About Siyeh Corporation

Glacier Peaks StarLink Cable Heritage Center    Blackfeet Coins Discovery Lodge Oki Communications Siyeh Home About Siyeh Honoring Nations Award Contact Siyeh Blackfeet Links Glacier Links Montana Links Siyeh Projects Wind Energy Siyeh Privacy Siyeh Pass and Mount Siyeh in Glacier National Park Montana The company was given the name Siyeh Corporation after the Blackfeet warrior, Siyeh (Mad Wolf), who was known for his fearless leadership during harrowing times.  The spirit of Siyeh in the telling of tribal elders embodies independent thinking, shouldering responsibility for the work to be done, and taking bold action. Because of this inspiration, Siyeh Corporation will continue in its efforts to expand strategically while protecting the environment, culture and tradition and will continue to be fearless, independent and true.  Siyeh's name and reputation have lived on as there remains a creek and a mountain pass in Glacier National Park, and now a corporation that are named in his honor. Siyeh: a success story Blackfeet's new approach to business pays off with more jobs and more profit from tribal undertakings By Jared Miller, Great Falls Tribune, June 12, 2005 BROWNING — The Blackfeet Tribe watched during the late 1990s as its lone casino operation, a bingo hall in Browning, suffered a string of financial losses and came within inches of losing its federal gaming license. Frustrated by the red ink and a history of gaming violations, the tribal business council took the unusual step of creating a semi-independent corporation to manage tribal business affairs. The council believed that a profit-based corporate business model would work better than the old system that focused on creating jobs. Seven months later, under the new system, the casino turned a profit.  Today, Siyeh Development Corp. and its six-member board of directors control eight tribal businesses, six of which it created.  All of them consistently operate in the black. And the focus on profits rather than employment actually created more jobs, not fewer.  Siyeh Development today counts 100 workers on its payroll, which topped $1 million in 2004. On a reservation where the jobless rate can hit 70 percent, those are big numbers. Siyeh Development's success recently caught the attention of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  The school selected Siyeh as a semifinalist for a national business award.  The university will announce the winner on Nov. 1. Some believe Siyeh Development might even be a model for other tribes seeking to overcome problems that commonly mire reservation business affairs. A difficult journey Establishing a corporate business model on the Blackfeet Reservation was not easy. It required the tribal business council to give up some control over business decisions. For some tribal members — especially older tribal members — that was unthinkable, and many looked on with suspicion. "The community generally assumes that the council should hear all and see all," said Dennis Fitzpatrick, general manager for Siyeh Development. One of Siyeh Development's first big projects, a 15-megawatt wind farm, never came to fruition.  The corporation worked for a year and a half before determining that despite an abundance of tree-bending wind, the project wouldn't work. Siyeh Development faced another big test when a new tribal council took office in June 2000.  Would the new council resume control of business matters?  Would it kill Siyeh?  It didn't.  Siyeh has now worked with three different tribal councils and continues to thrive. A new leader The Siyeh Development board realized right away that the old tribal approach of using government grants to pay for projects that sprung up overnight and soon fell apart didn't work. It opted instead for a slow, steady growth plan, said Marilyn Parsons, one of six members of the Siyeh Development Board of Directors. The board also insisted on a high level of accountability in its businesses.  In addition to regular reports to the tribal business council, federal regulators and lenders, every Siyeh business is subject to an independent audit once a year.  "The bar is a little higher for an Indian-owned business," Fitzpatrick said. Much of the credit for Siyeh's success goes to the volunteer board members, Fitzpatrick said.  They work hard to keep a professional and respectful relationship with the council, board member Darrell Kipp said. "I think overall, the council has come to understand what this is really about," added Jay St. Goddard, a member of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and a former member of the Siyeh Development board. The first signs of real business growth developed after Siyeh acquired the local cable TV system in 1999. Building momentum Siyeh Development bought StarLink Cable and began expanding the system.  It was the start of a string of successful business ventures.  At the time, tribal members received about 20 channels and relatively poor service.  Today, StarLink provides 47 channels to more than 800 customers.  StarLink also broadcasts tribal business council meetings, local sporting events and the cultural events like the annual Native American Indian Days celebration. Siyeh created its first new business in 2000 when it opened Kimi Bottled Water.  Reservation water is notoriously poor, and Kimi (the word means "big water" in the Blackfeet language) gave tribal members access to drinking water delivered to their home or business. In 2002, Siyeh opened a second casino called Discovery Lodge Casino, located outside Cut Bank.  The casino now employees a dozen workers and offers Class II gaming with the possibility of almost unlimited winnings. Siyeh also minted Lewis and Clark commemorative coins to help the tribe reap economic benefit from the Corps of Discovery bicentennial now under way across the west. On June 1, Siyeh Development opened its newest and largest venture, the Blackfeet Heritage Center and Art Gallery. A short drive from the gates of Glacier National Park in Browning, the center is a showcase of Plains Indian arts and crafts that tribal leaders hope will attract Glacier-bound tourists to the reservation. (See related story on Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery). Growing the economy The success of Siyeh Development has been a boon for the reservation. Siyeh pays 60 percent of its profit to the tribe.  It paid out about $500,000 in 2003 and 2004.  The remaining profits go back to the businesses. Individual tribal members are among the biggest benefactors of Siyeh's success. Renee Miller-Blaney, an enrolled Blackfeet, returned to the reservation after she got the job as human resource assistant with Siyeh.  Miller-Blaney left Montana six years ago to work construction in Washington State.  After the company went bankrupt, she took a job with the Wal-Mart in Marysville, Wash.  She longed to move back to the reservation, but with almost no employment prospects, she didn't dare give up her Wal-Mart job.  "Just being able to come home and have a job is probably the best thing that there could be," Miller-Blaney said. Vicky Clark, also an enrolled tribal member, took an accounting job with Siyeh Development's casino operations a year ago.  Before that, she worked as a state welfare reform counselor.  Her job was at risk of being cut every year.  Her new position means more security and the chance to work on something she believes in.  "I feel like I'm really proud of this company," Clark said.  "It's going places, and it's just great for our community." A little outside help The Blackfeet can't claim all the credit for their success.  The core ideas that resulted in the corporate model came from a study by Harvard University. The study drew several conclusions about business practices in Indian Country, and the tribe used them to create its model for success.  The study "wasn't a receipt for success," Fitzpatrick said.  "They really had to extract the ideas." Siyeh Development's success in applying the ideas earned it a place among 27 semifinalists for the Harvard award "Honoring Nations". The only other Montana tribe to win the award is the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in 2003 for its approach to trust resource management. If the Blackfeet win the $10,000 award, Siyeh must use the money to help other tribes understand how they can improve business on their reservations. Whether it wins an award or not, Siyeh Development already is a winner, tribal officials said. Its ability to turn losing operations into profit-making machines and avoid the pitfalls that doom many reservation businesses makes it a model for success in Indian Country. Kole Fitzpatrick reads the amperage in a television cable for StarLink Cable, a Siyeh Development company. The corporation was set by the tribal business council to manage tribal business affairs and improve economic progress on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Tribune Photo by Stuart S. White. || Siyeh || Glacier Peaks Casino || StarLink Cable || Blackfeet Heritage Center || || Blackfeet Coins || Discovery Lodge Casino || Oki Communications || About Siyeh || || Honoring Nations || Contact Siyeh || Blackfeet Links || Glacier Links || || Montana Links || Projects || Wind Energy || Privacy || © 2004-08 Siyeh Corporation, Blackfeet Nation, Browning, Montana.   Design by CCC.