Blackfoot entrepreneur from Lethbridge among finalists in national business pitch competition

LETHBRIDGE -

A Blackfoot business owner is getting ready to pitch her board games to a panel for a chance to win $25,000.

"It's exciting. I never thought I'd be here," said Kariza Manychief.

Manychief is one of 20 finalists of the Pow Wow Pitch competition, a non-profit organization supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs across Turtle Island.

What started as a project in college last year has turned into a business venture for her.

Inspired by her mother, a kindergarten teacher, Manychief began designing and creating board games about Blackfoot culture and language.

"I was lucky enough to grow up with some of the language and being surrounded by our culture, so I ended up trying to take it a step further and I came up with three or four different games,” Manychief said.

Through her Blackfoot class at Lethbridge Polytechnic, Manychief joined the AgENT program, an extracurricular program that provides experiential learning opportunities for students to develop foundational skills in innovation and entrepreneurship.

During that time, she designed two games – one based on language trivia and the other inspired by the Game of Life using the history of Blackfoot peoples – ultimately leading her to start her own business, Night Owl Games.

"Having these activities that Blackfoot people do, it would kind of open up more dialogues about things where people feel more comfortable," Manychief said.

Kariza Manychief is one of 20 finalists of the Pow Wow Pitch competition, a non-profit organization supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs.

Through the program, Manychief took her passion for the business and entered the Pow Wow Pitch competition.

After beating out 300 competitors and making it through the semi-finals, Manychief is now preparing for her final pitch against 20 others.

"I just kind of wanted to enter this to kind of see where it goes," she said. “And like I said, it was kind of more exposure across Indian countries."

With help from her sister with the drawings, Manychief looks after the logistics and business side of the company.

"I want to use these board games to also help other cultures and use the profits in the future to help other people develop board games for their own language," Manychief said.

Kariza Manychief is one of 20 finalists of the Pow Wow Pitch competition, a non-profit organization supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs.

While she prepares for her final pitch next week, Manychief is hoping her story will inspire others like her to pursue their passions and represent their cultures.

"I'm hoping to inspire more people to kind of like, you know, believe in their ideas and actually put in the work to start it into a business," she said.

The final episode will air on Oct. 23.

Manychief's creations can be found at nightowlgames.ca.