ASU alum returns home to aid Native entrepreneurs

Under the brilliant, late-morning blue sky and wispy white clouds of Tuba City, Arizona, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to inaugurate Change Labs, a new 1,400-square-foot co-working space built to encourage Native entrepreneurs and small business owners on the Navajo and Hopi reservations. The event honored Heather Fleming and Jessica Stago (BS Economics ’01), two women whose decade-long vision was now a reality.

Stago’s journey began after she earned her economics degree from ASU in 2001 and returned to her hometown of Winslow, Arizona, to start a medical supply company with her mother. They quickly encountered the formidable barriers many Native small business owners face on the reservation, such as lengthy and costly business startup procedures. These challenges, familiar to many Native entrepreneurs, are exacerbated by the complex bureaucracy required to access land and utilities, making it considerably more difficult and expensive than nearby towns like Cortez, Colorado.

“We were trying to do business with the tribe,” says Stago, a Navajo Nation and White Mountain Apache member. “That was going to be our market.”

Stago and her mother couldn’t access the capital necessary to expand their inventory and compete with larger companies, so she decided to pivot to the work she was doing part-time with the Small Business Development Center at Northland Pioneer College.

“I was always talking to people who would come and talk to me about their dream of starting a business,” Stago says. “I knew the challenges they would face. I knew we didn’t have an ecosystem set up for them for somebody to come into their government offices to get registered, find out how to start a new business, and find a place to open a business. We didn’t have that.”

In response, she co-founded the Native American Business Incubator Network in 2014, providing vital counseling and support to aspiring Native business owners. Over the years, this initiative evolved, and in 2019, Stago and Fleming launched Change Labs. This rebranded network emphasized physical presence as crucial for building community trust and symbolizing commitment, differentiating from transient nonprofits that often left the community with unfulfilled promises.

ASU alum Jessica Stago (BS Economics ’01), co-founder of Change Labs. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News

“When you go to the local government and tell them you want to start a business and they have nothing to tell you, there’s a big challenge there,” Stago says. Change Labs fills that gap.

“We do a lot of work designing our programs to be intuitive to entrepreneurs at different stages,” Stago explains. “So, if you’re thinking of an idea, let’s give you these tools you can go through and talk to somebody about. And then, as they get through the startup phase, here’s the incubator program. It’ll get you from where you’re at to registering your business.”

Despite setbacks, including the pandemic and faltering land deals, Change Labs established its physical headquarters in mid-June 2023. The new space offers a beacon of support, housing eight full-time staff members who provide personalized guidance to entrepreneurs. They help with everything from business plan development to identifying market strategies, which is critical in a region where internet access and business resources are scarce.

Furthermore, Change Labs has innovated financial support through its Kinship Lending program, offering relationship-based loans up to $5,000 without needing credit or collateral. This is particularly significant in a community without land ownership. Since 2020, the program has distributed $285,000 to 57 Native-run businesses.

Additionally, Change Labs manages Rez Rising, an online database that lists more than 700 Native-owned businesses, enhancing their visibility and connecting them with new customers—a vital tool given the region’s limited connectivity.