The U.S. Small Business Administration will award seven Native American small businesses with $100,000 grants each to support business development and long-term survivability  as part of the agency’s 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program.
The Native American Micro Enterprise Business Services grants will work to address small business challenges and help the awardees collaborate with other businesses, understand federal business processes and revitalize the small business sector, SBA said Monday.
“We’re excited to be able to help fund these organizations to engage with Native American entrepreneurs across the county and strengthen the SBA’s support network to provide more boots on the ground in local communities,” said David Sanborn, assistant administrator for SBA’s office of Native American affairs.
SBA added the selected companies will receive assistance in the areas of strategic and operational planning, contract management, information technology and systems development, accounting and financial analysis as well as marketing and business development.
SBA’s office of Native American affairs will finance the companies’ projects on specialized training, leadership education and business development tools for Native American small businesses through fiscal 2017.
The list of the awardees are as follows:
- The Cherokee Nation Small Business Assistance Center
- Oregon Native American Business and Entrepreneurial Network
- Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma
- The Native American Development Corp.
- Hiilei Aloha
- Central Plains Foundation
- Indian Dispute Resolution Services
The 7(j) program is designed to support underserved markets and help disadvantaged businesses become contractors and subcontractors for the federal, state and local government sectors through entrepreneurial education, counseling and supply of training resources.