Gúnta offers arguably one of the most aligned and collaborative Indigenous Consulting Services for Governments and Businesses. Blair Hogan, the president of the Gúnta is a Teslin Tlingit citizen and beneficiary, Jessie Stephen, Partner and Lead Project Manager is a member of White River First Nation, making Gúnta a 100% First Nation owned and operated business. As an established business that specifically caters to both Government clients and Indigenous clients, Gúnta is uniquely positioned to offer great value and often employs or sources services from citizens from many Yukon and First Nations across Canada. In many cases, the Gúnta team will employ citizens from the client’s First Nation community.
Most recently in light of COVID19 we launched a new Virtual Event Service targeting First Nation Government General Assemblies. COVID19 is impacting absolutely everything and the ongoing uncertainty for what the future holds is putting incredible pressure on all communities in all countries around the world. None impacted more so than northern First Nation communities in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Community government, institutions and community-owned business entities need to stay connected and engaged to the community-based decision-makers; elections, strategic planning, budgets and ongoing operations require their continued participation.
Blair is a Dad, Husband, Business Owner, Teslin Tlingit warrior, community political leader and biomass champion. Blair has fought for the advancement for Teslin Tlingit Council and to his home town of Teslin for the last 9-years and is proud of the many accomplishments in Teslin and being part of the many amazing successes in Teslin’s development over that time. Over this decade of work, the community development corporation was launched (DDC) with now 6+ years of successes; the community recognized internationally for joint 10-year Community Development Planning which has yielded massive value for the community; Teslin recognized as Community Economic Developer of the Year Award by CANDO in 2016; the creation of a biomass economy in Teslin that has inspired local opportunities and the interest of community leaders who visit and study our work from around the world. Over this same period Blair developed Gunta Business Consulting (Gunta) supplying its services across the north focusing on communities, governments and businesses providing; * Business Planning * Renewable Energy Feasibility * Community Engagement * Virtual Event Services * Project Management *
Growing up in Teslin, Yukon with my entire upbringing in and around the creation and implementation of First Nation self governance and in the pursuit of self-sufficiency, you could say I have First Nation economic development in my veins. My father, Doug Hogan an entrepreneur (from a very long line of entrepreneurs) in the local community was tasked by then Chief and Council with starting the community economic development arm of the First Nation after the signing of our landmark agreements in 1993. At this time I was only eight years old but was direct witness to the insurmountable process of creating a local economy and an ability to participate in long-term opportunity. A witness in the sense, at least initially, that my father was not really around. In the preamble leading up to launch and in the due diligence of acquiring a timber mill, my father was not only touring Alaskan First Nation Development corporations and businesses to understand organizational structure, tourism business all over Canada and outfitting conferences across the US to capture various opportunities and sales for the FN’s outfitting firm at the time, but was also researching international best practices and technologies in Finland and other parts of the world. As most things start off, it was a bit chaotic and messy. The First Nation directly owned and operated an outfitting business, a timber mill business, and a hotel in Whitehorse that was acquired with five other FN partners.
Tle’ Nax T’awei Development Corporation started out being a community economic development agency, as well as an equity development entity, both at the same time. An interesting note to this story is I witnessed the golden era in my community when the timber mill was in operation. A 16 year old boy working beside a 70 year old man and many others from the community, at the time, Canada’s most labour intensive timber mill – a dubious honour only recognizing our severe lack of automation. The work was hard and gruelling but many of us look back at that time fondly. The community had almost no social ills; the recreation programming was spectacular (a water hose, a dirt hole for the mud, and volleyball net for multi-day entertainment was more common than not). Most of the “trouble makers” were really enjoying working with their hands and making some serious money in the community. It seemed like we found the golden answer to our community’s woes. Until, that is, the US Softwood Lumber Tariffs and the protectionist policies that ensued. The financial viability gone, as Colorado was our largest client by far, the timber mill was operated just for the sheer sake of keeping all these workers employed. The golden era was rocked by economic hardships. Tle’ Nax T’awei Development Corporation and the First Nation’s economic development arms were almost bankrupt.
With the timber mill shut down, and the hotel and outfitting businesses not performing very well, it was looking very bleak indeed. A retooling took place, where my father went to manage the FN owned hotel directly, and who brought on a very finance and budget based CEO, who was hired to salvage what remained, but to go forward with the sole purpose of creating wealth. It was determined that the one entity can’t do both, create community opportunity AND create long-term wealth, at least effectively enough to weather financial storms or other systemic threats. Long-term wealth creation and risk mitigation through asset diversification became the theme of the next decade and a half, with community objectives taking a backseat (at least as far as Tle’ Nax T’awei Development Corporation was concerned). What sounds like a sad ending to a beautiful chapter on community economic development, was perhaps needed to strengthen the resolve of the First Nation and its members in the concept of long-term wealth creation at “arms length” from the government and other political decision makers and to “keep the profits in play”. More on the success of Tle’ Nax T’awei Development Corporation later on.
In search of community economic development
My Bachelor of Commerce, which started out as a double major in Finance and Marketing became a very focused degree on First Nation economic and business development. I continually put my First Nation community in the context of research papers, all of which culminated towards my final undergraduate thesis “Marketing the Tlingit: Preparing Teslin for Tourism” which provides strategic recommendations for creating a nation-based marketing cooperative and the power of an integrated marketing communications platform. I also won a school-wide Business Plan competition for our plan, “The North” – a high-end aboriginal-themed boutique hotel, restaurant and spa resort that was to be built in semi-isolated conditions. It was to offer unique aboriginal experiences through a highly developed system of integrating the local aboriginal community, their cultural practices and the tourism market.
Over and above my course curriculum, in the three years I competed in western Canada’s largest and most prestigious undergraduate case-study competition Jeux du Commerce West (JDC West), I benefitted from many meaningful mentorships through my case-study training and preparations; as MBA teachers, local CEO’s and many other business leaders from various sectors worked and coached myself and my teammates through over 50 case studies in competition format (only three hours to read, prepare and then present an 18 to 20 minute presentation to a panel of expert judges). This intensive training and coaching commitment paid off, as not only did we successfully secure a first place win in the “not-for-profit business strategy” category in 2010, but a third place win as well in “business strategy” in 2012. Just for you to understand how difficult these competitions are, you are competing against the biggest and most prestigious business schools in western Canada (all the way to Manitoba), and we are not only from the smallest school in contention, but the newest and least known.
Finishing my degree in 2012, I returned to my community with the tools I needed to help fill the community economic development gap that existed in the community since the days on Tle’ Nax T’awei Development Corporation and its timber mill. There was much regional and community planning that had been occurring while I was in school, and was culminating into a community economic development strategy. The strategy pointed to a real need for a community champion in community economic development and local opportunity creation, in the form of a Community Economic Development Agency (CEDA). The problem I encountered when trying to secure the long-term financing required to launch and operate such an entity was getting the backing from the First Nation and its members to 100 percent finance an entity that would be working to create opportunity for all community members, both First Nation and non-First Nation. We structured the entity as a federally incorporated not-for-profit with a skills-based board with representation from both FN and non-FN’s in the community so as to be at arms length and to qualify for grants and other form of very favourable funding pools. For the first two years of my four-year term on Executive Council for TTC, I had made one unsuccessful bid after another to the General Council of TTC to help secure community consent and support for the financing of the new community economic development entity, Dèslin Development Corporation. Only after an exhaustive exercise where I toured multiple Yukon communities, their economic development strategies, and their resulting community development corporations and bringing back speakers to discuss their success to my community (Mark Wickham from Dawson and Justin Ferbey from Carcross) was my community ready to take that initial “leap of faith”. I am pleased to report that I have since secured over a million dollars in financing from the First Nation (approximately $300k per year as core funds). In the time since the DDC has been operational, we have demonstrated one of the most successful community development models this territory, and this nation has ever seen.
Its important to note that community economic development entities do not work in isolation, but need to work collectively with all community partners, and in the Teslin context this was with TTC and Village of Teslin (VOT). With the political clout of the First Nation, we were able to streamline the procurement process of major community infrastructure projects so that VOT would be able to administer the RFP on behalf of the government and worked with TTC to break-up the single large projects into many smaller contracts, that would be overall project managed by DDC. These many contracts are then posted publically and are competed on fairly just as any other RFP is, with the exception that now many local businesses have the capacity to win (being smaller less complex pieces to the larger more complex project).
What history showed us before such a model existed, we would get the prerequisite phone calls from the major developers on the lead up to major community infrastructure projects about all the jobs they will provide, with the almost predictable let-down of a few “traffic controller” or token jobs resulting; millions flowing in and millions flowing out with nothing for us to do but be casual spectators. Not anymore.
The very first year of operation, the community benefited from just under $4 million dollars in additional projects that were almost entirely captured by the local businesses and workers. The following year the community projects managed through this model was just over $6 million, and the following year just over $8 million (this year is nearing $18 million) – all with the same result, with up to 85% of the total pool of work being won by local contractors and workers. If somebody is unemployed in the summer months in Teslin, its either because they physically can’t work or just don’t want to. In other words, the effective unemployment rate is zero in these months (as unemployment only counts those actively looking for work).
These successes have been captured in a recent planning exercise by TTC, VOT and DDC where all future community infrastructure and development projects were identified for the next 10 to 20 years. This plan (which integrates the needs of the entire community) calls for over $80 million of identifiable community projects that the community will undertake and prepare for. This plan has recently been recognized by the Association of Yukon Communities as well as nationally for outstanding community collaboration and as a best practice (CANDO, EDAC, etc).
Not only did I take a lead politically in the creation of the Dèslin Development Corporation, but I was asked to also provide technical leadership in its development and launch. I worked with and project managed a highly skilled team of local First Nation contractors to create the brand, logo, marketing material, community communication tools (presentations, newsletters, annual reports, etc), policy and procedures, board roles and responsibilities and an orientation manual. I also developed a business plan and operations and maintenance plan for a Land Treatment Facility (LTF) to treat hydrocarbon-contaminated soil. This business plan was not only successful in securing over $300 thousand in start-up financing, but up to 35% of total financing was won as a forgivable grant. This LTF has been built and is on its fourth year of successful operations, and can potentially expand with more opportunities coming its way every year, creating year-round employment in the community and effectively cleaning the local environment of toxins.
Most recently, I have been providing the technical business support and overall project management of the highly successful Teslin Biomass District Heating project, where over $3 million in Territorial and Federal dollars were secured. This project boasts incredible local and regional economic benefits and will become a wider model for many other northern communities wanting to also make the transition from space heating with fossil-fuels to locally sourced wood-chips. The approach we are taking is to maximize the community benefits in each stage of the project, starting from the planning to the construction, and ultimately in the supply, operation and ongoing maintenance. Our model will allow for community-participation in providing biomass wood-waste and supply via permitted timber harvesting, creating and sustaining a forest-based industry in the local area. Residents of the area are very excited for the additional opportunities that a locally-focused district heating biomass project will allow for them today, and into the future. Check out the Teslin Biomass Project here, https://youtu.be/YjzRJcmtfSk
This previously described experience as well as my experience through my consulting business with various small aboriginal clients, FN Gov’ts, FN trusts, development corporations and their business entities that I have had over four years experience coaching, advising and providing various planning and consultation solutions for (please read CV for complete listing of projects) has given me a very solid framework and understanding of first nation business obstacles and the various ways to deal with them. On other fronts, I have secured money through proposals and championed pre-feasibility work on potential hydro energy projects in collaboration with community partners in working towards an over-arching community energy strategic plan, which is currently underway.
Profits and Possibilities
In hindsight on the Tle’ Nax T’awei Development Corporation experience, one of the biggest obstacles in trying to manage the duel mandates of both “profits and community possibilities” was the fact that each mandate had a different set of goals, tasks and key performance indicators and it was difficult to track and evaluate success. In long-term wealth generation, one of the clearest performance indicators is Return on Investment or ROI. If managers are able to maintain cost controls while also able to generate additional sales and revenue opportunities, your year over year profits should increase which will positively affect your ROI. If you are, however, also doing community development projects that creates additional cost centres (with little or no revenue) all on the same books, it will undermine and discount any or all efforts to successfully bring in profits – also removing any ability for shareholders or other third parties (banks or other potential partners/investors) from evaluating your ability to be profitable (because it is embedded or offset by other community-focused work). The simplest way to deal with this issue is to have two separate entities, each with its own purpose-suited structure, set of goals, tasks and key performance indicators. This makes sense from the community economic development perspective as well, as an entity focused on improving the community, creating jobs, and supporting the local FN business environment, its nice to be judged on those performance indicators and not ROI, revenue or other performance measures more suitable to wealth generating entities.
Pathway to Prosperity
Today, Tle’ Nax T’awei Group and Teslin Tlingit Council Trust are one of the best First Nation wealth success stories in northern Canada. For the last 15 years we have continually demonstrated double-digit blended rate of returns without fail and have brought back assets like the Yukon Inn Hotel from the brink of failure. Tle’ Nax T’awei Group currently owns and directly manages 26 businesses across Yukon, Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Teslin Tlingit Council Trust also maintains significant capital market portfolio positions and real estate holdings, with overall holdings getting close to the $80 million mark (a very conservative estimate as our businesses are only valued at book value).
As mentioned previously, I have experiences with these entities all throughout my upbringing and have been part of some significant milestones, in one way or another. As a summer job I worked as a junior financial officers for Tle’ Nax T’awei Development Corporation while attending University and was tasked with reworking the information system, and to integrate the information system and all coding with the two new business that we acquired at that time, Yukon Water Services and Sunset Septic.
In 2014 I was tasked by the shareholder (TTC) to divest (successfully) both Yukon Inn Hotel and Yukon Indian Development Corporation shareholder equity positions, and was on both negotiation teams and signatory to both deals –complicated dealings involving many other minority shareholders.
As chair of Teslin Tlingit Council Trust’s – Investment Committee – for the last 6 years, not only overseeing a multi million dollar ETF capital market portfolio, but working with all TTC’s various trusts, committees, and development corporation representatives on an overarching oversight committee, where we have collectively made decisions and recommendations regarding investment policy, opportunity vetting, risk mitigation, and financial strategies to support current and future business acquisitions and overall portfolio growth.
I have also championed a cash flow exercise with TTC finance department and a financial advisor to create and implement a short-term investment strategy where we can earn higher rates of return on our sitting cash (instead of the traditional GIC or T-bills approach) as First Nation governments are paid in lump sums for the year, in addition to all other pools of cash (budget surpluses, accrued leave or holiday, severance, etc). This exercise yielded over $300 thousand in additional annual returns that is being used to enhance the service delivery of the government today.
And finally, I have been working towards developing an overall investment strategy for the wealth generating entities of TTC that will work towards defining and detailing options for distributions to all citizens. TTC Trusts are getting to the point where we would like to start researching and discussing distribution models, as typically first nation members are shareholders of their respective Trusts. One question Trustees are continually being asked is “what benefits do the owners receive from the successful business/investment activity from our trusts?” - As most trusts are fairly new or still immature and are struggling to define success, or are still working on growing to a critical mass that would support some kind of meaningful benefits, this “distribution of benefits” has been deferred to allow for greater growth from the continual retention of profits.
The positive distribution example that I like to talk about is the model that is used by a New Zealand First Nation Trust where they have developed a unitized trust (a trust that in fact has units or shares for each citizen that operates much a like an investment bank account). This trust is structured to benefit the citizens that maximize and promote quality of life. Every year a quarter of the total profits earned by the businesses are put into each citizens “account” in the trust. There is also a built in savings incentive that allows each citizen to contribute towards their savings amount, with a matching of that contribution by the Trust, dollar for dollar (and 3 dollars for every dollar saved by youth members up to the age of 19 years). The distributions are structured in such a way that any citizen can access up to a third of their overall amount in three structured withdrawals;
1) to pursue post-secondary education,
2) to finance a home and
3) to access the remaining for retirement
This means that the distributions are targeted to maximize the quality of life of its members. On the business side of this distribution model, the ongoing liability of these withdrawals can be projected using demographic information and can be managed/budgeted for. And just like any pension program, the earmarked amounts in the unitized trusts can be invested and can continue to provide returns to the overall trust.
Mentorship and networking
I have made a huge effort to maintain positive working relations and to surround myself by mentors and coaches from over the years. I have made a significant effort to attend gatherings, conferences and other networking clusters to maintain relationships with many of the entities in the local and national economy. My personal and professional network in the Yukon, and across Canada is strong from not only my representation of TTC government and its business interests, but from my serving on national boards like Council for Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO), or local entities like Yukon First Nation Chamber of Commerce and Yukon Energy Corporation. I have also a diverse network from my consulting business, Gùnta Business Consulting (please see CV for complete listing of clients and projects).
