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Collin Price, Co-founder of Indigenous Business Group, Brings Visibility to Native Businesses

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In the spring of 2022, a nonprofit organization called the Indigenous Business Group (IBG) was formed by three Native entrepreneurs in an effort to help Indigenous businesses prosper and support economic growth among the tribes in the region. The three founders are Collin Price of the Ho-Chunk Nation; Zoar Fulwilder, who is Salt River Pima-Maricopa; and Rob Pero of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Collin Price, owner of B-Team Strategy and based in the Milwaukee area, sat down for an interview to discuss the development of the group. But before talking about the organization itself, it’s important to understand the challenges tribes and Native businesses owners face – and the motivation to start IBG.

man smiling on street looking off camera with shirt that says "merciless indian savages"

There’s a growing interest among the tribes to have economic diversification, explains Price, but “one thing that hampers economic tribal development is the government structure.”

Wisconsin has 11 federally recognized tribes that are sovereign nations—all of which have their own governing bodies. Each tribe functions differently, but many tribes across the United States rely on casinos as their primary revenue source. This is because of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, a 1988 law that protected gaming for the tribes and established a federal gaming structure.

Finding New Resources

Despite having gambling as a revenue source, many tribes struggle to diversify their earnings because of lack of resources and capacity, remote reservation locations, and other reasons that stem from years of oppression.

The Indigenous Business Group wants to be that solution by providing a network between tribes and Indigenous business owners. Price and his co-founders have extensive connections in the business community and want to connect funders with business owners to bring in investments and foster ideas.

Price’s expertise is in relationship building and connecting the right people across the state. His background in public relations and communications at the Ho-Chunk Nation introduced him to members of tribal governments around the state and helped him understand the importance of developing trusted relationships.

The other co-founders Zoar Fulwilder and Rob Pero bring different strengths to the table. Fulwilder, the managing partner of Mavid Construction, has years of experience in the construction industry. With this expertise, he advises tribes on construction practices and is able to connect Native people to job opportunities in the field.

Rob Pero, founder of Perodigm Media and Canndigenous, has expertise in media, communications, and public relations. According to Price, he takes an aggressive approach to knocking down barriers for budding business owners.

These three ambitious entrepreneurs are using their resources and connections to offer funding solutions, support, and most importantly bring visibility to Indigenous business owners.

What started as networking meet-ups, has since grown into a strong support system. In their first year as an organization, the Indigenous Business Group hosted a conference called the Indigenous Biz Con at Potawatomi Casino this past October. This brought together Indigenous businesses, high-level tribal administrators and elected tribal officials.

“We see Indian Country just getting started in terms of business,” says Price. The organization is young, but they have big aspirations to put Native business owners on the map.

Learn more about the Indigenous Business Group at indigenousbusinessgroup.org.

This article is part of the Hero of the Month column on the Shepherd Express.

Ericka Sinclair is Redefining Healthcare

After working in the healthcare industry for over 15 years, Ericka Sinclair had a vision of redefining patient care by creating a community-based clinic. In traditional clinical care, she saw patterns that were not beneficial to the patients: physicians weren’t trained to have deep conversations with them, and people often didn’t know how to use their insurance.

Dontrell Corey Fells Shares the Value of Therapy

For Dontrell Corey Fells, co-founder of Black Space, therapy wasn’t always a pleasant experience. When he was a teenager in late high school, his mother passed away. “After that, there was just a young boy that wanted to be able to find somewhere to live and to figure out life for myself,” says Fells.

His family suggested he see a therapist to cope, but the man they found made Fells uncomfortable. As a young Black man, Fells couldn’t relate to his therapist who was an older white man. He felt the need to use coded language and give additional context to explain where he grew up and the challenges he faced. It wasn’t working.

Darrell Jack’s Fast Forward Fitness

Twelve years ago, Darrell Jack opened a small fitness facility called Fast Forward Fitness; driven by his love for athletics, he understood how fitness could help people take on the challenges of everyday life. According to him, getting fit requires a deep dive into one’s mindset and the day-to-day concerns that affect one’s psyche. “If we don’t have the mentality, the physicality doesn’t matter,” he says. Years later, that approach to fitness led him to his work with Parkinson’s clients. In addition to personal training and group classes, Jack now offers regular kickboxing classes for those with Parkinson’s disease that teach improved mobility, agility, and other functions.

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Jessica Sunier Redefines Fitness to be Inclusive

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Jessica Sunier Redefines Fitness to be Inclusive

The health and fitness industry has been built to serve a certain type of person. “Health looks white. Health looks like straight teeth. Health looks thin… So, health has a look and if you don’t match that look, people judge on outside appearances and they’re going to assume you’re not healthy,” explains Jessica Sunier, Owner and Founder of the gym FitPower LLC. Sunier studied health and worked in various gyms, but she was tired of being in an industry that was focused on appearances and making money. So, in 2011, she started her own gym.

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Thresa Stevens is an Advocate for Native Victims of Sexual Violence

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Thresa Stevens is an Advocate for Native Victims of Sexual Violence

If you look up the number of victims of sexual assault, sexual violence and sex trafficked victims in Milwaukee, the numbers are striking. Particularly among Native women, the rates of sexual violence and abduction are high and under reported.

Thresa Stevens, who is Menominee, works with Native women and men in Milwaukee who fall victim to this violence and suffer from trauma. As the Native American Advocate for Women and Children at Healing Intergenerational Roots (HIR) Wellness Institute, she helps people find resources, gets them to a safe space, and if they want, she connects them to counselors at HIR Wellness.

Jim Godsil, Integral to Our City

On a quiet overcast morning, I sat next to James Godsil on a bench overlooking Lake Michigan—this was his office, he told me. Full of life and humor, he had plenty to say, often looking off at the lake and speaking about philosophical ideas and future possibilities. Many know Godsil as a community connector, a co-founder of Sweet Water Organics, a civil rights advocate, or a long-time community roofer. One could say he is a part of this city – a man who has put his heart and soul into helping Milwaukee grow and flourish since he moved here in 1969.

Jilly Gokalgandhi Works for Equity in Education

Newly elected to the Milwaukee Public School Board representing District 5, Jilly Gokalgandhi has big plans for her new role. Committed to following through on her campaign promises, she is determined to make policies centered around equity, which include funding for special education, multilingual education, and working on restorative justice practices. As an immigrant, she brings a unique lived experience to her role and cares deeply about creating an education system that is inclusive for all students.

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Melody McCurtis is Working for the Residents of Metcalfe Park

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Metcalfe Park Community Bridges (MPCB), a neighborhood organization that services Metcalfe Park residents, truly embodies the meaning of community. Melody McCurtis, the deputy director of priorities and lead organizer of the organization, explains that everything they do is based off of the input and direction of their residents. Whether that be surveys they conduct going door to door or following the advice given by board members that live in the neighborhood, the community speaks for their needs and the organization listens.

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Lea Denny’s HIR Wellness Institute Works to Heal Intergenerational Trauma

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Our mental health systems were never meant to help Indigenous and marginalized communities because they have been built inside a system of patriarchy and colonialization, according to Lea Denny, founder of the Healing Intergenerational Roots (HIR) Wellness Institute. For the last few years, Denny has been working nonstop to build an organization specifically for the healing of Indigenous people who have suffered from trauma passed down through generations. To effectively heal people who have been subject to oppression, she knew she had to look at mental health services in a new way and build her organization in a way that doesn’t mimic the power structure of this country’s mental health system.

MPS’ Linda Langen Connects Native Americans to Their Culture

For many people with Native American heritage, finding a connection to their history and customs is a healing process and an identity that they can carry on from their ancestors. Linda Langen felt this way when she finally discovered her Oneida heritage as an adult. She found a support system in the Milwaukee Native community and made it her life’s work to help children and adolescents do the same. While finishing her master’s degree in School Counseling, she worked at the First Nation’s Studies Program at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), helping students understand the customs and history of their tribes. Now a full-time school counselor in MPS, she continues to work with students to help them develop their identities.

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MCW’s Syed Ahmed Partners with the Community to Address More than Symptoms

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Dr. Syed Ahmed is a long-time physician and academic who has dedicated his career to treating patients through community engagement. He takes time to get to know his patients and determines his diagnosis once he understands their daily concerns as well as their symptoms. Based on years of research at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), he finds it is crucial to learn about his patients’ background and life situation in order to effectively improve their health.

Community engagement is a concept that is becoming more widely used in medical institutions around the country. The idea is that institutions can better improve the health outcomes of people by actively partnering with the communities they are working with. Academics and doctors tend to be removed from the populations they are treating. “What we do in the hospital system is very important and valuable, but it impacts only 20% of the outcome. Eighty percent of the outcome is connected to where the people are coming from,” says Dr. Ahmed.

The Muslim Women's Coalition Builds Bridges of Understanding

The Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition (MMWC) sits on the South Side of Milwaukee, run by a group of influential Muslim women who have worked to educate people about Muslim culture for the past 25 years. The idea for the organization started to take shape when the group would meet regularly to discuss the prejudice and disparaging comments they were experiencing at work. Upset about the remarks made about their hijabs and customs, the women decided that teaching others about their culture was the solution.

“The vast majority of people are not racist by nature, but their racism is manifested as a result of fear of the unknown,” says president and founding member Janan Najeeb. “If we can work to help them understand and to help them address those fears by creating opportunities to engage with them, then I think we will do a tremendous job of dismantling a lot of these hatreds that are out there.”

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Vaun L. Mayes Demands Change in Milwaukee

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We are in the midst of a movement that is different than any other from the past, according to Vaun L. Mayes, a local activist in Milwaukee. People are organizing communities and marching on the streets to demonstrate the unequal opportunities that people of color have had in this country and to demand that our governmental systems change. “I think people’s involvement and enthusiasm about changing things is different this time. And this is one of the only times in history I think that most people agree that change needs to happen or that what we all saw was wrong,” says Mayes referencing George Floyd.

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Keisha Robinson Reaches Out to Voters Year Round

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Keisha Robinson grew up on the north side of Milwaukee and like many people in her community, she experienced hardships like poverty and discrimination while job searching. She eventually worked her way up to her current role as Program Director at Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) where she uses her personal experiences to help the people in her neighborhood get involved in the political process. The team at BLOC believes that change needs to happen from within the community because sharing experiences creates a deeper level of trust.

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Vivian King Leads Riverwest’s Kneel in Solidarity for George Floyd

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On June 2, Vivian King kneeled for nine minutes in honor of George Floyd alongside at least 50 other people in Riverwest’s Gordon Park. A long-time activist, King learned about the national Kneel for Nine event the day before it happened. She planned to participate in the peaceful action taking place around the city but wanted to do so in her own neighborhood.

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Devin Anderson Calls for a Liberated Milwaukee

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In March of last year, Devin Anderson joined Wisconsin Voices as the Lead Organizer. In that role, he has motivated underrepresented Milwaukee residents to participate in the political system. Wisconsin Voices is an organization dedicated to harnessing the collective voices of citizens by helping them engage in their democracy. When Anderson joined the team, he fit right into a group of strong outspoken individuals. And now Anderson and the team are demanding reform for George Floyd and black lives through their campaign called Liberate MKE.

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Valerie Carter is Helping Patients on the Front Line

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Valerie Carter MD works as a hospitalist in Internal Medicine at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. The job has its challenges on a regular day: determining the right treatments for severely ill patients and keeping them calm during uncertainty. But in the middle of a pandemic, Carter’s job has become drastically harder because she also has to manage her own anxiety. “It was a whole different ball game when this started because we didn’t know what this was and what the right treatments would be,” says Carter.