Indian Energy LLC was honored by Native Business as the inaugural recipient of the Native Business of the Year Award. The award was presented at the recent Native Business Virtual Summit. The awards program celebrated Native American-owned companies and entrepreneurs who demonstrate courage, innovation and commitment to economic self-sufficiency and prosperity.
“Indian Energy is demonstrating innovation in the energy sector at an unprecedented scale by creating energy storage and microgrid solutions for Tribal Nations and Department of Defense clients, and ultimately playing a vital role in advancing the U.S.’s energy sovereignty,” said Cherokee Nation’s Gary Davis, the founder, publisher and CEO of Native Business.
“I am delighted — and grateful — to see Indian Energy viewed as an influential and change-making Native business within North America’s exceptional tribal community,” said Allen G. Cadreau, the Company’s CEO. “We are honored to be recognized by Native Business, an organization whose mission includes the advancement of Native American business and economic development. Through hard work and innovation, Indian Country’s talented entrepreneurs have long been advancing, delivering and achieving across all industries, and we hope this honor for our company will further promote and inspire the ongoing development and acknowledgment of the tribal community.”
Indian Energy, a 100% Native American-owned utility-scale microgrid development and systems integration firm, was developed in response to an overwhelming desire for sustainable energy independence among our tribal nations. Founded in 2009 from the wish of a handful of Tribal Nations to pursue a utility-scale power plant, the company, aptly nicknamed “two guys and a dog,” grew into an advanced renewable energy development firm. Since this humble beginning, Indian Energy’s mission has been to empower Tribal communities with the technical support needed to own and operate energy infrastructure that serves their own citizens. Now certified as a Small Business Enterprise (SBE) and a Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE), Indian Energy is rapidly expanding to develop projects and sell renewable energy to military organizations and off-reservation communities in the Southern California region.
The Native Business Virtual Summit presented five awards to recognize businesses and individuals who rose above challenge and circumstance in an extraordinary year. Indian Energy was joined by 2020 Native Business Award honorees Mark N. Fox, chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation (MHA Nation), and Cedric Cromwell, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe who jointly won the Tribal Sovereignty Champion of the Year Award; JC Seneca, founder of Tallchief Hemp, Native Pride Travel Plaza and Six Nations Manufacturing, who was presented with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award; Chuck Garrett, CEO of Cherokee Nation Businesses, who received the Tribal Enterprise of the Year Award; and Clara Lee Pratte, CEO of Strongbow Strategies, who was honored with the Native Disruptor of the Year Award.
