Comanche Nation Enterprises Provides Small Business Resources
On Friday, September 20, Comanche Nation Enterprises (CNE) held a Small Business Lunch and Learn at Great Plains Technology Center to learn about CNE’s small business resources.
CEO Marlon Stevens said the event aimed to connect with the local community, Comanche Nation and tribal members.
“Personnel that's invited primarily is Comanche tribal members, first and foremost,” he said. “Then you have stakeholders, which include Equity Bank. You have also the City of Lawton, the Chamber of Commerce. You have other businesses that provide support, like the Great Plains Technology Center, who are here to provide assistance and resources to individuals who are thinking about starting their own business. And the whole goal is to promote financial literacy as well and just to make sure that they're aware of what's available to the tribal members and to the community on how to establish a small business.”
Stevens said State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) required the event.
“Part of the funding includes outreach activities, marketing to ensure that we're able to collaborate with the local communities and also to ensure that we pull together the stakeholders so that we're all on the same page and serving a common purpose and that is to get small businesses out there.”
Stevens said their goal is to secure additional applicants and funding.
“And also, to take some time to listen to the community on some of their needs and unmet needs on how well we can improve the collaboration with other resources,” he said. “You know, our goal is to make sure that we empower communities, hence that's part of our theme, building communities and changing lives.”
Vice President of Numunu Holdings George Tahdooahnippah said capital is small companies' most significant limitation.
“You've got to have the funding. You've got to have a means to get the funding. A lot of times, it's not there,” he said. “An event like this is a good opportunity for a small business to listen to see what they got to do because a lot of people think they hear SSBCI. They think it's grant funding. They think it's giveaway money, and then they realize that, ‘Hey, this is based off of my credit. This is based off a business plan.’ So, you got to have a plan. You got to have an idea of what you're going to do and you got to ride it out and follow the steps. A good place to start is right here at the Great Plains. They offer all that type of assistance with business plans, doing capability statements. I mean, I've learned a lot getting in contact with the Great Plains, you know, early on in our starting Numunu Staffing, and we got a lot of information from people over here.”
Tahdooahnippah said Comanche Nation made some investments with the Great Plains Technology Center.
“A very select few that go after this funding that know about the spending and the ones that do, they seem very successful. A lot of people talk about what tribes can do and getting 8(a) contracts sole source, which means they don't have to compete with nobody,” he said. “You negotiate a contract with the client, with the government agency and then they issue the contract. These are brand new to the Comanche Nation so we are going through the steps of learning the business development from reaching out to the agencies to talk and we let them know who we are.”
Tahdooahnippah said it was about a year and a half until they got their first contract.
“Through that time, you know, we had to make a lot of adjustments, you know, small businesses, you know, if the contracts ain't there and if you ain't got the money, then you can't supply the payroll,” he said. “There's a lot that I understand what these people are going through because we go through it too at Numunu Staffing because we didn't have the support from the Comanche Nation like previous companies in the past. We didn't have a bank account of 500,000 or millions of dollars, you know. We started with 200,000, and when we got our first contract, it was a four-and-a-half million-dollar contract. It was in New Orleans, but hey, you know we got some money generating.”
Numunu Holdings is an 8(a) business.
Those needing more information on small business resources can call CNE Operations Manager Ashley Joslyn at 580-280-2363.
