Across Canada and throughout North America, commercial ventures regularly take place between aboriginal groups and large corporations.

Generally speaking, one partner provides access to resources, the other provides capital and know how.

One consultant who's well known for facilitating these partnerships is Robert Laboucane. Robert's company, Ripple Effects, provides training to companies and individuals who want to learn more about aboriginal culture and issues in order to foster a good business relationship.

There are now over 22000 Aboriginal businesses across Canada. This number is increasing at twice the national average.

Part of Robert's marketing strategy is to present a business case for companies as to why they should learn about First Nations culture. He has numerous examples of corporations which lost millions and are mired in litigation by trying to do it "the old way", as Robert describes.

Some of the deals Robert has worked on were years in the making but resulted in major benefits to all partners involved.

Along with fostering business relationships with first nations people, Robert works with colleges to develop curriculum and policies for hiring aboriginal teachers .The goal is to reduce the drop out rate for aboriginal high school students, which has
been as high as 90 percent.

Over half of the Aboriginal population in Canada is under the age of 25.

Being an 'in demand' consultant, Robert has attempted to service the market by training other consultants to work for Ripple Effects. However, he pretty much does it himself now along with support staff.

Because time is definitely money in the consulting world, this puts a ceiling to his income. Not that he's concerned about that!