Bethel Native Corp.

• Author: Berger, Michael
• Position: Company Profile

Some Native corporations are in business to fill a social service role in the community. But Bethel Native Corp. (BNC) is in business to make money to benefit its 2,000 shareholders and provide Bethel with a brighter economic future.

BNC and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sonny's Contractors Inc., operate primarily in residential and commercial rental property and management of a sand and gravel hauling company in Bethel.

Total operating revenue for 1992 was over $3.1 million, and net earnings were $295,313, only about one-third of the $871,654 in revenues for 1991. BNC attributed the decline to litigation settlement from the company's last major law suit and a substantial decrease in last year's 7(j) payment.

Diversifying corporate interests, inside Alaska as well as in the Lower 48, guarantees a steady flow of funds, ending eventually at the basic level of the economy, the consumer, says BNC president Bill Bivin. Additional cash flow creates jobs and a more healthy local economy.

"The business community doesn't realize what an impact the village corporation system has," says Bivin. "Industry on this level has a spin-up effect. Our company invests shareholder money in other enterprises, locally and statewide, and is paid back in the form of dividend payments. Dividend earnings are then put back into the economy, resulting in more cash input all the way up the market ladder."

Bivin adds that the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) cleared a path for Alaska Natives to enter the cash economy. Because many Natives live a subsistence lifestyle, cash was hard to come by, and the Bethel business community stood still in the wake of post-pipeline depression.

BNC received cash distributions from the Alaska Native Fund (ANF) of $10,489,019 and surface estate to about 140,000 acres of land, with subsurface rights owned by regional Calista Corp. From the original ANF contribution to capital, the corporation paid dividends totaling $225,152 since 1987, leaving a contributed capital balance of $10,263,867.

"When BNC first started paying a dividend in 1987, the amount was 35 cents a share; in 1992, our dividend reached 80 cents per share," says Bivin. "Our goal is to increase payments 10 percent each year."

Although BNC invested in real estate, purchasing business and apartment complexes and a fish processing plant in Bethel, the Polar Apartments, Alpine Center and 300 A Street building in Anchorage, a good portion of the company's income...