Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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- By Brian Edwards
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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One Navajo entrepreneur with helicopters wants to build fuel stations across the reservation. Another, a metal fabricator in Phoenix, struggles to secure even basic credit. These contrasting examples illustrate what Heather Fleming calls a persistent challenge: Native businesses that have outgrown microloans but remain too small for traditional bank financing.
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- By Valerie Vande Panne, Special to Tribal Business News
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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If you feel shame about money — especially shame about having money — it’s actually a sign you can be trusted with it. That’s a message that Chantel Chapman shares with Native entrepreneurs who struggle with the conflicted feelings between building wealth and honoring community values.
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- By Jamie Miller, Special to Tribal Business News
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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Indigenous entrepreneurs and Native-owned institutions that support them are building successful businesses by prioritizing community impact and cultural preservation over pure profit—continuing a tradition of commerce that dates back centuries.
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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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Native American entrepreneurs in Michigan can apply through Oct. 13 for IndigiPitch, a business pitch competition offering $7,500 in total cash prizes at Odawa Casino in Petoskey on Dec. 5.
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- By John Wiegand, Special to Tribal Business News
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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Chiricahua Apache silversmith Neil Zarama quit his Silicon Valley tech job during the pandemic and built a jewelry empire by transforming colonial-era silver into Native American art. His clients include Jason Momoa and Ralph Lauren, but his real mission is cultural resistance.
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- By Chez Oxendine
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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When Roddell Denetso launched Black Street Apparel in 2021, he had the gear, the designs and the drive — but not the business know-how. A mentor pointed him to Change Labs, a Native-led business incubator serving the Navajo and Hopi nations, and that changed everything.
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- By Tamara Ikenberg
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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A mortar attack in Baghdad ended Rose McFadden’s military career, but launched her path as a Navajo entrepreneur building community through wearable art.
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- By Chez Oxendine
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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Damond Crump loves designing games, but hates marketing them. After creating tabletop war games like Patrol: WW2, Crump’s usual procedure was to design, write and format a set of rules, then post them on an online marketplace.
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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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The publisher of Tribal Business News and Native News Online has launched Native StoryLab, a new division offering Indigenous storytelling and strategic communications services for tribal businesses and organizations.
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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
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- Reader Survey Question: Business Topics
Mission Driven Finance will host an event designed to connect Indigenous entrepreneurs with funding opportunities April 30 in Oakland.