Report

Growing Indigenous skincare company’s sales through online presence

The Team

Maskwiomin team, Nova Scotia Community College students Colton Warner and Mitchell Grace, and project supervisor Heather MacIsaac

Indigenous-owned skincare start-up Maskwiomin works with Nova Scotia Community College to increase sales using photography, design, and research skills.

When Indigenous-owned Maskwiomin — a start-up that produces a birch bark extract skincare product based on traditional Mi’kmaq teachings — needed assistance with marketing, it found a solution through Mitacs. They partnered with the Applied Media and Communication Arts program at Nova Scotia Community College’s Marconi campus in Cape Breton, NS, to hire an intern, who helped drive product recognition and sales by using skills learned in the classroom to develop creative content for social media and print.

“The Mitacs project helped us to make Maskwiomin not only known in Canada but worldwide and to celebrate the traditional knowledge of the Mi’kmaq people.”

– Matthias Bierenstiel, CEO and co-founder of Maskwiomin


Mitacs’s programs receive funding from multiple partners across Canada. We thank the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the Government of British Columbia, Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, Innovation PEI, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan, and the Government of Yukon for supporting us to empower Canadian innovation.

Do you have a business challenge that could benefit from a research solution? If so, contact Mitacs today to discuss partnership opportunities: BD@mitacs.ca.

Mitacs Team
Mitacs Team

Mitacs’s website content is created by people throughout our organization, united in their passion for innovation and eager to share their perspectives with others in the innovation ecosystem.