NATIVEBUSINESSMAG.COM | DECEMBER 2018 | $8.95
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BEST BUSINESS ACCOUNTING PRACTICES
FINANCING TRIBES: A LONG TRADITION FOR KEYBANK
Vince Logan:
8 ENTREPRENEURS ON ACCESS TO CAPITAL
Future Generations of Native Finance Professionals
LACEY HORN
COMING HOME AND MAKING AN IMPACT HOLDING WELLS FARGO ACCOUNTABLE TO INDIAN COUNTRY THE WOODLANDS WAY FINANCIAL LITERACY MADE EASY THE MASHPEE WAMPANOAG TRIBE’S FIGHT
FOUNDERS/PUBLISHERS
Gary (Cherokee) and Carmen (Makah/Chippewa-Cree/Yakama) Davis
EDITORIAL
Executive Editor Carmen Davis - carmen@nativebusinessmag.com Senior Editor Kristin Butler - kristin@nativebusinessmag.com
CREATIVE
Art Director Kym Tyler (Diné) Creative Consultant Vestalight Sevenly
WRITERS
Contributing Writers Andrew Ricci • Suzette Brewer (Cherokee) • Lynn Armitage (Oneida Nation) Renae Ditmer (Chippewa) • Mark Fogarty • Clifton Cottrell (Cherokee) Debra Utacia Krol (Xolon Salinan Tribe) • Theresa Braine Mary Annette Pember (Chippewa) • Mary Belle Zook (Citizen Potawatomi Nation)
ADVERTISING & EVENTS
Director of Advertising and Events Yvonne Schaaf (Salt River Pima/Mojave/Quechan) - yvonne@nativebusinessmag.com
FO LLOW U S
@nativebusinessmagazine
@nativebizmag
@nativebizmag
@nativebusinessmagazine
NATIVE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
10900 NE 8th Street, Suite 1000, Bellevue, WA 98004 (425) 615-6400 | info@nativebusinessmag.com | www.nativebusinessmag.com © 2018 Native Business Magazine is published by Native Business, LLC, all rights reserved. Native Business is a monthly advertising magazine. All contents are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without written consent from the Publisher. The advertiser is solely responsible for ad content and holds Publisher harmless for its advertising content and any errors or omissions.
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LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHERS
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Money.
PHOTOS BY WHITNEY PATTERSON PHOTOGRAPHY
hen it’s discussed as it relates to Indian Country, it often concerns a lack thereof, limited access to banking services and capital, and poor outreach to underserved and unserved Native communities. It’s important to raise awareness about systemic poverty and the geographic isolation of many reservations that has led to historically low incomes and high unemployment rates of residents. Yet we think it’s equally important to shine a light on people and institutions driving solutions to empower self-sovereignty, self-determination and economic strength. In the second issue of Native Business Magazine, we chose to focus on finance. Within these pages, we share the insights and stories of Native women and men defying the odds and improving tribal economic development strategies and access to capital. Cherokee Nation Treasurer Lacey Horn graces our cover. Horn manages the Cherokee Nation’s multi-million-dollar budget, oversees internal and external audits, and applies cutting-edge thinking to decrease tribal expenses while growing revenues. Under her leadership, the Cherokee Nation has increased its dividend to create a Sovereign Wealth Fund, and the tribe has allocated an additional $11.6 million for its 10 health centers. For our finance issue, we spoke with Vince Logan, an Osage Nation member and authority on financial empowerment and wealth creation, about preparing the next generation of Native finance professionals. As senior advisor of the Native Wealth Practice at Permanens Capital L.P. in New York, Logan underscores the need for Tribes to invest at the institutional level. We also spotlight the best practices of exceptional Native American accountants and profile a recent Harvard Kennedy School graduate planning to launch an investment firm for Native businesses and entrepreneurs. We examine the obstacles that have slowed or inhibited financial literacy education across Indian Country, and we share online tools available that can serve as vital stepping stones to enhance one’s financial knowledge. The finance-themed issue of Native Business Magazine puts the banking industry under a microscope. For centuries, Indian reservations have been considered a nonmarket for banks. To this day, Native Americans drive sometimes hundreds of miles round-trip to access banking services. Fortunately, in certain pockets of Indian Country, that’s changing. Both tribally owned and mainstream banks are opening branches in untapped markets
on and near reservations, as well as in cities with large urban Native populations. They’re also keeping up with the technological advancements of the 21st Century, extending online and mobile banking services to their customers. That said, it’s no secret that Indian Country has had a fraught relationship with some banks. Native Business Magazine doesn’t glaze over that tension and the lingering wariness of tribes and Native American people to bank with certain corporations. In this issue, we face head-on topics such as corporate responsibility and reparations with tribes. At the end of the day, it’s impossible to have an economy without Native American-owned businesses. That’s why, in our December issue, we also showcase entrepreneurs who have turned passion into profit—but all of whom first had to find the capital to begin their companies. Some self-capitalized their businesses, others secured investors, and some business owners applied for and received loans through more traditional routes like business incubators, nonprofits or the U.S. Small Business Administration. We asked each of these entrepreneurs the same 10 questions, and their replies shed light on the state of affairs of small business capitalization across Indian Country. As Native Business Magazine demonstrates in our “finance” issue, human and financial capital is only growing across Indian Country. By 2050, the Native population is expected to increase by more than three million people. Access to capital and financial assistance must mature with us. The upside and potential for Native American public and private business is enormous. But it will require all of us in Indian Country to recognize our worth, boldly communicate opportunities and push the funding envelope like never before—even if that means us investing in ourselves on a more continuous basis.
We just might be the “funding” change we have been waiting for. Onward,
GARY DAVIS Publisher
CARMEN DAVIS
Publisher & Executive Editor
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Horn
C H E R O K E E N AT I O N
TREASURER OF THE
Lacey Lacey Horn always knew that she would be back. “I always knew I would work for my Tribe,” Horn said in an interview with Native Business Magazine. “I never knew in what capacity or in what form it would take. But I just knew I would come back and help my people in my own way.” By Andrew Ricci
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PHOTOS BY: RYAN RED CORN
COMING HOME & MAKING AN IMPACT
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VINCE
LOGAN Investing In Future Generations Of Native Finance Professionals
PHOTO COURTESY VINCE LOGAN
By Andrew Ricci
“V
ince Logan is one of the most impactful men in my life,” said Justin Wilson, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma who today serves as Director of Strategic Investments for his Tribe. “He has this remarkable way about him that is difficult to describe but is very much intentional, that consistently enables me to see the best in myself and what I might achieve, and moreover, motivates me to actively pursue it,” Wilson said. “He doesn’t allow me to shoot lower than my potential or convince myself that settling for less than my best is acceptable.” This opinion is shared by several of Logan’s mentees who he has helped to navigate the worlds of law and finance both inside and outside of Indian Country.
“Vince is one of those guys who’s ensuring that tomorrow is going to be better than today,” said Tyler Pearson, a member of the Cherokee Nation who is currently in his second year of business school at the University of Chicago after receiving his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Pearson had been interested in finance and investments since childhood, when his father bought him stock in PepsiCo. The interest built from there, but when it came time to officially make his entrance into the world of professional finance, Pearson didn’t know where to start. “I wasn’t quite sure how to go about getting into the industry,” Pearson told Native Business Magazine. At a conference in 2008, he and Logan met and found that – both being from Oklahoma – they
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MASHPEE WAMPANOAG THE
TRIBE’S FIGHT
Trust Status Is About More Than Land
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By Andrew Ricci
or the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, as with many Tribal nations, land is about much more than a plot of earth. “Land is the blood and bone of our ancestors, and we always had the land,” Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell told Native Business Magazine. “It was part of our creation story.” “When you’re standing on your land, there’s a place of identity, and that’s economy,” Cromwell continued. “Once you know who you are from an identity perspective and as a sovereign people, you’ll be able to prosper because now you stand on a place that you can call home. You stand on land that you own. You stand on a place that provides resources for all so that we can prosper.” Since time immemorial, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has called the land in Southeastern Massachusetts home. As the Tribe’s Vice Chair Jessie Little Doe Baird said at a recent rally in front of the U.S. Capitol, “My blood and bones are from Mashpee, as were my mother’s and her mother’s before her.” And with that land came the thriving economy that Cromwell talks about. “When you think about all the natural resources our Tribe had before the first settlers, if you want to use the word ‘rich’ and ‘wealthy’, we had that
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If we can’t even live in our homelands, if you really disperse the people away from their homelands, you pretty much kill them off.
PHOTOS: COPYRIGHT © 2018 NATIVE BUSINESS MAGAZINE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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GROWING PAI
Native American Bank Knows Success Doesn’t Come So Easily By Native Business Staff
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ative American Bank is making moves. The bank will relocate its headquarters from the 24th floor of a Denver skyscraper to a stand-alone, single-story building in downtown Denver in 2019. Increasing its visibility and services comes with a cost—including financial demands, need to increase personnel, and time and resource constraints on its currently tight-
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knit staff. “We’re a very flat organization, meaning very few of us have any back-up,” said Native American Bank President and CEO Thomas Ogaard. The only national Native-owned certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in the country, Native American Bank formed in 2001, when many of its initial tribal and Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) investors purchased
Blackfeet National Bank in Browning, Montana, with the aim of turning it into the only national Native-owned bank. The Denver-based Native American Bank, just shy of $100 million in assets, still operates the original bank in Montana. The new location will mark its second retail branch, and its first in Colorado. Today owned by 33 investors, including 30 tribes, tribal enterprises and ANCs,
INS
PHOTOS COURTESY NATIVE AMERICAN BANK
BANKING & FINANCE
the bank is committed to supporting the economic growth of Native communities, though it’s not exclusive to Indian Country. Ogaard leveled with Native Business Magazine about the challenges that come with organizational growth. He also shared his vision for the expansion of Native American Bank across the country. This quote seems to sum up his perspective: “Don’t
limit your challenges. Challenge your limits.” -anonymous Who are the primary clients of Native American Bank? Native American Bank is a really a designated, mission-oriented financial institution. Our goal is to serve Indian Country and Alaska Natives, individuals and entities. Our primary clients today are tribes,
tribal corporations, Alaska Native Corporations and individuals that we serve in the lower 48 and Alaska. That has brought us business in 20 states where we’ve either completed or are in the process of completing projects. We work with all of those entities. Every deal is different, so we look for the best opportunity to create credit that will serve the borrowing entity plus the bank and our shareholders. It isn’t
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BY DEBRA UTACIA KROL
Wells Fargo Gets Real About Corporate Responsibility &
REPAIRING ITS RELATIONSHIPS WITH TRIBES 30
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“We know that it will take some time to regain the trust of the tribes, but we are committed to doing that.”
Jon Campbell
IT’S EVIDENT THAT WELLS FARGO IS MAKING AN EFFORT TO REPAIR ITS BRAND IMAGE WITH INDIAN COUNTRY: • In 2016, the company developed and published an Indigenous Peoples Statement in consultation with tribal leaders and indigenous stakeholders. • In 2016, Wells Fargo donated $540,000 to two Native Community Development Financial Institutions.
PHOTOS COURTESY WELLS FARGO
• The bank is fulfilling its three-year, $3 million grant to the American Indian Graduate Center.
Above: Wells Fargo counts 17 banking locations on tribal lands—more than any other financial services company. Pictured: Wells Fargo’s Hialeah Gardens, Florida branch near Miccosukee Tribe Headquarters, also in Miami-Dade County.
• Most substantially, last year, Wells Fargo announced its five-year $50 million financial commitment to help address the economic, social and environmental needs of American Indian and Alaska Native communities. • Earlier this year, Wells Fargo appointed Dawson Her Many Horses, a veteran banker and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, to lead Wells Fargo's services to tribes and tribally owned enterprises. • And most recently, the corporation committed $5 million over three years to support solar projects in tribal communities across the U.S. through GRID Alternative’s new Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund.
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‘The Woodlands Way’ A Tribally Owned Bank—With $195 Million In Assets and Growing— Shares its Recipe for Success By Native Business Staff
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n 1996, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe purchased a local bank in Onamia, Minnesota, becoming only the third tribal nation in the United States to own a bank. The tribe renamed it Woodlands National Bank, and it became the first tribal-owned bank to be granted a national charter. At the time of purchase, the bank counted $17 million in assets. Before the turn of the century, assets substantially increased to $25 million, prompting Mille Lacs stakeholders to open more branch locations. Today, Woodlands’ seven branches have combined assets of $195 million. Woodlands National Bank specializes in small business loans, mortgages and consumer accounts. Whereas some national, non-tribally owned banks are wary of
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lending to individuals or businesses on reservations due to a lack of understanding of sovereign rights, combined with other compounding factors like poor or nonexistent credit histories, Woodlands National Bank is expanding economic opportunity for tribal members and entrepreneurs. Woodlands is meeting Native American demand for a broad range of financial services on and off reservation in Minnesota and in neighboring states. For instance, Woodlands opened a bank in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, thanks to the support of several nonprofit organizations. “This is a low-income neighborhood with a high concentration of Native American residents that had virtually no access to traditional banking. This branch now serves approximately 800
PHOTO COURTESY WOODLANDS NATIONAL BANK
“One of our core values is to cultivate long-term relationships with our customers, so that we’re partnering with them in their success,” said Sarah Oquist, Board Chair.
BANKING & FINANCE
PHOTO COURTESY SARAH OQUIST
Sarah Oquist, Board Chair, Woodlands National Bank
Pictured: The original Onamia, Minnesota, branch, purchased by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in 1996. Today, Woodlands National Bank counts seven branch locations across Minnesota.
customers with traditional checking accounts, personal loans and home loans,” Ken Villebro, President and CEO of Woodlands National Bank, told Native Business Magazine. That said, Woodlands maintains a strong presence in urban areas to stay competitive. “Early on, we operated strictly in small rural communities which made growth a challenge. We made the decision to focus more of our growth strategy on developing small business banking customers in the Twin Cities market,” Villebro said. Over 20-plus years, the bank has expanded its resources to bring the benefits of full-service banking to small businesses—such as cash management, remote deposit, ACH, electronic wire services and more. For personal accounts, Woodlands offers checking and savings accounts, personal and auto loans, retirement accounts, and more. Woodlands National Bank is also one of the largest originators of HUD 184 mortgages in Minnesota, and the bank obtained an “Outstanding” rating in the Community Reinvestment Act. The Woodlands Way Beyond earning the respect of customers as a trusted advisor in financial and related matters, Woodlands National Bank is committed to going the “extra mile” to provide exceptional customer service. The bank refers to its personalized service as “The Woodlands Way.” Too often, customers at mainstream banks are talking to someone new each time they need assistance, explained Villebro. “Our management team has been with Woodlands for over 18 years on average and our entire officer team has been with Woodlands for over 13 years on average. This provides for continuity of service that cannot be found at most banks,” he said. In today's banking environment, many institutions have similar products and rates, which means the only defining difference between banks can be levels of service, and a deep understanding and respect of concerns and needs specific to Native Americans. “Because we’re tribally owned, we understand what it’s like to make loans to tribes or tribal entities or Native homeowners. I feel like we’re more sensitive to the unique needs of our diverse clients and business owners,” said Sarah Oquist,
Chair of the Board of Directors for Woodlands National Bank. “We’re a community bank. One of our core values is to cultivate long-term relationships with our customers, so that we’re partnering with them in their success.” A founding member and CEO of minority- and women-owned Sapientia Law Group, Oquist is the first female and first Mille Lacs Band member to chair the Woodlands’ Board. Oquist underscored that providing jobs within local communities is important to Woodlands National Bank. “We have 51 employees, five of whom are Native American. We’re always looking at [ways to enhance our] succession planning and training. How do we create environments for people to learn and grow and enjoy their work? Our team will be best able to provide good customer service if they feel like they’re being treated well, too,” she told Native Business Magazine. Online Banking Among the ways Woodlands National Bank is growing its customer base and building loyalty is through online banking services. “Technology is ever-changing,” acknowledged Oquist, adding that Woodlands aims to offer the latest online banking services to clients. “We’re always making sure we have the right vendors and technology to provide those [online] products; and also educating our team, so that they can support those products; and then educating the customers, so they know how to utilize the products. We believe one of our biggest opportunities is to provide online services that successfully support our customers in their banking needs.” In addition to the benefits of receiving or making direct electronic deposits, customers of Woodlands National Bank will soon have access to even more online banking tools. “We are focused on rolling out expanded online services including more individual access in the coming months and online account applications and personal loan applications to Minnesota residents in the coming year,” Villebro said. It’s continuous upgrades like this that keep Woodlands sustainable and competitive in today’s market. “I think one of the main goals for me is to continue to grow Woodlands National Bank in a very healthy way, and to continue to improve service to the various communities where our branches are located,” Oquist said.
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FINANCIAL LITERACY MADE EASY By Native Business Staff
NAFSA’s online playlists serve as a primer to deeper financial understanding
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e’ve all been there, Googling “how
to get a car loan” or “how to refinance a mortgage” or “how to climb out of
PHOTOS COURTESY NAFSA
credit card debt.” And we all know that finding a trustworthy resource among pages and pages of Google results is a lost cause. What if there was an unbiased source of streamlined, educational information, all in one place? Enter the Native American Financial Services Association's (NAFSA) Financial Literacy Program. It may sound serious, but it’s incredibly accessible and digestible. It can even be fun. And while you may want to pull the covers over your head and ignore that glaring debt or the need to save for retirement, it’s not going to go away until you face it head on. NAFSA executives want you to know that these tools are incredible primers available from the privacy of your own home, or wherever WiFi is accessible, at nafsa.everfi-next.net. “With this program, we’re really just trying to demystify finances. I think it gives you a starting point,” said Mika Leonard, NAFSA’s chief operations officer (COO) and a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. “It’s a great tool as you go through different phases in your life. It’s extremely comprehensive and less threatening than Googling. It’s a great, basic starting point for individuals who want to know more about their finances.” So many people weren’t taught financial literacy growing up. “I was never sat down in a classroom and shown these type of [financial] modules,” shared Olivia Hoff, Digital Marketing Manager at NAFSA. “A person of any age can sit down and watch these and get a good knowledge base for moving forward.” Teresa Guzik, Communications Manager at NAFSA, added: “Our modules are easy to use; they’re bite-size. We actually have interactive tools where you can put in the amount of debt you want to pay off over a certain period of time, and it will give you how much you need to save.” Native Business Magazine spoke with these three NAFSA executives—Leonard, Hoff and Guzik—about each of the six playlists in NAFSA’s Financial Literacy Program.
Business 101 The Business 101 playlist is a phenomenal module to “roll through one by one,” said Leonard. Nothing contained in this series will be information that an emerging or new business owner wouldn’t find useful, she said. The Business 101 series provides the tools you need to build and maintain credit, develop a business plan, and advance your current project. For instance, the playlist breaks down short-term and longterm financing options. Lines of credit and business credit cards are the two primary options for short-term financing. For large purchases that take a longer time to pull off, the playlist recommends termloans and explains the collateral required, or unsecured loans available to customers
with strong credit history. The other route to take is commercial real estate loans, secured by real estate collateral, such as an office building or piece of land. “I think Native Americans have always been entrepreneurs in one way, shape or form. I think the idea of sole proprietorship, entrepreneurship and having your own business really resonates for a lot of people, whether they have a specific type of artistic skill or trade. For a lot of people, owning and managing their own business is a dream. But as we know, there are steps you have to take to be successful. Being good at your craft isn’t enough,” Leonard said. “I think this playlist does a really good job at giving you those core foundational items—things you would need to do before you even approached a bank
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GABRIELLE SCRIMSHAW’S JOURNEY By Native Business Staff
From Rural Saskatchewan to Harvard University to Launching an Investment Firm for Indigenous Business
PHOTOS COURTESY GABRIELLE SCRIMSHAW
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aised in a town of 800 people in Saskatchewan, Canada, Gabrielle Scrimshaw, Dene, was an unlikely candidate to grow up to launch an investment firm for tribal and First Nations businesses and indigenous entrepreneurs. But that’s exactly what this indigenous professional with a passion for creating social impact is gearing up to do. In Scrimshaw’s single-parent household, money was tight. As a teenager, she helped out scooping ice cream at a local shop. When the opportunity came to apply for college, there wasn’t enough money to cover the application fees. Scrimshaw applied to the one school that waived her fee, the University of Saskatchewan, and became the first person in her family to attend post-secondary school. “For me, going to a University in Canada, my community helped fund that,” she shared. When she graduated top of her class from her four-year program at the University of Saskatchewan, she didn’t have a job. “I had applied to several jobs and didn’t hear anything back,” she told Native Business Magazine. Scrimshaw kept pushing forward. At a recruitment fair, she met with representatives from the Royal Bank of Canada, who began to pursue her to work at their branch in Saskatoon, where the University of Saskatchewan is based. But bigger horizons were calling. “I knew that if I had big ambitions, I probably needed to be in Toronto at the head office to have a trajectory and start myself off in finance,” Scrimshaw said.
ENTREPRE BY NATIVE BUSINESS STAFF
ACCESS T & Native Business Magazine asked several indigenous entrepreneurs 10 questions about how they accessed the capital to fund their
business ideas. No matter your background, skillset, connections or sector of business, every entrepreneur must tackle the question of capitalizing their vision. In Indian Country, this if often uniquely challenging. We asked entrepreneurs across an array of industries to share how they went about securing the money to start their business and how they attained success. From their various vantage points, one can glean ideas and inspiration, as well as an overview
TRIBAL TECH, LLC
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In 2000, Vicki Vasques retired from the federal government to launch her own business. Today, Tribal Tech, LLC has a healthy portfolio of over $8.3 million with about 100 people working nationwide for Tribal Tech in training and technical assistance to various government entities including tribes, providing grant application, administration, data analysis, and a full spectrum of communications and IT services. Vasques, president and CEO or Tribal Tech, LLC, underscores that when it comes to running a small business, the president has to have his or her hands in every pot—“to know everything from A-Z,” from executive management to finances, to human resources, even IT—to ensure success. Vasques is a huge advocate of the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, and advises everyone considering getting into the federal space to get certified as soon as possible. The education, training and technical support that the SBA offers can be the difference between success and failure, she advises. Native Business Magazine spoke with Vasques about her slow and steady journey to build a successful and sustainable business in government contracting.
PHOTO COURTESY TRIBAL TECH, LLC
of the state of affairs of capitalization across Indian Country.
SPECIAL REPORT
ENEURS
TO C APITA L 1) When you came up with the idea for your business, what were your initial thoughts about how to capitalize it? Having worked for the federal government for over 20 years, it seemed like a great idea, as well as the timing was right, to start my own business, pursuing government contracts. My plan was to apply for the SBA 8(a) certification that is designed to give minority and disadvantaged businesses a fair advantage going after government contracts. I soon learned how extensive this process would be and how long it would take for approval. 2) What difficulties did you encounter with raising capital to start your business? I was very fortunate to have left the federal government with a retirement pension, not huge, but enough to pay the bills and get started. I also invested a part of my savings into the startup of Tribal Tech, not needing to borrow or raise capital. 3) Were you aware of any federal or Native American programs to help you finance your business, and did you feel that you had access to them? Did you take advantage of those programs? The federal program that I was aware of, and as I mentioned earlier, was the SBA 8(a) Small Disadvantaged Business certification. At the same time, the SBA had just come out with the 8(m) certification for woman-owned small business, which I also pursued. 4) Were you aware of any programs for Native entrepreneurs available in your community or through your tribe? Being based in Alexandria, Virginia, there were not any programs for Native American entrepreneurs in the community. I did join the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), Washington, DC Chapter to meet other women small business owners; not only to network, but to learn from one another. I also found value investing my time in trying to meet other 8(a) small business owners, as I traveled throughout Indian Country and by attending various native organizations’ regional and national meetings. 5) Did you feel like you had the appropriate amount of business and accounting training to provide you with an understanding of how to go about accessing capital? Very good question! Running a small business, understanding
the financial side, was not my strength. I purposely point this out, because I put my trust in a partner, who encouraged me, after we won our second largest contract, to move all our back-office functions (for example: Finance, BD, HR, IT) under one provider. I thought this would be a win-win for Tribal Tech – a turnkey operation, letting me focus exclusively on our core operations. However, the trust deteriorated, accounting errors occurred, and a huge IT investment, building out their infrastructure; I felt stuck and needed to get out! Once I made the decision to cut all services and transition our back office to headquarters, which was a scary and costly undertaking up front, we quickly realized significant cost savings, control and accountability. One move I’ll never regret! My weakness in the financial side quickly became my strength and priority. As I learned from a saying, attributed to President Reagan, “Trust, but verify”. 6) What avenue(s) did you ultimately use to fund your business, and knowing what you know now, what funding path would you recommend to other aspiring or emerging entrepreneurs? I established a close relationship with a banker at a financial institution. We took baby steps, growing Tribal Tech together. I would also add that establishing a realistic line of credit, especially if you’re in the government contracting business, is essential. 7) How did the process of raising capital to launch your business empower you as an entrepreneur? Vasques didn’t need to borrow or raise capital to launch Tribal Tech, LLC. Entrepreneurship, in general, is very empowering, she concedes. It requires a “110 percent effort…and one you have to be 100 percent engaged in every day," she said. Vasques “really put the pedal to the metal to build Tribal Tech’s past performance” to greatly improve her ability to bid competitively in the federal marketplace. 8) How has access to capital changed over the course of operating your business? What additional business strategies have you used to help fund your business? Again, I must point out our long-standing relationship we have developed with our banker and financial institution. As we have grown and needed more resources, they have helped us every step
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SPECIAL REPORT ture furniture. “I collect a lot of pieces of wood randomly along the way,” says the discerning scavenger. He also has friends and relatives scouting for him. Overtime, word has spread within Cheney’s circle of family and friends that he has a gift for making furniture from scrap pieces of wood, even though he had never been trained in that art. “I am self-educated and it all starts with the belief, ‘Yeah, I think I can do that!’” Cheney made my first dining table because his Relatives were sitting on the ground when they came over to visit him and his wife. Native Business Magazine spoke with Cheney about how his Relatives helped make High Rez Wood Company a reality.
2) What difficulties did you encounter with raising capital to start your business? Initially, I had to get over the invisible barrier I had placed in front of myself saying that my work wasn’t good enough to sell. I would see work online being sold for thousands of dollars and think to myself, maybe one day, but today isn’t that day. I have a woodworking brother and mentor who operates his own shop full time. I would go over whenever he asked for help to learn. His shop has everything a woodworker would need to make and create. The problem is that this planer might be $3,000. This drum sander might be around $2,000. This router is $600, and the sander $300. Those numbers are a little discouraging, especially as I am doing work out of a little 7ft by 6ft space which is my laundry room! I down-played my importance and quality of work because it was coming out of such a humble little space. The mentality switch allowed me to think forward about what could work instead of what couldn’t work. I found ways to create the same quality of
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pieces that would allow me to advance my goals. 3) Were you aware of any federal or Native American programs to help you finance your business, and did you feel that you had access to them? Did you take advantage of those programs? I am not aware of any programs, and for sure do not feel I have access to them. I am looking constantly for those things, but have yet to find one that might benefit the work and help maintain the integrity that goes into each piece. 4) Were you aware of any programs for Native entrepreneurs available in your community or through your tribe? I am not aware of any in this area specifically or back home in Lakota Territory but would be open to any insight folks might have to offer! 5) Did you feel like you had the appropriate amount of business and accounting training to provide you with an understanding of how to go about accessing capital? I feel I can always use more training in business and accounting. I spend a lot of time researching what works for people and what doesn’t. I analyze trends and try the best that I can to incorporate those things into High Rez Wood Company. The biggest thing for me is finding ways to make the things I make more accessible for everyone. 6) What avenue(s) did you ultimately use to fund your busi-
PHOTO COURTESY HIGH REZ WOOD CO
1) When you came up with the idea for your business, what were your initial thoughts about how to capitalize it? One of our important ceremonies in Lakota epistemology is the Hunkapi, The Making of Relatives. Notice in this example the “R” is capitalized, noting that it carries some significance within the language. It holds some power in these terms. I have been taught that we are all connected. Mitaku Oyasin translates roughly into, “To all of my Relatives.” When this is said, you are acknowledging everyone and everything around you and their own ways of being. You are acknowledging that all Relatives are significant and that we all have a connection to one another. High Rez Wood Company was created making gifts for Relatives, and the main reason it will continue to grow and expand is from the support and backing of those same Relatives.
SPECIAL REPORT ness, and knowing what you know now, what funding path would you recommend to other aspiring or emerging entrepreneurs? Ultimately High Rez Wood Company works because of the support of all the Relatives. I think across our communities, this is the difference-maker. About a month ago, I had a Relative order a jacket that didn’t fit him. He asked if I wanted it, and in exchange if I could make him a cutting board. Over lunch I was telling him about the progress I was making on the board and how I was really getting pretty quick. I could make a board in about an hour, start to finish. A week later he asked if I could join him for Dinner, where he and his Wife asked about investing in High Rez Wood Company. He and his wife shared that they really loved the work and that they just want to see me make things in a bigger way. They asked if I could make them a dining room table in exchange for a jointer. I was blown away by this support and could not believe what had happened. This moment has really solidified my thoughts about our communities. We are capable of so many beautiful things especially when we support and uplift one another in the ways that we can. I would encourage all of the Relatives to seek out those people in your community creating and uplift them in every way you can.
PHOTO COURTESY GEOFF HAGER
7) How did the process of raising capital to launch your business empower you as an entrepreneur? I believe that it made it all real to me, knowing I can actually do this. It went from dreams to reality just like that. There are many woodworkers out there, yet people were really interested in getting work from me. Now I have work in multiple countries! 8) How has access to capital changed over the course of operating your business? What additional business strategies have you used to help fund your business? With the help of purchasing some equipment, I am able to create things quicker and with precision. I now have few different styles of pieces that I can recreate for the Relatives, such as specific styles of cutting boards, benches and tables. There are more Relatives looking for hidden pieces laying down in the forest and just more information being shared out there about the work through avenues like Native Business Magazine. 9) What would your advice be today for entrepreneurs who are just starting to seek funding for their businesses? I am like you, in that I am only now navigating the ways in which I can expand the funding needed to take High Rez Wood Company to the heights that I envision. My best advice is to remove all the negativity associated with you accomplishing your goals and dreams. Starting first with yourself and the negative barriers you put up to guard yourself. It takes knowing ourselves and believing in ourselves to really grow. This is followed by the support of those people and things you surround yourself with. When there is a wall in front of you, find the way over it. If you need some help, I’ll build you a stool so we can get over it together. 10) What are some of the ways that Indian Country could improve its support for funding emerging entrepreneurs? I am not sure if I have the answer to this as our communities are so vast and different.
BIG ELK ENERGY SYSTEMS
Geoff Hager, founder of Big Elk Energy Systems, is a believer that all of life is built on relationships. Bank representatives and investors are a part of that. “If you want someone to invest in you, you have to go all-in yourself,” said Hager, a direct descendant of Osage chief Big Elk. Hager and his wife liquidated their retirement funds and put all their money on the line to start Big Elk, a pipeline equipment manufacturing company. “I went two years without a paycheck and one year without medical insurance,” he said, and he spent a lot of time praying he and his family would not become ill. “That really spoke volumes to people. Even though what we had was a tiny fraction of what was needed to get the business off the ground, they knew how powerful that was,” Hager said. Their leap of faith paid off. The 100-plus employee company has attained a whopping three-year growth of 3,152 percent, raking in $20.6 million in annual revenues last year. Hager hopes to increase that amount to $100 million in a few years. Hager says Big Elk has a “go big or go home” strategy, and he means it literally. The carbon steel parts the firm manufactures in its 140,000-square-foot facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, are as big as semi tractor-trailers. Big Elk manufactures parts for pipeline companies. Speaking of relationships, Hager wanted to underscore why it’s paramount for stakeholders in his industry to consult tribes. Using an analogy, he compared pipelines to highways (he feels these are the safest ways to transport people and energy across land). No one would build a highway through tribal land without consulting the tribe on its sensitivities, he said. “I am opposed to pipeline infrastructure being laid anywhere that does damage to indigenous people,” he said. Native Business Magazine spoke with Hager about obtaining more than $8 million in capital to launch Big Elk Energy Systems. 1) When you came up with the idea for your business, what were your initial thoughts about how to capitalize it? I’ll readily admit that while I had been in this line of work for several years prior to going in on my own and starting my own business, I would say that the financial piece of that was the one
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SPECIAL REPORT ing as much as I could, putting it into my business. I knew if I could make others’ businesses successful, I could do it for myself. I’m a trouble-shooter. If I don’t know how, I’ll figure it out. I’d price things out. I wrote lists of different things I’d need for my shop. Every single day, I’d search Craigslist for cups, for everything. I wanted quality stuff, too. I looked up the prices brand new. When a place was going out of business, and they had good quality stuff, I’d go purchase from them. I started marking everything off my list as I was finding it. My sister lent me money to buy our espresso machine, which was only 41 days used. It typically costs $13,500, but we paid about $7,000 for it. She and I do that, lend each other money. We help each other. 3) Were you aware of any federal or Native American programs to help you finance your business, and did you feel that you had access to them? Did you take advantage of those programs? No and no. I didn’t know of any.
was fun getting to create it how I visualized it. It started evolving into what it is. Now I’ve got my floors leveled. The hard parts were dealing with the city or contractors. The stuff I could do myself was fun. My mom and I did pretty much everything we could ourselves. Everyone in the family leaned in. We pushed it out. All my family is involved. My mom is my accountant. My daughter works for me. My sisters help out. You have to have the drive—even when it gets hard. 5) Did you feel like you had the appropriate amount of business and accounting training to provide you with an understanding of how to go about accessing capital? No. But I’m good with numbers, and my mom was an accountant, and my dad has his own business. My dad said, ‘Be prepared, because you’ll be working a lot.’ I said, ‘I’m already working a lot. If I’m going to work this hard, I might as well work for myself.’ 6) What avenue(s) did you ultimately use to fund your business, and knowing what you know now, what funding path would you recommend to other aspiring or emerging entrepreneurs? I just worked, saved my tips. I had really good credit; all my bills were caught up. I kept saving money that way and doing my beadwork. When I’d get my per capitas, I’d use my per capitas from my tribe. I would say: Save as much as you can before you get started. Make sure you have money saved up to pay your bills. Try to get as caught up as you can before you jump in. If you do have credit, you can always use your credit. 7) How did the process of raising capital to launch your business empower you as an entrepreneur? I was like: If I can go to school full-time and work full-time, I can put my extra time into what I’m doing here.
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9) What would your advice be today for entrepreneurs who are just starting to seek funding for their businesses? Do as much as you can yourself. 10) What are some of the ways that Indian Country could improve its support for funding emerging entrepreneurs? Promote the various programs that are available to help entrepreneurs with capital. I didn’t know of any. This was just a dream that I had.
PHOTO COURTESY BISON COFFEEHOUSE
4) Were you aware of any programs for Native entrepreneurs available in your community or through your tribe? Yes and no…. I had read that the Native American Youth and Family Center had a business program and they were offering a 3-to-1 match—meaning I save $1,000 over a period of time, and they match it with $3,000. I enrolled in that business class. I completed it. But they never did anything to help me. I was kind of bummed out. I really believed in what I was doing, and I wanted them to be a part of what I was doing. I had issues with contractors overcharging me. I’d ask for a flat rate, but they would always end up charging me more. So, we did the floor plans and built it out ourselves to save money. We gutted the building. It was fun watching it grow into what it is now. It had drop ceilings; we took it down to the beams. We took the electrical out. I have old-style lights in my coffeehouse. I used to save really pretty lights, and I wanted to put them in there. It
8) How has access to capital changed over the course of operating your business? What additional business strategies have you used to help fund your business? I just made four years on Veteran’s Day. Now that I’ve had my business open and successful for four years, people are reaching out to me now. They didn’t reach out to me when I was struggling. I’m very selective what I allow, because I don’t want other people or places being able to put their name on my business, because they didn’t believe in me before. These places were around when I was working on my place. Nobody wanted to invest in me. Now I get a lot of different businesses coming to me. I try to be humble about it, but I’m also selective at the same time.
SPECIAL REPORT NATIVE AMERICAN NATURAL FOODS
Affairs (BIA) Guaranteed Loan program. 2) What difficulties did you encounter with raising capital to start your business? We did not have any difficulty raising capital as we had previous experience, we knew the bank Loan officers, and the federal program officers, because we ran a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) previously and had many connections.
PHOTO COURTESY NATIVE AMERICAN NATURAL FOODS
3) Were you aware of any federal or Native American programs to help you finance your business, and did you feel that you had access to them? Did you take advantage of those programs? Yes, we did know the programs and took advantage of everything we could qualify for in the program.
In 2007, Native American Natural Foods debuted its first food product, the Tanka Bar. Based on traditional wasna and pemmican, the Tanka Bar combines high-protein, prairie-fed buffalo and tart-sweet cranberries. The lean meat has provided fuel to Lakota warriors for centuries. “Our runners used buffalo and berries when they would go out on hunts; they’d pack it in a buffalo horn,” Karlene Hunter, co-founder and CEO of Native American Natural Foods, told Native Business Magazine. While providing traditional fuel to contemporary warriors, Native American Natural Foods is claiming substantial shelf and e-commerce space. In the Lakota language, Tanka means “larger than life,” and that’s what the company is becoming. Today Native American Natural Foods products are sold at more than 8,000 retailers, including Amazon, Whole Foods, REI and Costco. The company also makes the only nationally distributed Native American food product certified by the Intertribal Agriculture Council as “Native-made.” Hunter and her business partner Mark Tilsen founded Native American Natural Foods on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation more than 10 years ago. Launching a business goes a bit more smoothly when you know how to go about accessing capital, and you have prior business experience. A member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Hunter previously founded Lakota Express (LEX), a full-service direct marketing company located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Hunter, who holds an MBA from Oglala Lakota College, also counts decades of experience working on educational and economic development on the reservation. Native Business Magazine spoke with Hunter about the financial resources she and Tilsen tapped to launch Native American Natural Foods in 2007. 1) When you came up with the idea for your business, what were your initial thoughts about how to capitalize it? We decided to use commercial loans since it is a for-profit business. We went after the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Women’s loan program and the Bureau of Indian
4) Were you aware of any programs for Native entrepreneurs available in your community or through your tribe? Unfortunately, there are not any programs available for entrepreneurs in our tribe, but we did have help with some of our infrastructure when building our building. 5) Did you feel like you had the appropriate amount of business and accounting training to provide you with an understanding of how to go about accessing capital? Yes, I have a MBA, which helped, and we ran Lakota Funds which offered training in those areas, so I taught and took some classes. 6) What avenue(s) did you ultimately use to fund your business, and knowing what you know now, what funding path would you recommend to other aspiring or emerging entrepreneurs? There are many funding paths that you can take, and SBA and BIA Guaranteed Loan programs are the first to explore. If you are doing business that helps benefit an area or groups of people, it’s good to look at PRI’s (Program Related Investment), but this will take some experienced financial people to look at the viability of the fit into your structure. There are many sources of financing, and you should seek out advice from experienced banks, entrepreneurs and federal agencies. 7) How did the process of raising capital to launch your business empower you as an entrepreneur? It validated that we had a good plan, and that people believed we were on the right track by funding the loan. That gave us confidence that we put together a good plan, could defend every aspect of it, and could get to work to pull it off. 8) How has access to capital changed over the course of operating your business? What additional business strategies have you used to help fund your business? It was relatively easy to obtain the initial loans, but it became very difficult to fund growth capital. We struggled to get additional working capital and marketing capital. In hindsight, we should have really went in for more on the initial loan and anticipated the future needs. We turned to outside investors to capitalize the growth.
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ket. I decided not to apply for a loan. I felt it was more practical for me to self-finance through the sales of fine art. 5) Did you feel like you had the appropriate amount of business and accounting training to provide you with an understanding of how to go about accessing capital? No, I don’t. I don’t have much of that knowledge when it comes to accounting or business expertise. When my fine art career started to take off, and take off even more with APACHE Skateboards, it wasn’t overwhelming, but I’m not as technically business savvy as I can be. I’m always open to learning more. 6) What avenue(s) did you ultimately use to fund your business, and knowing what you know now, what funding paths would you recommend to other aspiring or emerging entrepreneurs? Well, I use my own career as an artist to fund my business. I use also the part of my career where I do public art projects. I have a skate company and skate brand. It’s a fully functioning brand. We travel. We do skate demos and skate-themed events. We help create awareness for healthy living. We do community building projects—all with the skate team. These are all revenue streams. Each time we go out, it creates a revenue stream for me to continue to
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create the product and these events. As demand continued to grow, it forced us to do everything self-contained in house. We became photographers; we became our own filmmakers. I became focused more and more on motivational speaking, presentations, community art projects. Because there’s such a great need in Indian Country for creative things and youth-based projects—not based on traditional sports like basketball or football, etcetera—that we started to fill in these voids. By walking through those doors opened by numerous tribes who invited us, that created revenue streams. Not only did it keep us on the road, it kept the company growing. By taking my speaker fee and turning it around and utilizing it to create product for my skate team, it became very circular. I tell people now: “If you support the art of Douglas Miles, you are supporting APACHE Skateboards. If you support APACHE Skateboards, you are supporting a Native community, and if you support a Native community, you’re supporting Indian Country.” 7) How did the process of raising capital to launch your business empower you as an entrepreneur? To create capital for APACHE Skateboards, it took a few months. Once I had the idea, I didn’t want to let go of the idea. So, I kept making art, selling art, putting money aside, until I thought I could
PHOTOS & GRAPHIC COURTESY DOUGLAS MILES
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SPECIAL REPORT produce the first mass-produced skateboard. Once I saw kids riding them, it gave me a great amount of confidence. It made me feel like I can do anything. It made me feel like I almost dreamed this into existence. For me, at that stage in my career, it was more important to be a creator than a consumer. I wanted to be a creator. When you’re the creator of something that’s unique, you can control the ideas, ethos, quality, message and where it goes. I don’t mean control in a negative way, just in the sense that you become the soul creative voice behind it. 8) How has access to capital changed over the course of operating your business? What additional business strategies have you used to help fund your business? I think as the business grew and became more and more stable, it allowed us to start to reach out to other businesses and companies to collaborate. We started to create more businesses, events and more products. It kind of all came together, and we tied it together on social media. If we had new products, we had a skate competition. If we had a skate competition, someone saw us and invited us to their reservation to hold one for them. Having the stability that we had, what it did is it created more awareness for our brand, company and products, which was no longer just product—it became projects. People look to APACHE Skateboards to create events around music, around art, around skateboarding, around community building with young people. Having access to more projects and capital allowed us to do more and be more.
PHOTO COURTESY CHIEF BURGERS
9) What would your advice be today for entrepreneurs who are just starting to seek funding for their businesses? I think the only advice I can really give entrepreneurs is that everything starts off small. Don’t try to do too much too fast. If you’re into food, it’s okay to start off with a taco cart and work your way up into a taco truck or van. If you’re in a taco van, it’s okay to go to a strip mall. Sometimes when people try to do too much too quick, it gets discouraging and they quit. 10) What are some of the ways that Indian Country could improve its support for funding emerging entrepreneurs? I think Indian Country could improve its funding for entrepreneurs… and when we say Indian Country, I want to say Native American Nations, I think they can really look at their own community as a highly creative base where anything really is possible. They should really look at the inventors or the designers or the creators or the businessmen and businesswomen in their communities as really the future of their tribes. Really, we are the future of the tribes. You can’t put all your eggs in a casino basket. Nothing is guaranteed. Tribes really need to look at new types of business, new types of industry—businesses and industries that are relevant. And they need to do it without fear. I think tribes are still in the fear stage, like they’re nervous. It’s hard to visualize success, too, when you haven’t really had any in Indian Country. This is why tribes go slow and sometimes they go backward. It’s because they haven’t had success, or they had a little bit, but sometimes tribal businesses fail. When you haven’t had much success, it’s hard to visualize it. That’s why it’s important for publications like Native Business to
show small, creative business owners using numerous methods to reach different kinds of success. What’s successful to me may not be successful to someone else in business, and vice versa. Tribes need to support small businesses fearlessly. They need to remove fear and the fear of failure. I do think it will be entrepreneurs who lead the tribe into the future for the next 5, 10, 20, 40 years….
CHIEF BURGERS
Thomas Begay (Navajo, Hopi) graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 2016 with degrees in management and marketing. Immediately after graduation, he struggled to land a job—so he looked to entrepreneurship. He took his detailed, 80-page business plan for a food truck business and began scouring for funding sources. He turned to the Navajo Nation, his local Veteran’s Affairs office, organizations near Window Rock, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Yet his applications for business loans were denied. Ultimately, he needed to self-fund. Grinding it out in the restaurant industry, Begay and his wife Kendra Begay (Navajo, Hopi) saved $15,000 to purchase an old FedEx truck to house Chief Burgers, their gourmet burger and picadilly business on wheels, based in Window Rock, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation reservation. Native Business Magazine spoke with Thomas Begay about overcoming logistical challenges to bring his original vision to life. 1) When you came up with the idea for your business, what were your initial thoughts about how to capitalize it? The initial budget was written considering that more than likely it was going to be fully-funded with a small business loan through the U.S. Small Business Administration. (SBA). It turns out that food truck start-up isn’t on their list. 2) What difficulties did you encounter with raising capital to start your business? I turned to crowd sourcing on Kickstarter, because I thought everyone would be like “oh yeah, a native-themed branded gourmet
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