Boosting business

Posted by Arlyssa Becenti | Aug 16, 2018 | Politics |

Prez candidates give their views

ST. MICHAELS, Ariz.

The Diné Chamber of Commerce is looking for a business-savvy president who will strip away – or at least diminish – the “red tape” that hinders many Navajo businesses from getting off the ground.

Last Friday seven of the 18 candidates for Navajo Nation president met at Navajoland Inn & Suites to answer questions from small business owners on what they, if elected president, would do for the Navajo business owner.

“There’s not enough private business that is active on the Navajo Nation,” said Al Henderson with the Diné Chamber of Commerce.

“We want to change that picture. We want to have the Navajo side of the economy grow.” As a businessman for over 20 years on the Navajo Nation, candidate Shawn Redd is able to relate to business owners and their woes. “I’ve seen politicians come and go and I’ve worked with every single president we ever had on the Navajo Nation,” said Redd.

“I’ve been involved in every single presidential campaign.” He claimed that a business plan for Antelope Point was “plagiarized” from him and used “for the benefit of the Navajo Nation.”

Another one of his businesses was a parts store located in Shiprock, which he said he built on his own because the tribe asked him and he was promised business because of Navajo preference. But this, he said, did not happen.