NPR: Lower Brule Sioux Tribe a Wall Street player
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Filed Under:
Business
"The Lower Brule Sioux tribe, based in Lower Brule, S.D., just bought the Westrock Group, making the company the first fully Native American-owned investment firm.
As a result, Westrock, which brought in $22 million in profits last year, is also gaining another advantage: As a tribal business, it won't have to pay federal income tax.
At first, Don Hunter, Westrock's chief executive officer, didn't want to sell the company.
"When someone told me it was a minority business — and that it was even a Native American business — it really made a lot more sense," Hunter says.
He says tribal ownership also provides another major advantage — access to a new pool of money. State pension funds, college endowments and other government contractors have rules that require a part of their money to be invested through minority-owned firms.
Hunter says this requirement gives Westrock thousands of potential new clients.
"The growth of the company could be exponential compared to what it would have been if we were just doing it on our own," Hunter says."
Get the Story:
Wall Street Now Home To American Indian Firm
(NPR 11/17)
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