AMCHAM delegation with the Foundation on Indigenous territory, in front of a thatched ruka

An ecosystem for the economic autonomy of Indigenous Peoples

The Indigenous economy exists. What was missing was the infrastructure for it to grow.

The Foundation exists so that Indigenous Peoples own their economic future. The 17,221 ventures mapped across Chile's 16 regions are already building it; this ecosystem exists so that path is provable: registry, verification and market.

I'm an Indigenous business I buy for my organization

Economic autonomy is built by businesses

The Foundation was created in 2020, in Temuco, to contribute to the economic autonomy of the Indigenous Peoples of Chile and Latin America. That autonomy does not arrive through transfers or programmes: it appears when an Indigenous company invoices, hires, invests and decides for itself, in the territory it is part of.

Selling to large buyers is one of the ways, not the only one: formalisation, financing and market access matter too. It is the one this ecosystem can sustain with verification, and the one that today moves amounts that change a company's size.

The starting point, measured

17,221: ventures mapped
2: surveys: 2022 and 2025

From the Indigenous Census, with a signed annual report behind it. The aggregated dataset is open and downloadable, protected with k-anonymity. See the Census

Arica985
Tarapacá1.004
Antofagasta469
Atacama579
Coquimbo367
Valparaíso455
Metropolitana2.204
O'Higgins209
Maule276
Ñuble411
Biobío1.334
La Araucanía5.509
Los Ríos590
Los Lagos2.190
Aysén391
Magallanes295

Initiatives recorded by region, 2025 survey. Shade is quantity; a dash means no data for that region.

Why this is not a diversity program

Companies operating on Indigenous territories need to demonstrate a real relationship with the local economy. The frameworks that require it are IFC PS7, the ICMM principles and GRI 204.

In 2025 diversity programmes were cut worldwide and Indigenous supplier programmes tied to territory did not move. They did not survive out of conviction: they are material to the business.

The gap Chile can close

One global mining company reports how much of its supplier spend reaches Indigenous businesses, country by country. The difference is not in the peoples: it is that Australia and Canada have had Indigenous registries, certification and financing running for decades.

The Foundation in workshops with communities — Workshops with communities. Support towards formalization is the first stretch of the road, and the one that decides whether a company comes to exist at all.

A global movement has already proven the path

Supply Nation in Australia, NMSDC in the United States, MSDUK in the United Kingdom, CAMSC in Canada, SASDC in South Africa. The Chilean standard was built by looking at what already works there.

The Foundation's delegation with Supply Nation in Australia — The Foundation's delegation with Supply Nation, Australia. It is the oldest of the organizations running this model.

The trust wall

Between a company that declares itself Indigenous and one whose ownership, management and control were verified with documents there is a line, and that line is the product. A procurement team can report the second without exposure.

How a company is named

No company presents itself as an «Indigenous company» alone. Always with its level, because the level says what was verified.

Registrada: Enrolled, consented to appear, and the Foundation verified its Indigenous leadership against the Regulation and its tax registration.
Certificada: The committee checked with documents that at least 50% of the capital is Indigenous, and that management and control are too.

No level is written by hand: it derives from dated facts and changes only when those facts change.

The four platforms

Each one solves a stretch of the path. A company enters where it belongs.

01
Catastro Indígena
The census. How many there are, where, and in which sectors. Always aggregated, never individual records.
02
Directorio Indígena
The public registry. A company enrols, consents to appear, and shows as Registrada.
03
Sello Empresa Indígena
The certification. A committee verifies ownership, management and control, and issues a code anyone can check.
04
Compras Indígenas
Procurement. Connects buying teams with suppliers whose level is verified.

Who answers for the standard

Eleven people answer for the Foundation's decisions: Indigenous leaders, jurists and executives who put their name where the ecosystem puts its reputation.