Building Capacity.
Bridging Partnerships.
Keeping Value Where It Belongs.
Willow-ICS is a senior strategic advisory firm serving First Nation communities, organizations, and their partners. We help clients find opportunities, structure them properly, and deliver them on integrated operational infrastructure that makes the work perform — and keeps performing.
Four doors. One firm.
Willow-ICS serves four distinct audiences. Find your path.
First Nation Community
I represent a First Nation community. I am looking for help moving an opportunity forward, building capacity in my organization, or filling a gap my team does not have time to handle.
Start a conversationIndustry Partner
I represent an industry partner. I am looking for credible First Nations engagement, joint venture structuring, or a partner who understands how to make Indigenous participation real on my project.
Explore partnershipGovernment / Funder
I represent a government program or funder. I am looking for a delivery partner with track record, governance, and the capability to deliver outcomes I can report on.
Discuss your programIndigenous-Owned Enterprise
I operate or am building an Indigenous-owned enterprise. I need senior strategic capacity and the operational systems to scale — not a generalist consultant or a generic agency.
Build with usFive service pillars.
One integrated firm.
Economic Development & Opportunity Structuring
Identifying, evaluating, and structuring opportunities to closure: joint ventures, limited partnerships, procurement strategy, business case development, and funding pathways.
Learn moreStrategic Advisory & Document Production
Senior executive advisory: decision packages for Chief and Council, strategic plans, governance documents, briefing notes, and polished deliverables that move decisions forward.
Learn moreCapital & Funding Strategy
Proposal development, funding pathway navigation, grant strategy, and capital project advisory across federal, provincial, industry, and private-sector sources.
Learn moreGovernment, Industry & Community Liaison
Bridging three worlds that often misunderstand each other: government program officers, industry procurement and partnership leads, and First Nations leadership.
Learn moreCommunity Engagement & Communications
Structured community engagement: surveys, election support, newsletters, social media, and community engagement campaigns — delivered through integrated communications infrastructure.
Learn moreNot sure where to start?
A discovery call costs nothing. We will help you identify the right path.
Strategy that operates.
Systems that perform.
Most consulting firms deliver polished documents and walk away. Willow-ICS doesn't work that way.
Every engagement is delivered on integrated operational infrastructure — a unified platform that runs the CRM, communications, automated reporting, document workflow, and managed-service support behind every project. Strategy gets executed. Engagement gets tracked. Reporting writes itself. Clients get the value they paid for.
Faster turnaround on deliverables, decision packages, and reporting.
Structured engagement processes that capture every conversation, decision, and follow-up.
Automated reporting and dashboards that meet government and funder requirements without manual assembly.
Integrated communications infrastructure for community engagement, campaigns, and ongoing client touch points.
Ongoing managed-service support after delivery, so the systems keep running and the work keeps performing.
Most senior advisory firms cannot operate this way. Most agencies that can do not understand the strategic context. Willow-ICS does both — and runs them as a single operating system.
Senior advisory.
Operational delivery. One firm.
Willow-ICS combines thirty years of First Nations and Inuit economic development experience with the operational infrastructure to deliver and sustain it. The firm exists to give Indigenous clients senior strategic capacity without the gap that usually opens between strategy and execution.
Our ApproachStrategy and delivery, together.
Most consultants advise. Some build. Few do both. Willow-ICS combines thirty years of First Nations and Inuit economic development experience with the operational infrastructure to deliver and sustain it.
Senior throughout.
Every engagement is led by senior practitioners. Willow-ICS does not delegate strategic work to junior staff or pass execution to subcontractors who don't understand the context.
Operational from day one.
Willow-ICS does not deliver strategy and disappear. The infrastructure that runs the work is part of the engagement.
Alongside, not in place of.
Willow-ICS works alongside Indigenous services organizations and Nation-owned enterprises — never in competition with them. Every engagement is structured to leave more capability behind than it found.
Confidentiality as a standard.
Willow-ICS does not name clients publicly without explicit permission. Senior Indigenous economic development work involves confidential discussions about strategy, partnerships, and long-term direction. Discretion is part of the standard.
Work that moves things forward.
Strategic Advisory & Joint Venture Structuring
Worked with a Northern Manitoba First Nation to develop a multi-year strategic direction, structure a joint venture with a regional industry partner, and stand up the operational infrastructure to manage community engagement, reporting, and ongoing partner communication.
Outcome: The Nation now operates as an active partner in a sector previously closed to them, with structured systems that make the engagement sustainable rather than dependent on individual capacity.
Capital Strategy & Funding Pathway
Supported an Indigenous-owned organization in scoping a multi-million-dollar capital project, identifying the funding pathway across federal and provincial programs, and producing the proposal package and supporting documentation required to move the project to the funding stage.
Outcome: The project secured the funding alignment required to advance, with documentation and reporting infrastructure already in place to meet program requirements through delivery.
Strategic Operating Infrastructure for an Indigenous Enterprise
Delivered a strategic and operational build for an Indigenous-owned enterprise — covering positioning, communications strategy, CRM and engagement infrastructure, and ongoing managed-service support — enabling the organization to operate at the scale its market opportunity required without assembling an internal corporate team.
Outcome: The enterprise now operates with the strategic and operational systems of a much larger organization, with Willow-ICS providing ongoing senior advisory and managed-service support.
Engagements described in general terms to protect client confidentiality. Willow-ICS does not name clients publicly without explicit permission.
The Gateway Function: Why First Nation Communities Need Better Intermediaries.
Most intermediaries between First Nation communities and industry are neutral conduits. Willow-ICS argues that neutrality is the problem — and that a true gateway function requires active screening, structuring, and accountability on both sides.
Read the ArticleThree decades. Multiple sectors. Measurable results.
Years of senior delivery experience across infrastructure, environmental services, and Indigenous economic development
In cumulative project and capital funding secured for clients and partners
Building retrofits delivered under Manitoba's energy efficiency program
Of project geography spanning a thirty-year career
Thirty years of grounded delivery.
Willow-ICS was founded in 2013 and is led by Darrel W. Olson, whose career spans environmental services, hazardous materials remediation, mine site reclamation, agricultural and oil and gas operations, energy efficiency program delivery, and Indigenous economic development.
Before founding Willow-ICS, Darrel held senior delivery roles across Western Canada — including Senior Program Manager for Manitoba's province-wide energy retrofit program under Efficiency Manitoba, Operations Manager for Manitoba's beverage container recycling program under Extended Producer Responsibility legislation, and Project Manager and Business Development Lead for environmental remediation and hazardous waste programs across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
The firm is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and serves the Prairies and Northwestern Ontario as its primary service region, with career experience spanning coast-to-coast Canadian work including engagements with Inuit organizations in the eastern Arctic.
About Willow-ICS"We sit between First Nation communities and the people who want to do business with them. Our job is to make sure the right ones get through, the wrong ones don't, and the value of what comes through stays where it belongs."
— Darrel W. Olson, President
Pricing is not published.
Engagements are scoped and priced based on the specific work, the timeline, and the client's funding context. Willow-ICS works on retainer, project, and hourly bases, and routinely supports clients in identifying funding pathways — federal program funding, provincial program funding, industry partnership contributions, or grant mechanisms — that may offset or fully cover the cost of the engagement.
A discovery call is the right place to discuss scope, fit, and budget.