Borrower Success Story: ArXoticA Beauty Products

2010 Loan Guarantee
Business: ArXoticA
Lender: First National Bank Alaska
Borrower: ArXoticA Indigenous Beauty Products
Amount Financed: $67,000
Location/Tribal area: Bethel, AK. Qissunamiut Tribe, the Cup'ik people of Chevak.

The Sparck triplets are Alaskan Native entrepreneurs who grew up in Chevak, a Cupik community in western Alaska. In 2006 Michelle, Amy, and Cika created and incorporated ArXotica, a dream business built from their passion for using traditional indigenous materials in boutique beauty products.

For over a decade, Arxotica has endured all the growing pains that any rural, minority business encounters with supply and access issues. But the three sisters received overwhelming encouragement from Tribal leaders, family, friends, and other Native-owned businesses. The company has become nationally recognized, and ArXotica's strong reputation has built from customer satisfaction with their wide variety of high-quality beauty products using local botanicals, including salmonberry, sage, and tundra cotton grass. The line includes hand sanitizers, skin serums, beard oils, and a range of other innovative products.

The sisters are happy to serve as a model for other Native entrepreneurs; Arxotica even inspired the creation of an ethnobotany program at a local University of Alaska campus. "This business is a huge accomplishment for us. None of us had business backgrounds. We learned how to run our business on the fly," Michelle Sparck describes proudly.

While any small business must go through many steps to become successful, Michelle is happy to say that "the Indian Loan Guarantee Program was one of the easiest processes we had to go through."