Helping people and businesses succeed
Closing the Dignity Gap
We believe a more equal society is good for everyone.
CTDG specializes in leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs who face barriers to accessing capital by working on both sides of the equation—helping entrepreneurs gain fair access to capital while helping impact investors, including governments and nonprofits, place impact capital. When small businesses create decent employment, individuals thrive, families prosper and communities grow stronger.
Solutions We Offer
Finance
Connecting entrepreneurs with capital
Financing your business can be difficult and intimidating. It doesn’t have to be. CTDG helps clients at every stage of small business development—from business planning to financing (including loans and grants), to preparation of financial statements, and to advice on tax, legal and regulatory matters. CTDG works with for-profit and nonprofit organizations including social enterprises to secure the capital they need to succeed.
Impact
Measuring and reporting social outcomes
All organizations have partners to whom they are responsible. Successful organizations understand how important it is to measure social outcomes and to act on what’s been learned. CTDG can help your business determine what to measure, how to measure and, importantly, how to report outcomes that are credible and responsible.
Reconciliation
Connecting indigenous entrepreneurs, governments and corporations
Reconciliation is action! TRC Call to Action #92 asks corporations and governments to adopt principles of reconciliation in contracts, purchasing agreements and supply-chain decisions. CTDG helps corporations and governments deliver economic inclusion strategies based on local knowledge and mutual respect. CTDG has experience identifying and leveraging the strengths of local indigenous suppliers to build shared value between governments, corporations and local communities.
“Closing the Dignity Gap levels the playing field for its customers and treats them with dignity and respect.”
Laura Phypers, client
Partner, Advocate Law
Red Deer & Maskwacis reserve, Alberta
Member of Lower Kootenay First Nation, British Columbia
We Are
Rob Rollingson has been in the financial services field for over 30 years, with a focus on business and commercial banking. For 15 years, he was the general manager of Indian Business Corporation, lending over $100 million to aboriginal businesses and entrepreneurs. In 2019, Rob graduated from the Harvard Business School, General Management Program.
Rob is known for his innovative ideas on how to create partnerships between the private sector and First Nations businesses and is a champion of “access to capital” for Indigenous people.
Terrapin Social Finance helps charities, nonprofits and social enterprises make and measure social change. Terrapin specializes in program evaluation, social research, fundraising and organizational development.
Since 1987, the Indian Business Corporation (IBC) has provided access to capital for First Nations peoples, fostering opportunities for success and development.
NACCA, the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, is a network of over 50 Aboriginal Financial Institutions (AFIs) dedicated to stimulating economic growth for all Indigenous people in Canada.
Closing the Dignity Gap News
2022 Indian Business Corporation
Dignity is the key
2024 Successful Indigenous Business
What it Takes
