Blackfoot entrepreneur from Lethbridge among finalists in national business pitch competition [Video]

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 …