Capturing and reinvigorating that spirit of First Nation commerce was top of mind for Chad Johnson when he pushed his company, The Akana Group Inc., across the Pacific, becoming the first native-owned business incorporated in Australia in October 2022.
The Akana Group provides tribes and Indigenous farmers with access to agricultural and construction equipment, filling a gap left from traditional equipment dealerships in Indian Country. Johnson, who founded the firm in 2010 and serves as its managing director, plans to capitalize on the momentum from opening the Australia office for further international expansion.
HOUSTON, Texas — Native-owned agricultural equipment supplier Akana Group found kindred spirits in an Aboriginal construction and civil development contractor that executives met in Northern Territory, Australia during the recent First Nations Trade Mission.
Executives at Houston-based Akana Group met with their counterparts at Rusca Group over the two-week trade mission, which focused on connecting U.S.-based Native-owned businesses with Indigenous-owned potential business partners in Australia.
The Native American contingent included 10 delegates, including Akana Group Managing Director Chad Johnson, who discovered representatives from the Rusca Group shared common interests and values. Particularly, Akana Group’s program for training agriculture equipment operators lined up with Rusca Group’s mentorship efforts, he said.
“Sometimes, you run into companies or people that just seem to ‘get it.’ There’s so much synergy between the two, you’d almost use the term ‘cut from the same cloth.’ Their intentions line up a lot with what we do,” Johnson told Tribal Business News. “It just worked out really nice. Even our colors kind of match, and I was chuckling about that…”
EAST MOLINE, Ill. (KWQC) – The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska stopped by John Deere Harvester Works for a tour Wednesday.
During the tour, the tribe not only saw how John Deere’s farm equipment was made, but also talked about how they can improve their own farming operations in terms of sustainability, productivity, and profitability…
A group of Native entrepreneurs, organizers and representatives from tribal enterprises will join the First Nations Trade Mission trip to visit with Indigenous Australians to open talks about trade opportunities and information exchange.
The Trade Mission will send 10 delegates from a cross-section of Native-led nonprofits, businesses and tribal enterprises to meet with Indigenous Australians in three cities across the country in hopes of establishing new trade relationships and investment opportunities…
