The “Native Business Top 50 Entrepreneurs” list serves to elevate awareness of the innovation, professionalism, competence and tenacity demonstrated by Native entrepreneurs across Indian Country. Native Business is rolling out profiles of these 50 Native entrepreneurs online, in no particular hierarchy, to document and memorialize their innovation and self-determination. The inaugural class of the Native Business Top 50 Entrepreneurs recognizes leaders across 13 business sectors, demonstrating the diversity of industries where Natives are making an impact. Among the entrepreneurs recognized in our Federal Contracting sector is Roxie Schescke.
After holding down several positions in construction and management, Roxie Schescke decided to make good on her dream of owning her own business. In 2005, Indian Eyes, LLC, was born.
The Lakota entrepreneur bootstrapped her operation out of a two-car garage made into living quarters and an office. Getting started required sacrifices. “It’s tough to live within your means when you don’t have any means,” Schescke says. For several years, Schescke put everything she made back into the business.
Headquartered in Pasco, Washington, with offices across the U.S., Indian Eyes specializes in project management, staffing, plant operations and construction interface, equipment logistics, human resources, environmental and waste management services, and more. Indian Eyes has performed work for the U.S. Departments of Energy, Interior, Defense, Justice and Homeland Security; as well as major prime contractors.
Today, her original team of two has grown to more than 60 employees, but has peaked at more than 100 (the variance is due to the contract-driven nature of her business). The company’s revenue holds steady between $25-27 million annually. To date, Indian Eyes has generated more than $100 million in total revenue.
“It took many years to get to that point, because I never had anyone to lean on or help me out,” she says. “But I was determined.”
Focusing on their core competencies is part of the reason Indian Eyes has had zero incidents since their founding — a nearly unprecedented feat in the fields of staffing, security, equipment logistics, and construction and engineering. “We only do what we know,” Schescke says.
She believes that if she can show the outcomes of drive, perseverance and tenacity, others in Indian Country might follow her lead. “For me being all by myself, with a 100 percent Native American Woman Owned business, I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done,” she says. “If anything can be told or heard from my story, it is to motivate other fellow Native people to make a difference.”
