“I never chose anything, I always say, I kind of fell into it,” explains Barry Payne. He is from the Hiawatha First Nation in southeastern Ontario but grew up in Toronto, raised by a single mom who worked in factories. His mother taught him to be independent and proud of who he was. Living in a diverse neighbourhood, he learned how to interact with people from a broad range of backgrounds. 

Working labour jobs starting from when he was young, Payne struggled to get by until he transitioned into sales. Initially failing aptitude testing, he won out through his persistence and landed a job with Pitney Bowes. He thrived and excelled, moving onto Canon, a step up, and then onto Xerox. They moved to a sales agency model which moved him into his first self-employment experience. He approached Indian Affairs under the set aside program for Aboriginal business where they reserved some of their purchasing to work with Indigenous companies and he got his start selling into the government.

“Going to university opened my eyes that education is a lifelong journey.”

Educated through everyday experiences, surrounding himself with people who were successful and driven, reading motivational literature and listening to Amway tapes. Payne also attended York University for seven years but didn’t graduate. He got by through his effort and determination, commuting four hours daily to Ottawa for years. To build his business, he educated government employees about their own policies and researched extensively to prepare for meetings. While his family didn’t understand his drive to work for himself, he was excited by every sale and found motivation within. 

Payne got a big break when he heard Indian Affairs was redoing an office building and he worked with a furniture manufacturer on the deal. Next, he landed an $8 million contract with the Department of National Defense. He ended up selling half of his furniture company to a non-Indigenous company and it expanded quickly. He hired 15 people and became the third largest supplier to the federal government with $20 million a year in sales. He strategically named his company so it would come first in the alphabetized printouts the procurement officers would use. He also started a staffing company to diversify his interests, taking on partners to manage the administration aspects he didn’t enjoy. 

Over the years, Payne entered into many joint ventures including water sales, medical devices, and environmental assessments. He ended up refocusing on his primary business lines and networking so he knew the right people when projects came up. When he eventually semi-retired and ended up bored, the federal government offered him a role where he would reach out to Indigenous people and companies to encourage them to bid on federal contracts.

All of that networking and experience in government procurement paid off and Payne was able to pay forward his knowledge to help other Indigenous people succeed. “This is the most gratifying position I've ever had. I was doing it for years anyhow, because I loved sharing the knowledge. But now I get paid for it too, which is kind of nice,” he beams.  “To me, it's not all about money, it's about enjoying your life. Money allows you to do things in life, but if your life isn't happy, what’s the sense of money? Money was never the driver for me, it just happened to come because it was a byproduct of what I was doing,” he continues.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Payne. A car accident, a slow down in sales that left him without a pay cheque for six months and losing his house taught him lessons about diversifying partnerships and not being the salesperson himself. He learned how to get financing, to get creative and solve problems. He took for granted the good intentions of the people he worked with and he now shares his experiences to help others make good choices for themselves. Reflecting on the challenges and losses he faced he says, “They're all lessons. People go to university and spend a lot of time and money and come out $80-100,000 in debt. Well, that was my university.”

“Treat others as you would want to be treated.That's the first part to being successful.” 

Something he learned over the years was that product knowledge was less important than selling customers on the value of working with Indigenous businesses. Between the federal and provincial governments and corporations who are looking to partner with Indigenous businesses he sees so many opportunities for Indigenous people to thrive. He’s found support from the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business and the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council. 

“We can't change the last 200 years, but we can change the next one.”

Outside of his role encouraging Indigenous participation in government procurement, the other place he has made an impact in inspiring Indigenous business has been through Junior Achievement. Half of participants in their program go on to start businesses in their lifetime and he hopes the programming will resonate more with Indigenous students who see an Indigenous business person they can relate to. Out of those businesses he hopes to see wealth creation instead of wealth disparities, especially thinking of Chamber of Commerce Statistics that every dollar spent in a community generates three more dollars. His recommendations for young people is to build digital competence and to line themselves up to build businesses doing what they enjoy. 

He got his start selling photocopiers, built businesses selling into government and then paid it forward showing others how to duplicate his success. Barry Payne learned how to leverage government policy, network effectively and establish joint ventures to create opportunity for himself and his partners. A lifelong learner who failed his first aptitude test but won with determination, he found the drive inside to persevere and to help other Indigenous people win, too.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.