Native American Entrepreneurs

Ron P. Sheffield, J. Mark Munoz

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781948976411
• eBook ISBN:
  9781948976428
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

This book captures the entrepreneurial stories and mindsets of contemporary Native Americans.

Native American entrepreneurs are important contributors to the American economy and social landscape. Faced with numerous challenges, many Native American entrepreneurs have learned to transcend tough obstacles, leverage resources, and strategically pursue opportunities to achieve business success. This book captures the entrepreneurial stories and mindsets of contemporary Native Americans.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Everyone who is successful must have dreamed of something.

—Maricopa

Indigenous people of North America (often referred to as “Native Americans”) share a common past that includes colonization (Walters and Takamura 2015) and an ongoing, largely internalized, position of conflict with the U.S. federal government. While a merging of cultures may have produced a modern, economically powerful America, extensive complexities remain between indigenous people and the very recent visitors to this prosperous land, the U.S. federal government.

In recent years, the global community has seen major breakthroughs in the fields of management and entrepreneurship, as well as in technology. While countless research efforts have centered on corporate, as well as mainstream business agenda, few studies have focused on minority and ethnic groups.

Arguably, few cultures are more historically relevant to North America than its indigenous people. Interestingly, as key contributors to the U.S. economy, there has been limited research on Native American entrepreneurship (Stewart and Schwartz 2007). However, only very recently have researchers worked to define this unique section of entrepreneurs. Hindle and Lansdowne (2005) define indigenous entrepreneurship as, “the creation, management and development of new ventures by Indigenous people for the benefit of Indigenous people” (p. 132).

Hindle and Moroz (2010) attempt to formalize the field of indigenous entrepreneurship as an independent body of academic research, and the researcher posited that there are two significant issues that form the basis for research findings. These challenges include defining the “role of ‘community’ as a consideration affecting all forms and processes of Indigenous entrepreneurship” and considering “the multi-faceted importance of ‘land’ (where the word ‘land’ embraces all issues ranging from physical terrain to formal property rights)” (p. 372). As recently as 2017, Colbourne posits, “Native American entrepreneurship is not just about money, it is about history, tradition, culture and language embedded in time and traditional territory” (p. 59).

Despite the lack of attention, the Native American culture and economic position has undergone substantial changes. For instance, as a result of economic development initiatives, Native Americans have witnessed improvement in both wealth and income (Agustin 2013).

Table 1.1 offers an overview of American Indian and Native Alaskans in the United States.

Table 1.1 Overview on American Indian and Native Alaskans in the United States

Minority	In the United States, there are approximately 6.6 million American Indians and Alaska Natives, and they comprise about 2% of the total population.
Larger number in 21 states	There are 21 states with over 100,000 or more American Indian and Alaska Native residents, these are: California, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, New York, New Mexico, Washington, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Colorado, Alaska, Illinois, Oregon, Minnesota, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. The States with the highest concentration of American Indian and Alaska natives are: Alaska (19.5%), Oklahoma (13.6%), New Mexico (11.8%), South Dakota (10.3%), and Montana (8.3%).
Fairly young population	The median age of American Indian and Native Alaskans is 30.2 years, significantly younger than the U.S. median of 37.8 years.
Highly diverse	There are 326 federally recognized American Indian Reservations and 567 federally recognized Indian tribes in 2016.
Educated	With regard to education, 82.7% of American Indians and Native Alaskans had a high school diploma or GED certificate, 19.1% had a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Multilingual	Approximately 27.1% of American Indians and Native Americans five years old or older spoke English, compared to 21.5% of the U.S. population.
Experience of income disparity and poverty	The median household income of American Indians and Native Alaskans is $38,500 compared to $55,775 for the nation. The incidence of poverty among American Indians and Native Alaskans is around 26.6%, the highest rate of any age group.
Relatively few homeowners	About 53.1% of American Indians and Native Alaskans own their own home compared to 63% of the overall population.
Economic contributors	American Indians and Native Alaskans are active in the workforce with involvement in management, business, science and art (26.4%), service (23.9%), and sales and office occupation (23.4%).
Business creators	American Indians and Native Alaskans own approximately 26,757 firms in the United States in 2014.

Source: Census.gov (2016).

Information from Table 1.1 suggests that (1) the number of American Indian and Native Alaskans in the United States is significant enough to make an economic contribution, (2) they are geographically dispersed and diverse, and (3) many are fairly young and can make strong economic contribution in the future.

Native Americans have made a mark in several industries. Some of the economic activities Native Americans have been involved in include utilization of natural resources and food systems, energy, and international trading (National Congress of American Indians 2013).

The depth and scope of their economic contribution has been significant. For instance, according to Schapp (2010), a number of tribes have created successful gaming enterprises whose revenues and jobs are bringing about major social benefits, reducing welfare transfers, improving the quality of service programs (i.e., emergency services), increasing health outcomes (i.e., nursing homes), and increasing educational attainment (p. 375). Yet, despite evident successes, countless challenges and barriers exist. Some of these include:

High rate of poverty—President Barack Obama noted the fact that as a result of discrimination, Native Americans face limited opportunities leading to unemployment and high incidence of poverty (White House Office of ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Research Methodology
• Chapter 3 Native American Interviews
• Chapter 4 Research Findings
• Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations
• About the Author
• Index