b'COVER STORYBirch Bark founder Mark Marsolais-Nahwegahbow (centre) has built an Indigenous coffee company that focuses on sustainabilty and ethical business practices MANY TALENTS facingIndigenouscommunities,Theres an interaction, people sit, drink Marsolais-Nahwegahbow is an entre- including the impact of water-relatedand socialize for hours, and I thought, preneurwithmanytalents.Inhisproblems. He wanted to find a way toWhat better way than for somebody younger years, he worked in the trades,address this, and he wanted to do itto be drinking coffee and addressing and after graduating from Algonquinthrough a viable business model thatthe concerns we have in our commu-College in 1993, he spent significantdedicated a portion of its proceeds tonity? Marsolais-Nahwegahbow says. time tackling the overrepresentationa good cause. of Indigenous people in the criminalThe world consumes 1.6 billion cups justice system and improving reinte- What can I do as an entrepreneur?of coffee daily, and 10.5 billion kilo-gration programs. In 2015, he foundedMarsolais-Nahwegahbowaskedgrams of coffee was produced glob-INDIgenius, an Indigenous procure- himself after the symposium. I wantedally in 2021, making coffee a product ment firm that advocates and sourcesto create a social enterprise that hadwithmassiveglobaldemand.By Indigenous companies for corporateimpact. In 2018, he founded Birchtapping into this market, Marsolais-and government bids.Bark Coffee as an answer to this quan- Nahwegahbow saw a meaningful way dary. For every 100 bags of coffee sold,to effect positive change in Indigenous IfMarsolais-NahwegahbowhadBirch Bark donates a water purificationcommunities, especially in terms of stopped there he would still be cele- system to an Indigenous family. access to clean drinking water.brated as a powerful leader and role model, but this is where the story ofMarsolais-NahwegahbownamedAs of July 2023, there were still 29 Birch Bark Coffee really began. Inthe company after the birch treeslong-term boil water advisories in 27 2017, while working as an educatorthat populate his community on theIndigenous communities in Canada and at a Vancouver community college,banks of Lake Huron. While coffeea similar number with short-term boil Marsolais-Nahwegahbow attended awasnt a traditional Indigenous drink,water advisories. Significant challenges symposium that examined challengeshe connected with the social aspect.in building the needed infrastructure 16A CCAB PUBLICATIONFall 2023'