Edible Arrangements

Native Business Spotlight
EDIBLE ARRANGEMENTS
Michelle Antone (Cheyenne River Sioux) is celebrating her first year as owner of Edible Arrangements, a
shop that offers hand-cut and chocolate dipped fruit bouquets and fresh fruit smoothies in Rapid City,
South Dakota. Although she has encountered several bumps in the road, she says her best move was
securing start-up capital through Four Bands Community Fund, a Native community development financial
institution and a member of the South Dakota Indian Business Alliance.
After a long and successful career as a finance
professional, Michelle decided to begin a new venture
as an entrepreneur. She says that although there are
benefits of deciding your own destiny, starting a
business has been anything but easy. She admits there
have been many challenges along the way. However,
she is glad that securing capital wasn’t one of them.
She says, “Four Bands was really a life saver. They set
me above what I needed to be as far as being
financially stable.”
Four Bands recently celebrated a milestone of
reaching a total of $1.5 million in loans deployed to
support over 60 Native American-owned small
business start-ups and expansions throughout the
state. The organization expanded its target market
two years ago to serve all tribal members residing in
South Dakota. Previously, they only served the
Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.
“Since we have increased the service area of our
lending program, we have seen a strong demand from
Native entrepreneurs. We have also realized that
there are a lot of tribal members that don’t have
access to traditional lenders,” says Kristen Stambach,
Director of Lending at Four Bands.
Michelle Antone (Cheyenne River Sioux) serves smoothie
samples at her business, Edible Arrangements in Rapid
City, South Dakota.
www.sdibaonline.org
Native Business Spotlight
Kristen says most reservations are in isolated locations without local banks nearby. She explains, “For
someone with limited experience in dealing with mainstream financial institutions, a business loan
application can be intimidating.”
For Michelle, it was the “easy-to-do-business-with” factor that drew her to Four Bands when she was
seeking start-up capital for her business. “They definitely made the whole application process easier, walked
me through it, and helped me prepare the financial plans,” she says.
As a result of opening and thriving, Edible Arrangements has created approximately 10 jobs for local
residents. Michelle says that on average 50% of her employees are Native American. Kristen points out, “In
addition to job creation, local businesses also generate revenue in the way of sales tax, which furthers
economic growth.”
Four Bands is a member of the South Dakota Indian Business Alliance that is dedicated to creating
innovative financing strategies to support community development. SDIBA commends them for their
dedication to increasing access to capital and Native entrepreneurs like Michelle Antone.
www.sdibaonline.org