Native Insight Competition Winner: Samantha Johnson

NATIVE AMERICANS AND SMALL BUSINESS VENTURES: BRIGHT HOPE FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY

As nearly everyone is aware, there are sobering economic statistics facing our country at the present time. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the current unemployment rate in the United States is 9.6% (August 2009), and the unemployment rate for Native Americans is generally believed to be at least two times the national rate (according to the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development). Some sources estimate the figure of Native American unemployment to be as high as eighty or ninety percent in some states.

Hand-in-hand with those alarming statistics is the startlingly low number of businesses that are Native American or Alaskan Native-owned. Out of the nearly 2.5 million American Indian and Alaskan Natives in the United States, only 206,125 were reported as owning a business in 2002 (Source: Native Americans in Business, Economics and Commerce).

Thus, in the current treacherous state of the American national economy, it is our opportunity as Native Americans to embrace these statistics as an impetus for change. In light of the fact that a lack of capital is often cited as an obstacle in the formation of Native American businesses, the creation of small businesses can be an effective answer.

Stephen Cornell and Joseph P. Kalt, authors of What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development recognize “Private (Micro) enterprise with tribal member ownership” as “an economic system based on the individual, family, or small group entrepreneurship of tribal members. In the face of scarcity of capital in Indian hands, it envisions a reservation economy consisting primarily of small businesses (‘microenterprises’) that are started, owned, and operated as private businesses . . . it recognizes that raising large amounts of capital is inconsistent with the generally low level of savings in Indian Country. . .”

Small business growth is vital to the restoration of our economy, through the creation of local jobs and the stimulation of local economy. And if we consider that within the demographic of the Native American and Alaskan Natives we have over two million opportunities for new small businesses, we have the prospect of truly influencing the American economy in an extremely positive way.

“Small and minority-owned businesses must play a significant role in our efforts to restore economic growth. Small businesses employ half of the nation’s private sector workforce; create a large share of the Nation’s new jobs; and introduce many groundbreaking ideas into the marketplace,” said President Barack Obama in August, 2009.

If we consider the fact that less than ten percent of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives are involved with their own business, it is indeed exciting to imagine the impact we could have on the national economy if fifty, sixty, or even seventy percent of us were able to begin small businesses.
Aside from the tremendous impact that this type of goal would have on individual business owners, let’s not overlook the extended influence that these businesses would have on others in the Native American community. With businesses that are Native American-owned and operated, discrimination would no longer be a factor for Native Americans applying for positions of employment. We would not feel disadvantaged when applying for a job at a company that would recognize our unique talents and aptitudes as Native Americans.

Therefore, if increased numbers of Native Americans establish small businesses, and employ other Native Americans within their companies, this also helps to reduce the unemployment rate, which in turns helps to improve the economic situations of those specific individuals, and also creates a significant effect on the national economy.

But how can we achieve these goals---how can we logistically increase our small business numbers and decrease our unemployment numbers? According to the Small Business Administration, “The [Small Business Administration’s] Office of Native American Affairs ensures that American Indians, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians seeking to create, develop and expand small businesses have full access to the necessary business development and expansion tools available through the Agency’s entrepreneurial development, lending and procurement programs.”

The education of our young people is obviously paramount. We must decrease the high school dropout rate and increase the number of students that pursue further education. But even beyond the basis of a high school diploma, there must be more to entice youngsters to desire and work to achieve a better, brighter future.
The same principles that guided our elders can still provide guidance for us today: the prized virtues of hard work, thrift, ingenuity, and perseverance are all as vital to us today as they were in the past. These are the virtues that helped build our nation. If not for the industrious---if not for the visionary---if not for the eternal possibility of achievement and freedom and prosperity---and if not for the continual and unceasing influence of the Native American, our nation could not have achieved such vast successes.

The average American has little opportunity to affect major change in the economic system. The average American has neither the power nor the wherewithal to create a national economic revolution---however, our collective ability and our unique position as Native Americans allow us to act as leaders in the new and ever-changing economic state of America. We have the power to draw on the centuries of our rich and glorious heritage as we explore new and groundbreaking forms of entrepreneurship.

Let us hold tightly to our heritage while we boldly reach for the future, with our ingenuity, innovation, and inspiration to guide us. With peace and perseverance, we as a nation will triumph over these trials, just as we have in the past.


* This was a winning essay from the recent "Native Insight" competition sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives organization.

Nearly 300 Native thinkers from across the nation submitted "Native Insight" essays about the economy and prospects for recovery. Women submitted 58 percent of the 280 eligible Native Insight entries, and men submitted 40 percent. Alaska Natives made up 32 percent of the applicant pool, with American Indians submitting 48 percent of the entries, and Native Hawaiians 16 percent.

The competition was open to Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and American Indians of all ages. The 500-1,600 word essays were due September 15, 2009. Essays addressed one or more of three writing prompts focused on how the Native community can support economic renewal, what it will take for the American economy to rebound and what the American leadership can do to jumpstart recovery.

The Native Insight Winners’, Finalists’ and Semi-Finalists’ ideas will be shared with members of the Obama Administration and published here at nativetimes.com as well as other Native news outlets.