Ronan businessman Robert Bell is proud of his compost. Bell says he can now offer his customers an even better product, thanks to a state grant program to assist Native American entrepreneurs.
The state commerce department has awarded nine Native American small business owners a total of $84,000.
Bell, a Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal member, will use his $14,000 cut to buy a dirt screener.
"And then they'll just be nice clean dirt. No rocks, absolutely nothing in it," Bell says.
Montana Indian Entrepreneur Development manager, Philip Belangie, says start-up capital can be tough to find in Indian Country.
"Because of poverty in your community, your friends and relatives typically don't have money so they're not a resource. Typically you don't own a home. So, there's a real weakness in terms of access to capital and the department and the state are really trying to address those issues.”
Belangie says some of the recipients will use their grants to buy assets such as espresso machines or horse trailers.
Six of those actually will take our funds, which they'll use as equity or collateral and go to the bank to match that with additional dollars. So, it's really that kickstart that you need; or that little "grubstake" that you need to get going when you're starting your business or growing."
The funds come from the Montana Indian Equity Fund program.
The Montana Indian Equity fund began in 2007 and has since awarded over $970,000 to 132 business owners.
