Reimagining & Revolutionizing Investment through Rematriation

Native Women Lead (NWL) in partnership with Roanhorse Consulting, LLC (RCLLC), is building the first-ever Indigenous Women’s Investment Fund to support growth-ready businesses get access to equitable capital. This fund uses character-based lending principles to create a pathway for these businesses while providing another opportunity to address the traditional risk concerns. To create this fund, RCLLC and NWL have worked together to test character-based lending practices with a microloan product called the Matriarch Response Loan Fund, a up to $5,000 microloan product designed with Indigenous values and principles, particularly the newly developed 5’Rs of credit versus the 5’Cs of credit. This panel discussion focuses on the challenges we face to build funds for our communities that represent values and design that puts the risk on those with the most instead of those with the least. NWL and RCLLC worked closely with fund-building leaders at Sankofa Group, LLC, to help bridge the western and indigenous worldview to reimagine and design a fund and underwriting process that is truly values-driven.