From the Rebuilding Native Nations Course Series: "Small Businesses and the Multiplier Effect"

Producer
Native Nations Institute
Year

NNI Executive Director Joan Timeche talks about the positive impact of citizen-owned businesses on reservation economies, not just in terms of economic development but in the overall quality of life for tribal citizens.

People
Native Nations
Citation

Timeche, Joan. "Citizen Entrepreneurship: An Important Economic Development Tool." Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. 2011. Lecture.

"And then it increases what we call reservation multipliers. Economists use the term 'multipliers' to talk about all of the opportunities that are available to keep the one dollar within the community and generating more and more and circulating within the community. We are aware of a number of studies, one of them here in Arizona and, I believe, one of them up in the Plains area that indicated that anywhere, in one case it was 80 cents of one dollar and another study it was 90 cents of every one dollar was going off the reservation within 72 hours of a person earning that dollar. So think about payday on an Indian reservation. On that Friday that they're getting payday people are going to the local store or maybe in the treasurer's office cashing their checks. And then they fill up their vehicles enough that they might be able to get into the next nearest bigger town and they take all of their money to buy their groceries, their goods and services. By keeping the dollar, by having a business on the reservation, one we're hopefully keeping that dollar a little bit longer -- it's turning around in the community perhaps they're not only buying the gasoline but they're buying more essential goods and services within the reservation. There's also the convenience too because then they're not having to then travel perhaps an hour and a half, two hours or more to that nearest town. And you know, time is valuable. You could be using that for other kinds of family time, it could be done, utilized for ceremonies, or whatever the case may be. So you're wanting to just keep everybody on the reservation." 

Related Resources

Image
Northern Cheyenne Tribe starts business arm

How can a dent be put into the 72% unemployment rate on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation? One solution is business development, particularly tribal enterprise. Not a new concept because the Northern Cheyenne Tribe has established, owned and operated several businesses over the years gaining a…

Image
Hatching Economic Development: A New Business Incubator for Crow Creek

“I want to develop my breakfast-burrito business into a restaurant,” said Lisa Lengkeek, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and 2013 winner of the South Dakota Indian Business Alliance contest for best business plan of the year. “I make the burritos at home and sell them at a stand. I have a…

Image
BLACKFEET: Stocking the Aisles

...Although Glacier Family Foods adds 56 new employees to the Blackfeet Reservation’s year-round workforce, the people behind the store’s creation hope it will do much more than create immediate jobs. For the last 20 years, members of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and the community bounced…