceeds just to put food on the table.
Last year, Netmaker penned a book entitled Driven to Succeed: From Poverty to the Podium, which has received rave reviews from critics.
The book has an underlying theme of “if you don’t like something, change it,” which is a constant reminder of his grandmother’s advice.
“Indigenous people are natural entrepreneurs,” he says. “We know how to make money from $5 into $50. Our ancestors were entrepreneurs; there just wasn’t a term for that back then. They knew how to make money out of anything, out of the land and so forth. In all reality, I’m just doing it in the modern world we are living in.”
Netmaker has two degrees from the University of Saskatchewan – a bachelor of arts in Native studies and a bachelor of education in social studies and English.
He started Neechie Gear just after he finished his studies from a small, one-bedroom apartment in Saskatoon.
His brand is sold throughout North America and a percentage of Neechie Gear’s profits go to trying to increase participation in sport by underprivileged youth.
He mentors 40 youth across Canada and has supported 19 Indigenous post-secondary students with cash bursaries.
Netmaker resides in Saskatoon with his wife and two young children.
Another winner at the awards from Saskatchewan was Onion Lake Cree Nation’s Askiy Apoy Hauling, which was the recipient in the Indigenous Community Business category.
Askiy Apoy Hauling was founded in 2008 and is 100 per cent First Nations owned.
The trucking and transportation company serves the oil industry and their main work is the transportation of produced water and petroleum crude oil for several local companies in the area.
Ninety per cent of the company’s employees are from Onion Lake Cree Nation.
The Saskatchewan Indian Equity Foundation also nominated Askiy Apoy Hauling.
(PHOTO: Indigenous Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the NACCA Indigenous Business Awards. Photo courtesy Kendal Netmaker Facebook page.)