Guest Opinion. Cherokee Nation is aggressively empowering a culture of entrepreneurship, investing in Cherokee families to create successful businesses and in turn, strengthen communities. Every time a Cherokee finds success in business creation, they are generating wealth and stability for their community.
Our investments in this space have incredible value. As we help create sustainable businesses, we are developing toolkits and refining processes that can be reapplied to help each wave of entrepreneurs.
Last year, Cherokee Nation Commerce Services launched the Cherokee Nation Innovation Hub as a way to create a collaborative workspace for budding entrepreneurs and to offer workshops and bootcamps tailored for startups. The Innovation Hub, located in downtown Tahlequah, is a place where people with business ideas and dreams can have a landing place to work on those endeavors with dedicated resources.
Our Innovation Hub is open to everyone regardless of tribal citizenship, because we know all too well the importance of supporting anyone who has an entrepreneurial spirit and how investing in creative business ideas is an investment in our communities.
As part of our strategy to support entrepreneurship, we are always looking for gaps to see where investment can achieve the highest, best use. The venture-capital landscape has great disparities among minorities nationally. Unfortunately, that’s no surprise. However, I was surprised to learn just how few Native women were able to secure startup funding.
About 14% of startups with a single female founder received funding last year, according to Crunchbase data. For companies whose founders were all women, the national rate of investment was just 2%. Although the Crunchbase study doesn’t track tribal citizenship, some have estimated Native, women-owned businesses secure investment at fractions of a percent.
Although disheartened by those figures, my administration sees incredible opportunity. We want to provide Native women with access to all the resources they need to create thriving businesses.
I recently met with 10 Cherokee women who founded their own businesses. Each completed the Cherokee Women’s AcceleratHER Fellowship, a 12-week program designed to help launch, build and scale early-stage businesses. This year’s fellows were part of the program’s second cohort and the second group to receive $100,000 in Cherokee Nation seed grants. The program selected fellows from hundreds of applications and 32 states.
The Fall 2024 cohort included fellows from Seattle, Phoenix, Decatur, Texas; Joplin, Missouri, and several more across the Cherokee Nation Reservation. Upon completion of the program, the fellows traveled to visit Tahlequah and the tribal headquarters – some for the first time.
Meeting with these incredible business leaders reinforced my excitement about investing in Cherokee women. Each of them is innovating in their field and bringing business solutions to important Cherokee priorities.
The Fall 2024 cohort includes several companies that focus on health, affordable housing and food access. Three separate, emerging companies among the cohort are manufacturing affordable housing solutions and offering construction services.
Several are focused on health and wellness, including a company that is developing therapeutic programs to promote cognitive wellness. Several upstarts are delving into food, including one that is innovating freeze-dried foods tailored to specific dietary needs.
With its second cohort completed and more to come, the fellowship has proven to be a fruitful collaboration between Cherokee Nation and The University of Tulsa. As a top-tier, private university located very close to our reservation, TU is a great resource and partner.
My gratitude also goes out to Kathy Taylor, who sponsored the program, and the ayana Foundation, which facilitates the program. Their leadership adds incredible value to the fellowship.
Cherokee Nation is fueling an entrepreneurial culture. It’s more than the success of a sole business. These Cherokee women are paving a path for other Native women to follow. We want aspiring Cherokee entrepreneurs, especially women, to have a self-sustaining community of resources. When the next generation of Cherokees decide to start a business, they will find answers to challenges rather than further problems.
Chuck Hoskin, Jr. is the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.
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