Vanessa Hatfield, Business Development Manager & Corporate Small Business Administrator for E2 Consulting Engineers, Inc. and Dean Drake, Vice President of Waséyabek Federal Services, LLC recently presented Kim Enoch of the American Heart Association (AHA) a check for $5,000. The donation was given to support the AHA’s vision of improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent and reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent by the year 2020.

The funds were used to purchase a CPR training kit (shown at right) for an Aiken, SC area school to teach high school students the proper method for performing CPR. “A big thanks to E2 and Waséyabek Federal Services for their support in this life-saving endeavor and to Aiken County School district for recognizing the importance of the training,” Ms. Enoch said upon accepting the donation. The CPR in Schools Kit was delivered to the Aiken County School District during the School Board meeting on May 14th (shown below). The staff at Silver Bluff High School will be able to train students, beginning in the fall.

WE2 Support Services, LLC (WE2) is a Joint Venture (JV) between Waséyabek Federal Services, LLC (WFS) and E2 Consulting Engineers, Inc. with offices in Aiken, SC and Grand Rapids, MI. The WE2 JV is established pursuant to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s All-Small Mentor-Protegé Program (13 CFR 125.8 and 13 CFR 125.9). For more information, visit the WE2 Support Services Website at www.we2ss.com.

On March 26, 2019, Waséyabek Development Company, LLC assembled a panel for the Reservation Economic Summit (RES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was hosted by The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED). The panel discussion, entitled “A Case Study on How the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Built and Operates a Start-Up Economic Development Division,” was delivered to a packed room!

The panel featured Deidra Mitchell, President & CEO of WDC; Bob Giroux, President of Waséyabek Federal Services, LLC; Rabih Jamal, Managing Partner of DWH; and Jack Jerovsek, President of Baker Engineering, LLC; all subsidiary companies of WDC.

The panel was an in-depth best practice discussion of how WDC built four companies to support one another, and how that support synergy was planned into their acquisition and development strategy. The panel offered a real-life example of how, in just two-and-a-half years, a start-up economic development company went from $0 to $64 million in assets, including two commercial operating companies, four companies (one 8(a) certified) offering products and services to the U.S. Government, and a commercial real-estate portfolio of over 250,000 square feet of leasable space.

Deidra Mitchell, President & CEO of Waséyabek Development Company, LLC, was asked to sit on a roundtable discussion hosted by MiBiz with a group of West Michigan Tribal leaders and business executives. Throughout the conversation, an overarching theme emerged that while West Michigan Tribes are new to implementing economic development and diversification plans, they have rapidly proven themselves to be successful key partners within their local business communities. What makes them unique is that they focus on building strong portfolios of commercial, federal, and real-estate investments with long-term, seven generational outlooks, which supports stable communities.

Tanya Gibbs is a managing partner of the Grand Rapids office of Rosette LLP, a majority Native American-owned niche law firm that works exclusively with tribal clients nationally. She spoke highly of Waséyabek Development Company, LLC (WDC) and Gun Lake Investments (GLI) in an article MiBiz wrote for the same issue in which the roundtable was featured. Gibbs said, “I think [WDC and GLI] are leaders nationally for a couple of reasons, the first being that they’ve been able to be really successful in a very short period of time.”

When asked what the West Michigan business community should know about doing business with tribally-owned companies, Deidra responded, “The relationships are long term, and there’s a foundation there that they can count on. The very nature of the culture of looking at seven generations is good for the community they’re in as well, because we have to be good business partners. We can’t go into a conversation thinking we’re here for seven generations and be a bad business partner.”

The National Center For American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED) talked with Deidra Mitchell, President & CEO of Waséyabek Development Company, LLC (WDC) as part of their continuing series: Spotlight on a Tribal Business.

It was an honor for Deidra to share WDC’s story of growth and success over the last 24 months, NCAIED’s role in fostering that growth, and her commitment to collaborate with and support those individuals and organizations focused on economic development in Indian Country.