(Posting to LinkedIn Tribal Economic Development Group)
Please allow me to introduce myself. I am new to this Tribal Economic Development Group and I have enjoyed reading each of the comments and perspectives on this subject posted by others. I am a business strategist and serial entrepreneur with 9 companies under my belt (1 NASDAQ IPO) and a successful business consultancy spanning 4 different countries. Following are some of my own thoughts on this important topic:
1- Gaming - is an awesome profit generator that should be leveraged to the max, but it WILL decline at some rate TBD over the next 10-15 yrs. Gaming should therefore be considered "a bridge to diversification and sustainability." The length of the "bridge" depends on many factors. Don't be surprised like Atlantic City! Now is the time for tribes to plan and act on business diversification.
2- Planning - each tribe is different so strategic economic planning is absolutely critical path. "If you fail to plan you plan to fail." Every tribe can benefit significantly from an outside perspective here. Tribal insiders oftentimes have limited and/or politically impacted viewpoints. Not bad, but simply a fact.
3- Leadership - developing transformational leaders must be a high priority for every tribe. There is simply no substitute for "transformational" leadership. Most traditional leadership training is ineffective. “Only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion & under-performance. Everything else requires leadership.” -Peter Drucker. Nations, tribes, governments and companies rise and fall on leadership.
4- Entrepreneurship - every tribe should have a formal business development plan that includes small business incubation and acceleration. I am a member of the NBIA(.org) and there are plenty of resources available. You simply cannot ignore the stimulation of organic business growth inside the tribe.
5- Operational Effectiveness - to be fully effective, business & economic development must be separated from tribal government. They are simply totally different “engines” for the tribe. I know of a billion dollar tribe that is stifled completely by the unyielding mix of these two together, so their tribe is only realizing a tiny fraction of their awesome potential.
6- Economic Development - means effectively exploiting your (many) tribal advantages and meeting your tribal people where they are. I know of a tribe whose annual revenue is $850K/year, but their people are living in abject poverty.
7- Possibilities - following are some things I believe every tribe should carefully consider and evaluate:
a- The leverage to the max of ALL natural resources. Obvious, but often overlooked with respect to possibilities.
b- Agri-business (Farm-to-Table/Product)(full value chain)(greenhouses, aqua/hydroponics, etc.). There are also great opportunities in Agri-Tourism. Tribes must leverage their agrarian roots in some form with modern technology and all available other advantages.
c- Genuine, culturally sensitive and relevant tourism. Why do I know that this is likely underdeveloped? The largest and most influential tourism consultancy in the country, perhaps the world, had never worked with a Tribal Nation before I hired them for a project a year ago.
d- Highway Retail (Travel Plazas, Truck Stops, C-Stores). Yes, there are a lot of tribes that own and run these however, are they producing 12-18% EBITDA? This is possible under the right conditions & structure. I am aware of a tribe with a C-Store generating $12M+ revenue annually and losing $200K in the same time period. This is a tragedy and easily fixed.
e- Artrepreneurship. Tribal artists in every discipline should be increasingly successful as entrepreneurs and there are sophisticated ways to help them be so. I work with a company in Dallas that literally built an entire art community with local artists using technology and advanced retail strategies. One single location has 7,000 pieces of art from 140 different artists.
f- Federal “Promise Zone”-The US Government has a brand new program (USDA administered) to provide unprecedented economic development dollars to tribal nations (and other under-served areas) and the 2nd round RFP comes out in August of this year. The Choctaw Nation is currently the only Tribal Nation in the country with this designation.
I can go on and on about leveraging EB5, FTZs, NMTCs, CDFI, IEC, IIP, SBA Loans, Crowd-Funding, etc., but in the interest of brevity, I will stop here. Bottom line...tribal nations have lots of opportunity and I am very bullish on their (your) futures.
