September 16, 2012

Beyond Business | Buying Native

So as I mentioned on Facebook the other day, this coming Holiday Season, I'm going to be writing about my personal goal to buy only Native-made gifts, or items bought from Native-owned companies, etc, with the goal of maximizing the amount of money going to Native businesses.

I would love it if any of you guys out there would join me and take on this challenge as a economic growth movement/plan.

I got the idea a while back (remember last winter when I did the Etsy Holiday Gift Guide?), and when the idea developed more in the spring (after the holidays I had more time to think of how to improve the push to more adequately express ideas of economic development and empowerment), I also watched and was inspired by this video on PBS, titled, "One Family's Effort to Buy Black for a Year."

The video reports on one African-American family's year-long mission to shop only at black-owned businesses. Part of the Making Sen$e of financial news series, Paul Solman speaks with a family about their "Empowerment Experiment," and looks at some of the challenges African American entrepreneurs face.



So, beginning in November, I'm going to try to take this similar tactic, creating Holiday Gift Guides that spotlight Native-owned businesses. I will investigate and discuss why economic empowerment is difficult, yet incredibly important for minority-owned small businesses.

I'd also like for Beyond Buckskin readers to share information and spread the word about Native American small businesses within this space but also in other social circles.