Conclusion

Abstract

Eastern Band citizens have shown that privately owned American Indian small businesses can have a positive and substantial impact on the development and economic stability of their entire Nation, especially for instances of one industry reliance. But for American Indians on reservations, the distinct challenges to small- business owner-ship must be addressed. Because my research testifies to the extensive positive value of small, private businesses to reservations, it is my hope that other Native Nations will include, as the EBCI has recently begun to, a focus on new policies that support local small businesses as a means of strengthening their economies. To accomplish this, Native Nation leaders can take a proactive stance in creating environments (an “entrepreneurial culture”) that are conducive to small- business ownership, address the pragmatics of training, infrastructure, and financing (especially with issues of debt) for American Indians, and stay attuned to potential local issues, such as representation. In order to do so, it is vital to understand economic sovereignty as an aggregate, living action— both in the ways that the small- business sector supports its practice and in how Native Nations use it in crafting the type of stable and sustainably diverse economy.