TAHLEQUAH, OK – The Cherokee Nation honored eight Native-owned businesses with special recognition for their outstanding performances with the tribe’s annual Tribal Employment Rights Office (TERO) Certified Indian Owned Business Awards at the Cherokee Nation W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex.
The TERO Office has nearly 700 Native-owned companies and more than 100 artists that are TERO-certified vendors able to do business with the tribe and compete for government contracting jobs.
“We are proud of every TERO company because they each represent Native entrepreneurship and keep dollars invested within our tribal communities,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. “These awards celebrate these fine companies and the hard work they’ve achieved this past year.”
Fourkiller Lawn Solutions received the Small Certified Indian Business of the Year Award.
“It’s an honor to be able to receive something like this,” said Tyler Fourkiller, owner of Fourkiller Lawn Solutions. “Just knowing that the hard work that we do every day, there are people noticing it. I think out of the 16 or 17 guys that we have employed right now, only two are not Cherokee Nation citizens. So being able to receive this award for all of our guys and my mom working back at the shop, it’s special.”
“TERO has grown a lot since the inception in 1983 when the law was passed,” said Diane Kelly, Career Services Executive Director, who oversees the TERO office. “When the Cherokee Nation started building facilities, it evolved and grew. We have many projects that our TERO staff are working with at this time, and it is far reaching across the Cherokee Nation Reservation. It is a very exciting time in the Cherokee Nation, and we are very glad to be a part of it and see the many accomplishments that have been made over the last 38 years.”
The eight certified Indian-owned businesses awarded for 2021 are:
- Certified Indian Consulting Firm of the Year: Blue River Architects, Chris Seat, Tulsa, OK
- Certified Indian Retail Business of the Year: Eaglesun Systems Products, Cynthia Wright, Tulsa, OK
- Certified Indian Woman Owned Business of the Year: Safety Fire Extinguishers, Becky Scott, Muskogee, OK
- Certified Indian Business Construction Company of the Year: Maska Builders, BJ Dumond, Jenks, OK
- Large Certified Indian Business of the Year: Candor Building Solutions, Darren Neal, Tulsa, OK
- Certified Indian Business Community Leadership Award: Chloeta Fire, Mark Masters, Jay, OK
- Small Certified Indian Business of the Year: Fourkiller Lawn Solutions, Tyler Fourkiller, Stilwell, OK
- Certified Indian Business Customer Service Award: Cherokee Termite & Pest Control, Jack Crittenden, Tahlequah, OK
Through proceeds from the annual TERO Golf Tournament held earlier this year with vendors, $5,000 was donated to the Cherokee Nation Elder Tree and $10,000 to the Cherokee Elder PACE Program.
