Bandzonfeet’s Wolf Bannon shares business success story at Thunder Bay summit
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY — Fort William First Nation entrepreneur Wolf Bannon highlighted his high-end designer clothing business at the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce’s (TBCC) 2nd Annual Small Business Solutions Summit on October 21 in Thunder Bay. Bannon, owner of Bandzonfeet, spoke during the Spotlight #1 Entrepreneur Success Story session at the summit, which was held at the Superior Inn.
“I started in 2019 just off social media, I went to my own brick and mortar location in 2021, and then I moved my business to the reserve in 2023,” Bannon says. “It’s definitely what I wanted to do my whole life, bring a business back to Fort William First Nation and try to grow what we have out there. Being on my home soil, there’s nothing that can beat it.”
Bannon says he carries a range of brands, including Gucci, Louis, Fengi, Ferragamo, Essentials, and Bape.
“The customers love it,” Bannon says. “Anyone who comes in our store, they’re completely surprised that it’s in [Fort William First Nation] and they’re just happy that they get a chance to buy it in their own home city.”
Bannon says he is currently expanding the size of the business, which is located at 724 City Road.
“We’re about to double to triple the size of our space for our inventory,” Bannon says. “We kind of ran out of room within our first year — so now we get to bring more brands and a bigger selection to Fort William First Nation.”
Bannon says he did a giveaway of about $30,000 worth of gear to children in need this past year.
“The biggest thing that I’m proud of is we did a giveaway last year,” Bannon says. “We gave away $30,000 in our community to kids in need, we got them all decked out for [the] school year and the smiles on their faces were irreplaceable.”
Bannon says Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund helped him to move his business back to Fort William First Nation.
“I was able to get a loan so I was able to put more money into my inventory to grow faster in a shorter period of time,” Bannon says.
Bannon says his future goals include the creation of some commercial real estate in Fort William First Nation within the next couple of years.
“[It’s to] help empower entrepreneurs that are the younger generation to do the same thing that I did with whatever avenue they decide to take,” Bannon says.
The summit, which was designed to support, celebrate, and inspire small business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs, included keynote speaker Eddie LeMoine, panel discussions, an Ask Me Anything session, networking opportunities, and exhibitors offering small business solutions.
“It’s really focused on trying to help small businesses to not only become inspired but also to learn about different things that may be some challenges in their business,” says Charla Robinson, President at TBCC. “So, we’ve had some entrepreneurial success stories today, we’ve had a couple of different speakers, one on how your mindset impacts how you achieve success. Our lunch keynote (HR – Building Capacity: You can’t hire your way out of this by LeMoine) will talk about some of the HR challenges that businesses are facing and avenues how to address that.”
Robinson says they also had a Marketing Panel discussion with some marketing experts on the best tips and tricks in marketing.
“This afternoon, we’ll have a session on strategic planning for your business and then we’ve got an Ask Me Anything session where we’re bringing all the different experts together so the small business owners can sit down and ask questions to help them in their specific situations,” Robinson says. “It’s a great way for small business owners and operators to get together, to learn things, to meet people, and to find other businesses that they can work with in their pathway.”