ONABEN A Native American Business Network

Founded by a consortium of Native nations in the Pacific Northwest, ONABEN’s mission is to increase self-reliance by promoting the development of tribal-citizen-owned small businesses and the diversification of reservation economies. We support Native Americans to realize their dreams for a better quality of life through owning and operating a successful business. (For more on ONABEN, the organization, Click Here)

Creating the Experience!!

Our Indianpreneurship® curriculum has been created on the foundation of the combined experience of many instructors, students, and mentors. Hopefully, it will serve you and your students well in creating your own version of what we have come to call the “Indianpreneurship Experience”.

This “experience” is based on a few basic principles and a philosophy that has grown out of efforts of people like you who are committed to helping Native American people take their full measure of the opportunities inherent in entrepreneurship.

Our classes and the curriculum are designed to meet the unique learning styles of our students. One of the foundations of our program is to build trust with each student, so that they can completely engage in the course to the best of their ability. Our goal is to create a safe, interactive, non-critical environment that encourages self-reflection, learning, and appropriate action.

Everyone that walks in the door has come to this class because they have a vision, an idea, a desire to find meaning in the creation of their own enterprise. Some will come with the skeleton of a business idea or ideas, some will have well-developed concepts. Some may have a going business. There will be a broad range of business ideas and a wide variation in skills and readiness.

Our educational philosophy is inclusive—everyone that that is willing to commit to our 12-week program is welcome. They do not have to be enrolled members of the sponsoring tribe. They do not have to be Native American. In fact, we encourage everyone in the community with an interest in entrepreneurship to take the class.

The class is as much about community-building and business-building. We know that every business owner will need the support of everyone in their community to succeed. Class participants can help each other learn, test ideas, and become customers or vendors. Each class has the potential to be a support group for the individual and the community economic development process.

Getting Started!

For the program manager, the first thing to do is get the manuals in hand. There really is very little to do to get the program going. This program like any other, and will require some promotional efforts on your part, for example, you may want to create some flyers advertising the program. From our experience, once classes have begun, word-of-mouth referrals, is the fastest and most effective marketing tool!

The comprehensive Instructor Manual is easy to use and enables any Tribal program to commence classes without having to worry about gathering materials and creating lesson plans. It’s all been done for you, including step by step outlines, forms, and a resource CD with PowerPoint® slides to support each lesson if desired.

For new trainers or for people wanting to learn more about the curriculum, we strongly recommend our Indianpreneurship Instructor Training and Orientation which is offered at least two times per year in the Pacific Northwest. More information and upcoming training dates are discussed further on the Trainers Page.

Course Features and Outline, and Scheduling

Features:
Culturally relevant coursework over eleven sessions (and one graduation event) results in a simple and complete business plan.

• Represents the unique challenges, experiences and opportunities of Native American entrepreneurs in starting and operating small
  Native-owned businesses.
• Story-based illustrations of business principles.
• Hands-on exercises and exercise pull-outs.
• Photos of Native American entrepreneurs and their businesses.
• Native-inspired graphics.
• Used by Tribal Economic Development departments, Vocational Rehabilitation programs and Tribal Colleges alike.

This course is fun, interactive and challenging. There are 11 chapters of coursework including 2 work sessions. The work sessions are an integral part of the program and although they include very little instruction are important opportunities for students to get individual assistance from the instructor.

This course is best optimized over a consecutive 12 week period of time. An optional 10 week course can be offered where work sessions 4 and 9 occur in the same week as Session 3 and 8 respectively. Sessions are outlined in three hour increments.

We realize that there may be circumstances that require customizing the program by shortening the course. Ultimately it is up to the instructor and the program manager at the sponsoring tribe or organization to determine how and what form the course should take. Consider and base decisions to reduce content based on student experience and skill levels.