Indigenous communities are the first ones affected by climate change, yet indigenous communities lack access to capital and markets to ensure their input in the current paradigm, which extracts more resources than can replenish the environment.
Panelists Nicole Etchart of NESsT, Paul Cyr of Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, Teresa Dunbar of the Swift Foundation, Carina Pimenta of Conexsus, and David Rothschild of Nia Tero opened upon the conversation.
As global demand for natural products found in biodiverse regions of the world increases, indigenous communities have the opportunity to strengthen their advocacy and economic resilience, giving a voice to the earth. This panel explored the role of capital in sustainable development; governance models that are inclusive of indigenous communities; innovative social enterprises that work at the intersection of conservation and livelihoods; and how to strengthen the ecosystem to align funder expectations with the needs and values of indigenous communities.
Key Takeaways from the conversation:
Cultural intelligence: Aligning investor, business, and community realities is necessary given the relationship that indigenous communities have to capital and natural resources. Indigenous communities regard the environment as a stakeholder and not as a byproduct of the business cycle. This perspective influences all elements of a business such as the business model itself, the products and services it offers, and how decisions are made across the value chain and business development cycles.
Governance Models: As more organizations choose to support indigenous-led enterprises, it is of utmost importance that the relationships between funders and indigenous communities do not replicate the power structures that led to the subordination of indigenous communities in the first place. Nia Tero creates agreements by involving indigenous leaders into all aspects of their investment decisions and services as it delivers long-term financial and technical support.
Representation matters: The indigenous values that have ensured the conservation of threatened environments worldwide can be preserved by ensuring that indigenous entrepreneurs are leading enterprises in their communities. At the same time, there are many businesses with indigenous leadership that are not yet at a stage where funders and clients are ready to support. Instead of waiting around until these earlier stage enterprises mature, funders should consider meeting indigenous entrepreneurs where they are. For the businesses that are working with indigenous communities, it is important to also include them in the conversation and encourage them to make the effort to improve career mobility for the communities with whom they work.
Expectations of the sector: As investors source deals of social enterprises that support and are led by indigenous communities, the sector must consider how its criteria for impact and returns aligns with the priorities of local communities, such as land conservation, ownership, and scale. Conexsus has taken on an ambitious project of mapping social enterprises operating and led by indigenous communities in Brazil. Through this initiative, organizations like Conexsus and NESsT can tap into the early-stage social enterprises in the region and provide them with the patient capital and business advisory services they need to grow their businesses. NESsT is currently actively seeking indigenous-led companies to support in Brazil, Colombia and Peru.
Innovative finance: Blended and patient capital are effective tools that can take early stage social enterprises through each stage of their development process so that they can steadily grow their production capacity while also ensuring their ability to sustain the business over the long-term. With tailored financing, indigenous entrepreneurs and those collaborating with them can make the trajectory from personal to cultural to structural power. With its Raven Fund I, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners screens prospective investees with its unique Indigenous impact lens, focusing on deal sizes that range from $250K to $1.1M in Canada. The Fund offers bespoke technical/managerial assistance as it supports this new generation of Indigenous social enterprises.
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