Entrepreneurship on Tribal Lands (cont.)

Continuously adapting

Survival and growth for an organization like the Lakota Fund in an environment such as Pine Ridge is difficult, to say the least. But it is precisely because of these difficulties that the Lakota Fund has become a model resource, creating new programs and marshaling existing institutions to engage in a systematic approach to entrepreneurial development.

For instance, some of the biggest barriers to business development are the reservation’s poorly constructed business regulations, lack of zoning laws and a dysfunctional court system. Several years ago, the Lakota Fund was instrumental in creating the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce by applying for the initial startup grant. The Chamber has since focused on working with the Oglala Lakota Tribal government to make changes to its laws and constitution. The first step in this process was to educate Tribal Council members about effective economic systems, since most Council members did not have business experience. Workforce development is another area of the Chamber’s focus. Pine Ridge’s multi-generational high unemployment rate has resulted in a very inexperienced workforce, prompting a commitment to increasing the business skills of the community.

It has taken the Lakota Fund 20 years to understand that it must move beyond just financing and technical assistance to have a real impact on Pine Ridge’s business environment. So recently, the Lakota Fund started the Wawokiye Business Institute (WBI), a partnership with the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce, Oglala Lakota College and the Lakota Fund.

In addition to providing client-centered capacity-building for entrepreneurship through training, coaching and a network of specialists, its overall purpose is to build a better business environment in a culturally sensitive manner. The goals of the WBI over the next three years are to:

• Provide intensive, long-term service to the 65 active clients of the Lakota Fund portfolio;
• Provide consultation services to 200 prospective entrepreneurs per year;
• Start 40 businesses and create 250 jobs;
• Provide refresher training opportunities to 300 business owners and employees; and
• Establish a network of 25 technical assistance professionals to support entrepreneurship on the reservation in the disciplines of accounting, marketing, sales, fundraising, strategic planning and production management.

Replicating the model

Pine Ridge’s model of creating a systematic approach to reservation socio-economic change through entrepreneurship is now being replicated at a number of other reservations, and Native CDFIs again are the catalysts. Two such organizations are Wind River Development Fund at the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and Four Bands Community Fund at the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.

Wind River Development Fund (WRDF) is a true partner in helping reservation entrepreneurs take their business ideas to the next level. WRDF is not just a lending organization; it is a comprehensive economic resource for the community. It provides business training, one-on-one business development assistance and small business loans for entrepreneurs. By developing extensive partnerships with tribal, state and federal organizations, it helps ensure reservation entrepreneurs can tap into all the resources available to them. Four Bands Community Fund is another CDFI that is working to build and strengthen reservation-based enterprises that can further the goals of Tribal self-determination and self-sufficiency, and a stronger economy for the Four Bands of the Lakota Nation.

Oweesta itself in many ways has grown out of the inspirational work of the Lakota Fund by way of initial sponsorship from the First Nations Development Institute. As the only U.S. Treasury-certified, national Native CDFI intermediary in the country, Oweesta assists Native communities with financial education training, technical assistance, and access to local and national capital markets. From Maine to Washington, nearly 70 Native communities have either started or are in the process of starting CDFIs. Many of them also are finding that the process of building entrepreneurs is part of the process of nation-building.

During his tenure as president of the World Bank, Jim Wolfenson toured the Pine Ridge Reservation and saw its poverty first-hand. After his tour, he said, “Private ownership around the world is key to easing poverty…To me, what I'm seeing here isn’t the poverty, it’s the chance to see new businesses that are being established and meet entrepreneurs that are taking their future into their own hands. The difficulties we’re trying to solve around the world are to be found right here. The first is ownership. The second is lack of recognition.”

Oweesta believes that Native CDFIs, given their unique combination of training, technical assistance and lending services, are the most effective tool that a tribe or Native community can employ to create the financially sustainable economies Mr.Wolfenson alludes to. They create local entrepreneurs, homeowners and tribal businesses. They also develop the infrastructure and knowledge that lead to solid and culturally appropriate governance, legal systems, business practices and community-focused financial opportunities.

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