Economic Development & the NBOA

Economic development — building ways for the Nation and its people to make money that lasts: jobs, businesses, and revenue that stays on the Nation instead of flowing out to border towns. NBOA (Navajo Business Opportunity Act) — the law meant to give Navajo-owned businesses first preference for the Nation’s contracts, so the Nation’s spending builds up Navajo businesses and Navajo jobs. Why it exists — it was built as a safeguard: keep the Nation’s money working for Navajo people, not handed to outside firms.

Plain-language summaries. For the exact legal wording, see the glossary and the Navajo Nation Code.

Before asking what’s broken, it helps to know who’s even supposed to be in charge. Here’s the map for the economy and NBOA — the law, the referee, and the watchers. Why this matters →

What’s the law?The Navajo Business Opportunity Act (NBOA) — Navajo preference in contracting — is the law meant to keep contracts and dollars with Navajo people. Whether it’s enforced as written is a question the interviews pressed — the answers are on the record.

Economic Development 101 → — Who regulates it? (the outside referee)The Navajo Business Regulatory Department administers and is meant to enforce NBOA. A law no one enforces is the gap candidates keep naming. Who oversees it? (the inside watchers)The Division of Economic Development and the Council. Cal’s question: should business training be a requirement to hold these jobs? Transparency 101 → What’s broken — and what candidates would fixOn this page: NBOA not followed, contracts that don’t reach Navajo people, and the missing economic engine — plus how candidates answered, summarized from their interviews.

A starting map — confirm current laws and body names against the Nation’s official resources. General civic information, not legal advice.

Cal asks every candidate this — because the answer shows whether someone truly understands the engine they’d be running. Here is how some answered, summarized from their interviews. Read down the list and see for yourself.

Marsha Greyeyes Financial literacy · Cal asked: How do you spur economic development, and what about the RBDOs?From her work at Change Labs: the core gap is that tribal businesses aren’t supported to become financially literate, so they can’t grow.

Titus J. Nez — Reform the NBOACal asked: What about the Nation's enterprises, and getting Navajos into business?Expand the NBOA, stop routing contracts to the enterprises and “giving them back to our Navajo businesses that are women operated, that are 100% Navajo owned”, and stand up a Navajo bank.

Joan Gray — Grow, don’t shrink · Cal asked: What's the structural loophole in the Navajo Business Opportunity Act?The Nation is a corporation that keeps chopping the dollar smaller instead of growing it, as she put it — and the NBOA’s flaw is in how it’s applied.

Charlie Smith Jr. — The hard numbers · Cal asked: How will you grow business in your area?Asked about the host’s figures — about 1,963 fully Navajo-owned businesses against 91,000+ residents working off-Nation — Smith agreed the gap is the problem and tied it to dual taxation and lease barriers.

Greg Bigman — How the law works · Cal asked: What is your view of the NBOA, the RBDOs, and chapter autonomy?The NBOA applies only to Navajo entities, not private firms, and doesn’t help sole proprietors — other tribes use a different model.

Relinda M. John — Chapter self-rule · Cal asked: What is economic development, and what's the Navajo Business Opportunity Act?Defined it as chapters self-governing so communities can make their own money and climb out of poverty.

Johnny Russell Jr. — Build our own · Cal asked: Should small business or the enterprises be the backbone?A contractor’s view: build the Nation’s own capacity instead of importing outside construction firms.

Curtis Yanito — What’s not working · Cal asked: The Navajo Business Opportunity Act isn't working — what would you do?Agreed the NBOA and the Division of Economic Development aren’t working, and that certified chapters are losing resources.

(Each name jumps to that candidate’s answer in their interview. More candidates on their own pages.)

We line up the answers and let you see the difference. We don’t score them — the words do the talking.

Donovan Begay · Cal asked: What is the Navajo Business Opportunity Act?Said he was not familiar with the Navajo Business Opportunity Act and would find out and answer at a later time. (Reported as stated.) Cal’s Take · his view, not a verdict

Cal’s been watching this for years, and here’s how he sees it — you’re free to agree or not:

Government should be a facilitator, not the operator. Let the people be the entrepreneurs; government’s job is to clear the way — ready infrastructure, utilities, business-site leases, fast permitting.

If we’re sovereign, the jobs belong on the Nation. An enterprise with a PO box in Window Rock but its land, building, and jobs off the reservation isn’t doing what enterprises were built to do. Bring the work home and employ Diné people.

We keep treating symptoms. Everyone can name the symptoms. The harder work is naming the diagnosis — the root cause — and treating that. To Cal, the root is basic business know-how that was never taught.

This is Cal’s opinion, marked as his. Candidates may agree or see it differently — that’s the conversation. You decide who’s convincing.

Enterprise — a business the Nation owns (like Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI), or the Arts & Crafts Enterprise), meant to make money and employ people. Source list — the list of approved suppliers for Nation contracts; candidates debate whether enterprises on it crowd out private Navajo firms. Micro-funding — small startup money to help everyday people launch small businesses. Financial literacy — knowing how money, credit, and a business actually work — a skill gap raised in the interviews — see the record for who said what.

• The know-how gap. Several candidates and Cal point to the same root: people in charge of the money often haven’t run a business — so how can they grow one?
• Money flows out. The Nation’s dollars leave for border towns instead of circulating at home.
• Jobs off the Nation. Some enterprises employ people far from the reservation — not the Diné people they were built to serve.
• The basics aren’t ready. Some communities lack business zones, utilities, and lease-ready land — so a business can’t even start.

These are problems candidates and the record describe. We name what’s broken — not accuse any one person.

Everyone knows the symptoms. The real question is the diagnosis — what’s the root cause, and where do we start? This site lets the people work that out together: what matters most, and what should we tackle first.

Coming soon: a place to weigh in on the Nation’s priorities — building one shared to-do list, in order, that we can actually track. The people, planning together.

When business rules aren’t understood or followed, the engine never gets built — and that’s one face of a pattern that runs under every topic: the people in charge there to hold a seat, not to grow what they were trusted with.

In the economy: NBOA rules not followed → contracts don’t reach Navajo people. In the enterprises: no growth, a yearly allowance. See it → In 638 health care: weak boards → exposure to fraud.

It’s often one problem in seven places. See the root — Accountability & Justice →

Where the community stands: collecting — tallies and best ideas publish with the weekly findings.

A plan only matters if you can tell whether it’s working. Here are specific things to watch on this topic — so “we fixed it” means the numbers moved, not just that a law passed.

What to measure

• Number of Navajo-owned businesses (is it growing?)
• Share of Nation contracts that go to Navajo businesses
• Dollars kept on the Nation vs. spent in border towns
• New jobs created on the Nation

How to gather the data
Track from the Business Regulatory Department, contract records, and a simple public count of Navajo-owned businesses — updated yearly. What success looks like
More Navajo-owned businesses, more contracts staying home, more dollars circulating on the Nation, more jobs created here.

Ask any candidate: how would you measure whether this is working? A real leader can name the number.

• In your own words — what is economic development?
• Should the people running the money be required to have business training?
• Why are some enterprise jobs off the Nation — and would you bring them home?
• What’s the one root cause you’d treat first?

• Economic Development 101 — the plain lesson.
• Why the enterprises exist — the history and purpose.
• Glossary — NBOA, enterprise, source list.
• Watch the interviews.
• Compare candidates.

You’ve seen how they answered. Go deeper on any candidate — everything sourced to their interviews.

• Candidate profiles
• Full interview write-ups
• Watch the interviews

← Previous
The Enterprises · All 7 topics

Reading is step one. Here’s a concrete move on this topic: Ask candidates what economic development actually is — and whether business training should be required to hold these jobs.

See your full part — the To-Do List for the Nation →

You help decide what gets explored next — who Cal interviews, what questions get asked, what topics we dig into.

Send an idea → Join the conversation →

Built with the people — and someday, by them.