Helping Indigenous Entrepreneurs Grow. And Sometimes Heal – The Tyee

Colonization harmed Indigenous trade, commerce and wealth. Jacqueline Jennings’ Fireweed Institute is reversing those impacts. A Tyee Q&A.

While travelling for work a few years ago, Jacqueline Jennings noticed a powerful plant everywhere she looked. Fireweed grows from the Arctic Circle to well below the U.S. border. It sprouts from Vancouver Island to the Maritimes in Eastern Canada and is used in medicine and art in many Indigenous communities.

As an Indigenous business strategist and one of the few Indigenous women to work in venture capital in North America, Jennings says the plant stood out to her because of its remarkable ability to spring up wherever fire has ripped through, bringing nourishment to the soil and life.

Read More: https://thetyee.ca/WhatWorks/2026/01/15/Helping-Indigenous-Entrepreneurs-Grow/