Success calls for creative financing

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When Matt Vickers was helping the Gitskan Wet'suewet'en of Northern B.C. devolve control of their affairs from the federal government years ago, he often called upon consultants for help on how to do it.

But he soon discovered he'd get no help there.

"Consultants are the guys who ask you what time it is, borrow your watch to tell you and then give you back your watch and charge you $15,000," Vickers told a recent Vancouver conference on Creating Wealth With First Nations.

The joke got a quick and easy laugh from the 100 delegates who gathered to share frustrations in starting their own businesses and their successes, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Consultants are one thing, but Aboriginal entrepreneurs often also have to deal with the bewildering bureaucratic rules of Indian Affairs, the difficulty of raising cash and opposition from non-Native neighbors and even their own people.

And you can't talk about economic development without first sorting out the complex issues of land claims and self-government.

But many Indians are successful despite the odds.

Vickers is the brother of the renowned Roy Henry Vickers, whose art was chosen as a gift to U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin at their summit in Vancouver last year.

The Tsimshian painter and carver also helped architects design the new aquatic centre for this summer's Commonwealth Games in Victoria and is working on decorating the international lobby at the Vancouver airport.

Where Roy Henry got the artistic ability in the family, brother Matt got the business smarts.

He has helped parlay his brother's art showcase in Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island into a financial success story. The Eagle Aerie Gallery draws 250,000 visitors every year and for each of the past several years has made $1 million.

And it's just one of the projects he manages as president and chief executive officer of his consulting firm, Vickers and Associates.

When Vickers got tired of hiring and paying consultants to advise him on helping the Gitskan Wet'suewet'en replace the Indian Affairs regional office in Hazelton, B.C., and later Terrace, he realized he could easily do the job himself.

He is proud of the hand he had in helping to create a dozen businesses in the area by using the experience he gained overcoming the obstacles he faced in the devolution of power from Indian Affairs to the Gitskan Wet'suewet'en.

"My greatest satisfaction is passing on that knowledge," he said.

And while the conference, organized by the Native Investment and Trade Association, focused primarily on opportunities in the resource industries - forestry, fishing, mining and oil and gas - Vickers says what's worked for him and his brother can be applied to those businesses.

He advises entrepreneurs to do a market survey for the business and feasibility study and then get ready to sell themselves to the banks.

That involves drafting a financial restructuring plan and "one-and-a-half years of fighting with banks to show them our net worth."

He and his brother will expand their company, Eagle Dancer Enterprises, with the help of an Asian-based financial company. Plans are to open galleries in Vancouver and Calgary this spring and later in Toronto, Los Angeles and even overseas.

Creative financing also worked for the Westbank Indian Band in Kelowna in a development project.

"Real estate development on reserves is a politically sensitive issue," said lands manager Lyle Brewer.

The Indian Affairs Act prevents Aboriginals from mortgaging reserve land, to ensure the lands aren't lost in a bad deal. But lack of collateral makes it difficult for bands to attract investors.

After planning a development project with a non-Native company that has built several retirement communities in the Kelowna area, the Westbank band arranged for financing with the company through a complicated process called a leasehold. It secures the developer's investment if te project should fail.

But the process took two years and much planning.

Brewer said bands must be prepared to take control of organizational development, intergovernmental relations, land use planning, infrastructure planning, development and construction standards and bylaw development.

"If the band wants the community to have a certain quality, they must control all of these things," he told delegates.

The result will be the Sun Village retirement community on 30 acres of Westbank reserve land, with 220 homes and a recreational centre with a lounge, craft room, hot tub and pool, billiard room, library, fitness centre, kitchen and mailroom.

But development on reserves is politically sensitive on another level, said Brewer.

First, band members have to agree on how to measure success, whether that's making money for future development, successfully selling the products, being environmentally successful, creating jobs for Natives or even no development at all, he said.

The two-day convention included discussions on Aboriginal resource rights and modern treaties, the specific claims process, the legal power of First Nations, structuring the deal and case studies of various bands' completed economic agreements.