From no bones to big loans

Raymond Sanchez came to Shawnee with about $4 in his pocket and all his belongings in one bag with no place to live, but he didn’t let that stop him. After a few months of hard work, he has started a small business with help and guidance from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Community Development Corporation.
Sanchez traveled by bus with his wife, Rose, from Indiana to Oklahoma City mid-July after his hometown was underwater from a flood that hit the Midwest. Sanchez decided to come to Shawnee because he is a member of CPN.
It was through the kindness of Oklahomans that Sanchez was able to get on his feet. He received help from Rodney Ragsdale, but he was able to get his small landscaping business started because of Bob Crothers, Kristi Coker and crew at the CPN Community Development Corporation, located inside First National Bank.
Coker, executive director for the corporation, said the institution provides capital and business development training to American Indians who own businesses.
Sanchez said he stumbled across the office and was introduced to Crothers, a business development officer. Crothers and Richard Huff at Gordon Cooper Technology Center helped Sanchez develop a business plan and receive training.
“Without Bob and Richard, I would have never got it done,” Sanchez said. “I want to know what they know.”
With help from the community development office, Sanchez is enrolled in business management at GCTC and will begin classes in the spring.
Coker said her office provides a combination of business development services with a credit company.
“We’re a one stop shop to do everything to be loan ready,” Coker said, adding the pre-loan and post-loan process is just as important as the capital. “There’s a lot of hand-holding.”
“They do it all,” Sanchez said.
Coker said the corporation plays an advocacy role in getting people ready to do business, but the business owners have to do work, too. Business owners have to be able to develop a business plan and do the training at GCTC necessary to succeed, she said. The corporation helps entrepreneurs figure out how to get through the maze of starting or expanding a business.
“It’s the teach someone to fish mentality,” Coker said. “Banks don’t have the ability or time to do the one-on-one counseling.”
Coker said the community development corporation is part of CPN’s economic development puzzle and is as important as expanding the tribe’s government infrastructure.
“If you’re not growing in number of vendors, you don’t have support for your local industries like retail,” she said. “We’re making decisions that are best for the customers. We want to earn money, but we are not profit driven.”
Coker said the program began in 2003. To date, her office has made 134 loans, totaling $8.7 million in commercial loans. She said CPN has recognized that creating access to capital for businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs will help its tribal members achieve self sufficiency.
Sanchez said it took him a couple months to get started, but the Community Development Corportation was a big help in the process. He said he started at the very bottom, but he was able to make it happen.
“If I can do this, anyone can,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said his business, AB Ponds and Landscaping, will be open for business all year. He said his business offers services including landscaping, pond features, tree removal, masonry and rubberwork.
“I do anything and everything,” Sanchez said.
To contact Sanchez, call 214-0018 or 408-1341.
For more information regarding the CPN Community Development Corporation, call Coker or Crothers at 878-4697.
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Amanda Gire may be reached at 214-3934.