Brief Description: Tribal citizen entrepreneurs have a vital role in strengthening tribal communities and economies. Understanding the challenges that tribal citizen entrepreneurs face when starting businesses in tribal communities is the first step in crafting and developing programs to better assist them. The purpose of the March plenary session is to:
Highlight the benefits of promoting tribal citizen enterprises for the betterment of a tribal communities and economies;
Identify barriers that tribal entrepreneurs often face when starting businesses; and
Provide solutions for overcoming those barriers by sharing stories of collaborative practices that tribal government leaders can implement to cultivate healthy tribal entrepreneurial ecosystems.
This session is targeted towards tribal leaders and staff who are interested in supporting and cultivating their tribal members to become entrepreneurs to better their tribal communities.
Meet The Speakers
Jessica Burghart, MBA, MA (Prairie Band Potawatomi) works as a Professor at the Haskell Indian Nations University School of Business, is a doctoral candidate at Walden University, and an Ethics Commissioner for the Prairie Band Potawatomi. Before Haskell, Burghart spent 6+ years in management and as a Small Business Advocate for the Kansas City National Security Center.
Mitchell Berg, Ph.D. teaches Local Government and Community Development at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. He leads efforts to create a toolkit designed to assist MN tribal citizen members who want to start businesses in their tribal communities. Berg previously spent 8+ years as a city administrator and economic developer for the City of Mahnomen, MN, while working closely with the White Earth Nation on economic development initiatives.
Margaret Rose Ellis, MA (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin) is a doctoral student completing her Ph.D. program in First Nations Education at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. Ellis is the Co-Founder of She Rises Collective: Indigenous Women in Business, and co-founder of Kenco Tribal Marketing Initiative, a full-service marketing and procurement agency serving tribal business enterprises. Margaret has owned the apparel company Mirax, LLC since 2011.