Entrepreneur of the Year 2025: How Seven Generations Capital is rewriting the rules of Indigenous development

Before Seven Generations Capital became an institutionally backed, $300-million private equity fund for Indigenous-led development, real estate heirs Michael and Andrew Hungerford were quietly reshaping the playbook. Through their decades-old family business, Hungerford Properties, the brothers built trust with Indigenous communities, creating financial pathways and proving their model could deliver.

Proud to be of Gwich’in ancestry, they kept their heritage under wraps in an industry where bias ran deep. That changed with the passing of their grandmother and the wave of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation movement. The shame imposed by systemic marginalization gave way to pride—and purpose.

Today, Seven Generations Capital is the brothers’ boldest move yet: unlocking billions in development potential and rewriting the rules of economic inclusion. “We owe a lot to our ancestors who paved the way for us to be in this situation right now,” Michael says.

Armed with two decades of experience from Hungerford Properties, Michael and Andrew Hungerford are dismantling outdated views of Indigenous land development. Through Seven Generations Capital, they’ve built frameworks that merge Indigenous values—environmental stewardship, cultural identity, collective ownership—with the rigour of institutional real estate investment. The $300-million private equity fund targets the untapped $350-billion-plus market for developments on Indigenous and adjacent lands, proving that capital and community can thrive together.

A recent example: səkʷíw, a mixed-use project with Westbank First Nation, named for the wild rose bud in the local language. The community-owned economic development corporation is a 50/50 equity partner, with nearly 100 percent of construction and procurement sourced from Indigenous-owned firms. Architecture reflects traditional basket weaving; public art honours local stories shared by elders. For the Hungerfords, projects like səkʷíw, are more than builds—they are living testaments to the Seven Generations principle: acting today to benefit those yet to come.

Seven Generations Capital is rewriting the rules—arming Indigenous nations with land, infrastructure and real control over their futures. Backed by institutional capital and rooted in Indigenous ownership and values, the firm zeroes in on urban rentals, mixed-use projects and light industrial plays that deliver returns and regenerate culture, community and climate.

Through smart capital that respects the land, projects that should take decades are happening now. And the ambition? That, one day, their partners won’t need outsiders at all. “We are focused on regenerating rather than extracting… inclusion rather than exclusion… relational rather than transactional,” they say. “The future of Indigenous communities is bright, hopeful and exciting.”

An odd job you’ve had?

MH: Both of us have worked in manual labour jobs. There was a time one summer where we were both working and commuting together, one of us in a lumber mill, the other in a fish factory. So, when we would come home from those jobs, our parents told us we had to strip down our clothes at the front of the house outside before we could enter because we both either stank of fish or were covered in sawdust.

What’s your most used app?

AH: ChatGPT.