{"id":218729,"date":"2025-10-17T02:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T02:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/218729\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T02:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T02:27:09","slug":"patrice-mousseau-is-building-an-indigenous-business-ecosystem-one-entrepreneur-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/218729\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrice Mousseau is building an Indigenous business ecosystem, one entrepreneur at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Patrice Mousseau, founder of Satya Organic, managed to build a thriving beauty business without any entrepreneurial experience. Now, she\u2019s helping other Indigenous founders achieve the same heights.Supplied<\/p>\n

As the founder and CEO of Satya Organic, Patrice Mousseau has built one of Canada\u2019s most successful Indigenous-owned skincare brands \u2014 and she\u2019s determined not to be the last.<\/p>\n

Satya is a certified B Corp \u2014 which means it is a for-profit company that meets rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency, as certified by the non-profit B Lab \u2014 best known for its clean, plant-based formula, launched in 2014 out of its founder\u2019s home kitchen. Ms. Mousseau, then a single mother and journalist, was looking for a solution to her infant daughter\u2019s painful eczema. It led her to develop her own solution: a natural balm that worked better than anything she could find on the shelf.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never would have done it without her,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

But what began as a personal project quickly took on a life of its own. After she brought her first jars to a farmers\u2019 market, interest in her products spread by word-of-mouth, eventually earning the interest of major retailers. Satya is now a fixture on Canadian shelves. It was the first Indigenous-owned company to be stocked at Shoppers Drug Mart. Today, the brand is sold in more than 1,000 Shoppers stores across the country, as well as other retailers across the country and in the U.S. and Hong Kong. <\/p>\n

\u201c[Getting into Shoppers] was a real opportunity to expand our market here in Canada, and it\u2019s been tremendous,\u201d she says. \u201cOur sales were so good that they actually moved us, and now we\u2019re seated between their No. 1 and No. 2 bestsellers. I\u2019m hoping that I\u2019m the first of many.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while this milestone was hugely transformative for the company, it is also meaningful because of what it represents: a source of inspiration for other Indigenous businesses. Indeed, while her business continues to grow, Ms. Mousseau\u2019s focus has shifted toward helping others achieve the same. <\/p>\n

Before entrepreneurship, she had spent years working in radio and television, a far cry from product development and distribution. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t come from a multi-generational business background,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anybody who started their own business. It wasn\u2019t on the radar.\u201d <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Mousseau says her role is often about helping entrepreneurs slow down
\nand see the bigger picture.Supplied<\/p>\n

As Entrepreneur in Residence at Flint Hub, an Indigenous-focused business incubator housed at the University of Waterloo\u2019s United College, she mentors young founders through the early stages of their ventures. This is essential as, she says, many are struggling to find funding and any kind of accessible support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith an Indigenous perspective, there are so many other factors that are considered when you\u2019re building a business,\u201d she explains. \u201cWhat\u2019s your impact on community? How are you giving back? What effect is this going to have on the environment? How are you treating your people? These are all things that are inherent right from the get-go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Mousseau says her role is often about helping entrepreneurs slow down and see the bigger picture. \u201cSometimes you\u2019re just moving so quickly, trying to do so much,\u201d she says. \u201cVery often it\u2019s just me asking the right questions so they come to their own conclusions.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of the young entrepreneurs who she has been mentoring is Winter Dawn Lipscombe, founder of the Miskwaabiimizh Collective, a co-operative financing model that helps Indigenous entrepreneurs pool resources and invest in one another, a key pillar of her community. Lipscombe says the idea stemmed from \u201cfrustration with colonial banking systems that don\u2019t align with the Anishinaabe values [she] was raised in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Lipscombe began meeting regularly with Mousseau through Flint Hub, and says she has found the experience invaluable. \u201cOne of the highlights of working with Patrice is her generosity with her creativity and her time. During our session, Patrice said, \u2018What risk would you take if your kin held the safety net?\u2019 That completely reframed how I was looking at my business. That phrase then became the tagline for my company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flint Hub offers something few other spaces do. \u201cIt\u2019s a space where I don\u2019t have to explain or justify my worldview,\u201d Ms. Lipscombe says. \u201cPatrice and the folks at Flint Hub have created a space where Indigenous entrepreneurs can dream big without having to fit into a colonial mold.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ms. Mousseau, that\u2019s exactly the goal. She believes Indigenous entrepreneurship is on the cusp of exponential growth, and that success will ripple through communities. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you have the first group of people who start doing it, and you see it in your community, it\u2019s going to snowball,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s empowerment in being able to build something for yourself, which I think is very appealing to Indigenous people who maybe don\u2019t trust the systems out there. They want to create their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a decade of building her business, mentoring others and breaking new ground, Ms. Mousseau\u2019s advice is simple but resolute: \u201cJust get started.\u201d Ms. Lipscombe agrees, saying, \u201cSome of the best opportunities came [into] my life because I was willing to ask myself \u2018why not?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

One in a regular series of stories. To read more, visit our\u202fIndigenous Enterprises<\/a>\u202fsection. If you have suggestions for future stories, reach out to\u202fIE@globeandmail.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Patrice Mousseau, founder of Satya Organic, managed to build a thriving beauty business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1401,1397,45,49,48,137,105468,32918,35830,105470,35831,105467,105466,105469],"class_list":{"0":"post-218729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-adveditorial","9":"tag-appwebview","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-entrepreneurship","14":"tag-flint-hub","15":"tag-indigenous","16":"tag-indigenousenterprises","17":"tag-miskwaabiimizh-collective","18":"tag-ordid3737321246te","19":"tag-patrice-mousseau","20":"tag-satya-organic","21":"tag-winter-dawn-lipscombe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}