The Native American Youth Entrepreneur Camp is a program developed to teach students how to start and manage businesses in Indian Country.

The brainchild of Joan Timeche, NNI executive director, the camp, or NAYEC, teaches high-school juniors, seniors, and recent graduates the basics of economics, computer skills, and business-plan preparation through activities that lead to personal and professional development.

“Economic conditions on many of our Indian reservations are bleak,
with a minimal or nonexistent private sector,” said Timeche, a citizen
of the Hopi Tribe.“By exposing our Native youth to the world of entrepreneurship, we offer them a chance to expand the business
sector on reservations and to improve economic conditions in the
future,” Timeche added.

NAYEC takes place on the UA campus in Tucson, bringing together nearly 30 Native American students (from Native nations across the United States and Canada) who will reside, eat meals, and attend classes on the UA campus. The students will meet with Native American business professionals and visit nearby Native-owned enterprises.

A highlight of the camp is the Youth Marketplace, where students run their own “mock” businesses by selling products or services. The camps end with the Business Plan Showcase, where students present a business plan for a real business to a panel of “venture-capital” judges.

Timeche, who holds an MBA and has focused her career on strategic economic development training and outreach programs, sees the camp, and the tuition support that comes from tribal and private-sector sponsors, as a small investment that can have a tremendous benefit to Native communities.

“These kids have such great ideas and enthusiasm,” said Timeche. “All we are doing is giving them the tools and the confidence to help their business dreams grow into an economic reality.”

The Native Nations Institute, founded in 2001 by the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation and The University of Arizona, is an administrative unit of the UA Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and serves as a self-determination, governance, and development resource for Indigenous nations.