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Conrad Dedicates Entrepreneurial Center

Date: Aug. 16, 2006
Location: Fort Yates, ND
Issues: Indigenous Peoples


Conrad Dedicates Entrepreneurial Center

Senator Applauds Sitting Bull College's Spirit of Innovation

8/16/06

Fort Yates -- Senator Kent Conrad and other North Dakota officials today dedicated the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's Sitting Bull College Entrepreneurial Center, the cornerstone for a new $3.2 million business incubator on the college campus.

"Entrepreneurs have vision, imagination and ambition. These ingredients for business success are alive and well here on the Standing Rock Reservation," said Senator Conrad. "Now, budding Native American entrepreneurs have a special place to turn their ideas into action."

The Entrepreneurial Center will host the college's Tribal Business Information Center and the tribe's Business Equity Loan Fund. It will also offer innovative programs to help Native Americans start new businesses.

Earlier this year, Fortune magazine named Sitting Bull College as one of "10 Cool Colleges for Entrepreneurs." The school recently started a computer consulting business to provide support to community members. The school also offers a small business loan program.

Each year, Senator Conrad and Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson organize an economic development conference at Sitting Bull College. The daylong conference examines the unique challenges and opportunities Native American entrepreneurs face in starting their business.

The conference at Sitting Bull College is based on Marketplace for Entrepreneurs, North Dakota's largest and longest-running economic development summit. Senator Conrad and Commissioner Johnson are the organizing sponsors of Marketplace. Marketplace brings together aspiring entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporations, universities, and community and business leaders from across the state to exchange ideas and share skills and technology.

"Like Marketplace, this new Entrepreneurial Center taps into the entrepreneurial spirit that thrives here in North Dakota," Senator Conrad said. "The Entrepreneurial Center will put that spirit to work, developing jobs to fuel the economy and to benefit the community."

The Marketplace Sitting Bull College Conference is on October 17, 2006. Marketplace for Entrepreneurs will return to Fargo on January 17, 2007.

http://conrad.senate.gov/~conrad/releases/06/08/2006816543.html

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