Indigenous Enterprises Foundation · Chile and Latin America
Our own life projects.
Creating the ecosystem of Indigenous businesses that sustains Indigenous peoples' own life projects.
AMCHAM delegation on the ground, with Indigenous communities and businesses
Chile does not lack an ecosystem:
the Indigenous one has no front door
Chile already has a business support ecosystem, built and funded: incubators, accelerators, mentor networks and coworking spaces, with years of operation and public money behind them. What it does not yet have is a door through which Indigenous peoples’ companies can enter.
There is no need to build a parallel ecosystem. What is needed is for the existing one to be able to recognise the 17,221 economic initiatives the Census identified. And to recognise them they have to be identifiable and verifiable: that is what was missing.
That is what the Foundation built its two instruments for: the Census sizes the Indigenous economy and the Indigenous Business Seal accredits who is who. They are not a new ecosystem: they are the key the door was missing.
Inventory of support organizations: Directory of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Support Organizations, CORFO, 2018. Initiatives identified: 2nd National Census of the Indigenous Economy, 2025.
The national census of the
Indigenous economy of Chile
The first national diagnosis of the Indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystem of Chile, now in its second edition.
97% of the ventures recorded by social development programmes operate informally.
It shows who social development reaches today, and where the gap to close is.
Workshop in the territory · formalization is supported where the business is
Four countries know what their
Indigenous economy is worth
New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the United States publish how many Indigenous businesses they have on record, and three of them also publish how much that economy contributes to national output. Chile has a share of Indigenous population of the same order as New Zealand, and for both questions it has no figure.
| Country | Indigenous population | Registered Indigenous businesses | Share of national GDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 22.3% | 21,700 | 5.6% |
| Chile | 12.8% | no data | no data |
| Canada | 4.9% | 62,250 | 0.8% |
| Australia | 3.1% | 11,900 | 0.4% |
| United States | 1.7% | 272,919 | not comparable |
The difference is not in the peoples: it is that in those countries someone has been keeping count for decades. A figure no one gathers is a market no one finances, no one buys from and no one certifies.
Foundation’s own compilation based on Zulueta, Javier (2020), “Enfoque de promoción integral de negocios indígenas”, IDB. The years do not match across countries and are stated. Population: censuses of New Zealand 2013, Canada 2016, Australia 2016 and the United States 2010; Chile, INE, 2017 Census. Businesses and GDP share: Te Puni Kōkiri 2015, TD Report 2011, PwC 2018 and Survey of Business Owners 2017. The United States does not publish its GDP share in a comparable unit.
The global network
We are not inventing the model
What Chile lacks has been running for decades elsewhere: Indigenous banks, public procurement targets, certifying bodies and dedicated financing. None of it needs inventing, and that is why the Chilean standard was built by comparison.
Four precedents
- An Indigenous bank of their ownCanada, 1996
The First Nations Bank of Canada received its banking charter in November 1996: a national bank with more than 80% of ownership and control in Indigenous shareholders. Peace Hills Trust, of the Samson Cree Nation, had been operating since 1980.
- A public procurement targetAustralia, 2015
The Indigenous Procurement Policy sets aside contracts and fixes targets: 3% of the number and 3% of the value in 2025-26, rising to 4% by 2029-30. Canada requires a minimum of 5% of value. It is procurement policy, not legislation.
- Business certificationAustralia, 2009
Supply Nation certifies Indigenous businesses, and more than 870 corporate, public sector and not-for-profit buyers purchase against that registry.
- Dedicated financingCanada
NACCA’s network of more than 50 Indigenous financial institutions lends taking on more risk than commercial banks, with annual losses of 2.1% in the 2019-20 financial year.
How the Foundation works on each part →
Chile is not the first country to raise this: the standard was built by comparison, and it gives back.
Four platforms,
one cycle that returns
From the moment a business exists, even if no one has registered it, to the moment a responsible company buys from it, and back to the territory as a documented commitment.
Indigenous Census
With artificial intelligence and public sources, it identifies the universe of Indigenous economic ventures in Chile (17,221 in 2025) without waiting for them to sign up.
Indigenous Directory
The business enrols and consents to appear. It becomes Registered when the Foundation verifies its Indigenous leadership against the Regulation and its start of activities.
Indigenous Enterprise Seal
Documentary verification of Indigenous ownership, management and control: for companies, at least 50% of capital plus Indigenous legal representation or administration; for communities and associations under Law 19.253, no ownership-percentage requirement. It is the only level authorised to use the emblem, and every certification carries a code the buyer checks independently. There is no need to go through the Directory first: a business that already meets the Regulation's requirements applies directly. Filed with INAPI.
Indigenous Procurement Program
The demand that pays: the program that will connect responsible companies with verified suppliers and measure spend in verified Indigenous local content. In design, with a mining pilot in preparation. The Connect ring also covers export sales, the network of verified businesses and supplier development: these are services, not certification.
Verified Commitment
The Regulation promotes two good practices: not appropriating anyone's cultural heritage, and giving back to the territory in at least one of four dimensions - environmental, social-territorial, cultural-spiritual or economic - in proportion to each company's reality. Voluntary, documented and verifiable. In design.
The system is governed by the SEi Use and Control Regulation, filed with INAPI, and its Tiered Registration and Certification System.
Workshop with communities · intercultural education
Founded in 2020 · Chile
The ecosystem Indigenous
peoples deserve
The Foundation was established in 2020 in La Araucanía, and its Board seats leaders of the Indigenous peoples alongside executives of companies operating in their territories. That table sets the mandate: Indigenous economic autonomy, with cultural relevance, resting on four pillars.
Since then it has produced the first census of the Indigenous economy of Chile, opened the Indigenous Directory and filed the Indigenous Business Seal with INAPI. An Indigenous Bank of the Americas is the declared horizon for financing.
“To build bridges between Indigenous peoples and responsible companies in Chile and Latin America to contribute to Indigenous economic autonomy, promoting inclusion, sustainability and reconciliation.”
Born in Temuco,
working across all of Chile
We were born in La Araucanía and we work across Chile, from Arica to Magallanes. The mission also looks to Latin America.
Headquarters
Av. Caupolicán N° 110, Temuco, La Araucanía
contacto@empresasindigenas.org
+56 9 4966 5343
Does your company operate on Indigenous territory?
Community relations are a material risk. Buying from verified Indigenous businesses of the territory is the most direct, auditable way to manage it, with reporting aligned to IFC PS7, ICMM and GRI 204.
Write to the FoundationIndigenous Directory
Explore the Indigenous businesses enrolled across Chile.
directorioindigena.com →