According to the most recent data by the Minority Business Development Agency, there are nearly 280,000 American Indian- and Alaska Nativeowned small businesses in the U.S.—an increase of more than 15 percent in 10 years. With Native-owned businesses on the rise, it was easy to compile this year’s Hot List. The real difficulty was in paring the list down to the following seven Native businesses.
Salute to the Ute
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Colorado is doing everything right, business-wise, and its tribal members are profiting greatly from it through annual dividends, health insurance and higher education opportunities. In 2000, it created the Southern Ute Growth Fund, a multi-billion-dollar corporation that oversees the tribe’s multiple, lucrative investments in nine states and the Gulf of Mexico. The Southern Utes have invested in real estate, construction, private equity and energy, which has become the tribe’s cash cow.
Lucky No. 13
For the Colville Tribal Federal Corporation, 13 has been a very lucky number. As the business arm of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington, CTFC manages 13 different business enterprises, such as gaming, construction, wood products, tourism and retail. That adds up to considerable job opportunities for more than 800 employees, as well as tremendous cash flow to the tune of $120 million in annual revenue.
Winning the Bidding Wars
Trying to land a government contract—state, local, tribal or federal—can be an intimidating prospect for many business owners. But the Native Procurement Technical Assistance Center has made it much easier for Native businesses in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to bid successfully. With a keen understanding of tribal sovereignty and how it relates to government contracts, Native PTAC has differentiated itself from similar service agencies. Managed by Two Rivers Community Development Corporation, Native PTAC offers free, one-on-one support in key government contracting areas, such as certifications and registrations, bid-matching, proposal reviews and marketing.
On Cloud Nine
Arctic Information Technology is a 100-percent, tribally-owned technology consulting firm. While the award-winning company provides software and network solutions to private and government sectors, it also understands that tribes have special technological needs to run government and gaming enterprises. To that end, Arctic IT has developed a trademarked integrated software system called Tribal Platforms that allows a tribe’s business and government agencies to share and manage important information related to tribal finances, membership, social services, education, land management and more. Tribal Platforms continues to win accolades in the information technology industry. And Arctic IT reports it has trained more than 200 people in Indian country in the last six months on Microsoft Dynamics and associated technologies.
Sky-high Profits
In less than 20 years, S&K Technologies has grown from a small services company on the Flathead Reservation in St. Ignatius, Montana, to a five-subsidiary enterprise, with operations in aerospace, global solutions, logistics, engineering and research, and fiber optics, in both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Owned by the Salish and Kootenai Tribes, as well as the Pend d’Oreille Tribe, S&K Aerospace just hooked a $4.2 billion contract with the U.S. Air Force—its biggest fish ever. This new multi-billion-dollar venture will add 100 employees to the payroll.
Fashioning Success
What do you get when you bring more than 15 talented Native artists together onto one website to sell one-of-a-kind jewelry items, beadwork, handbags, and other Indigenous art? You get the Los Angeles-based B. Yellowtail Collective, created by Bethany Yellowtail, a Crow and Cheyenne fashion designer who already has found success with her own fashion label. Yellowtail recently launched her e-commerce collective to help other Native artists sell their handmade creations to a wider audience. Another Native fashionista, Dr. Jessica Metcalfe, has leveraged her popular blog and e-commerce site showcasing more than 40 Native artists and designers in the U.S. and Canada—BeyondBuckskin.com—into a brick-and-mortar boutique on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Metcalfe, a professor of Native American studies, also launched an international wholesale program that allows Native designers to sell their creations in stores across the globe.
New Leader, Renewed Focus
All eyes are on Chris James, the new president and CEO of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. James, who is of Eastern Band of Cherokee descent, left his position as associate administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C. to take over the organization’s top spot in January. He has vowed to strengthen the resources the National Center provides to Native business owners, most notably in technology, and work cooperatively with the new Trump Administration to further develop Native entrepreneurship. This year, the National Center celebrates 50 years of helping Native Americans succeed in business.
