Business proposals eyed for job-making potential
By Bill Donovan
Special to the Times
WINDOW ROCK, Nov. 28, 2011
A number of proposals are now under consideration that would create opportunities for people to set up businesses on the reservation, creating jobs in the process, he said.
For example, the tribe is looking at getting involved in the federal EB-5 program, which was set up in 1990 to provide a way for non-citizens to establish legal residency in the U.S.
To get the green card, a person would have to invest at least $500,000 that would be used to create at least 10 jobs for U.S. citizens.
The tribe is looking at this as a way to attract foreign investment in some projects, such as building new hotels in areas that attract a lot of tourists, such as Antelope Point, Ariz., Chinle and even Shiprock, where many such projects have been announced but never have materialized.
Another proposal that has interest from outside investors, Damon said, is to erect a Twin Towers office complex next to the Quality Inn in Window Rock, where office space is far short of demand.
This would be a 90,000-square-foot, seven-story edifice that would have a ready market from tribal agencies now housed in makeshift quarters.
The tribe, he said, receives all kinds of proposals from a variety of companies every month, all of whom who want to do business with the Navajos.
There are proposals to set up solar-panel manufacturing plants, others to make use of the reservation's massive coal reserves, and others to piggyback on the tribe's advantages under the federal Buy Indian Act.
But how to decide which proposals are legitimate and which ones will create the problems that the Navajo Nation has experienced too often in the past, Damon said.
It is possible to separate the good from the bad and procedures are now in place to make sure that any proposal has enough "due diligence" to make sure that the Navajos don't get swindled, he said.
Another problem that must be addressed is the feeling by some outside companies that the Navajo Nation is "not business friendly," Damon said.
The fact is that it's not as simple to start a business on the Navajo Reservation as it is off the reservation. To get around the mountains of red tape that it takes to get a business up and running on the reservation, Damon is pushing outside companies to think about working through a tribal enterprise instead of through the tribe.
Companies that have an energy project, for example, would find it a lot easier to go through the Navajo Oil and Gas Co. than going directly to the tribe. He also pointed out that having a Navajo partner also has a way of cutting through some of the red tape.
Whatever the case, Damon stressed that President Ben Shelly has shown his commitment time and time again to bringing new businesses to the reservation.
For example, he went to Alaska a few months ago to talk to companies there about a proposal to use Navajo coal. That didn't work out but company officials were impressed and are now discussing the possibility of helping to finance other economic development proposals.