Then along came Chief Philip Martin. As a young man, he found the only open reservation jobs to be BIA maintenance positions. After being elected chief in 1959, he went to 150 different firms before he found one, automotive supplier Packard Electric, willing to train local workers in a Choctaw plant on the reservation. The enterprise skirted failure at first, but eventually transformed the reservation. More factories followed.
Jobs are increasingly technical and professional.
Obviously, many tribes have not done as well. And the nature of Indian businesses collective ownership, resistance to sale of tribal land, an inability to pledge as loan collateral land in BIA trusteeship limits business opportunities. Nevertheless, many native Americans have found entrepreneurship to be a way out of poverty. And more are likely to take that path in the future. Unfortunately, some legislators are upset about too much of a good thing.