Start-up Society #71: Indigenous Peoples’ Day!
Keeping the American Dream Alive
Welcome to the 71st edition of Start-up Society! This is a weekly blog that promotes nationwide entrepreneurship and highlights some of the most exciting start-ups in the country striving to keep the American Dream alive.
Make sure you check out the previous issue, if you have not already, here!
Flashback to 50 articles ago, we issued Start-up Society #21: Indigenous Peoples’ Day! to commemorate today’s holiday. This year, we are running it back! But this time, we’re doing something a little different…
In accordance with how the Indigenous people of North America spanned the whole continent, today we are closing our eyes to the invented borders we have and opening them to two innovative companies looking to support and uplift their native communities.
CANADA
OneFeather
HQ: Victoria, British Columbia
Founded: 2013
Total Employees: 18 (on LinkedIn)
ABOUT THE COMPANY
- OneFeather is a digital banking and tribe governance platform on mobile and web designed to serve indigenous peoples.
- The OneFeather app is their dedicated indigenous banking service. By connecting your existing bank account to the app users can transfer, deposit, and withdraw funds at a fraction of the cost compared to traditional banking services.
- Additionally, the company also offers the OneFeather Pay card that offers 0% interest and is linked to the OneFeather App.
- The company also offers voting and governance services to over 195+ indigenous nations allowing members to vote in important community elections either digitally, in person, or via mail.
- OneFeather raised 100,000 CAD in seed funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada.
MEET THE TEAM
Lawrence Lewis, CEO & Founder
- Previously, Lawrence completed the Directors Education Program through the Institute of Corporate Directors alongside other degrees and professional designations including a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Diplomas in Governance and Public Administration from the University of Victoria, Business Management, First Nations Schools Management, and International Trade.
- Lawrence has a deep involvement in building up, strengthening, and supporting indigenous communities. He started his career as the Director of Education for the Tsawwassen First Nation in 1994.
- He served as director of Operations for the We Wai Kai Nation and the Hamatla Treaty Society and as VP of Operations for the Bute Inlet Development Corporation.
- In 2012, he joined the Malahat Nation as CEO of their Investment Corporation and also as the Executive Director for the Adams Lake Indian Band.
Matthew Lehner, CTO & Co-Founder
- Previously, Matthew earned his Bachelor's Degree from Okanagan College in Accounting and Finance in 2007.
- He started his career as a Security System Admin at juniper Networks in 2001. In 2011 he founded his own Consulting firm in order to partner with clients to work on their product and technology planning.
- After almost seven years he joined Pixel Union as Director of Engineering and Product where he served until co-founding OneFeather in 2013.
THE START-UP SOCIETY ASSESSMENT
- With a deep bench of experience in Tribe governance and having experienced firsthand the lack of attention to problems faced by indigenous peoples, OneFeather is uniquely positioned to not only grow as a company, but make a positive impact on the community it is seeking to serve.
- Although OneFeather is rooted in its governance services, its fintech platform is extremely interesting. The one-size-fits-all traditional banking approach doesn’t work anymore. Mainstream banks and financial institutions hardly ever created products with diversity in mind.
- Credit products represent 87 cents per dollar spent by underserved consumers on financial product fees and interest in 2018. Short-term credit was the largest product category with underserved consumer spending at $66.1 billion and Long-term credit spending represents $59 billion (source).
- By focusing on a specific community, OneFeather also opens itself up to innovative credit opportunities. Current credit rating for individuals is very much based on a one size fits all model, but by tailoring financial products, services, and solutions to specific communities a higher fidelity form of credit can be curated in order to provide opportunities that may not have existed otherwise. (check out our interview with Nestor Hugo Solari, CEO and Founder of Sigo Seguros for more on this topic!)
GO DEEPER
Sizing up the financially underserved market
OneFeather offers application options for Indigenous status cards
NEW MEXICO
From The People
HQ: Albuquerque
Founded: 2020
Total Employees: 2 (on LinkedIn)
ABOUT THE COMPANY
- From The People is an inclusive decolonized space committed to serving as an online Indigenous Marketplace and Community. The company offers a platform to uplift and empower Indigenous Peoples and their original arts, jewelry, and apparel.
- The community has grown to around 80 Native artists, from both the United States and Canada, selling a variety of products ranging from beadwork to apparel.
- The company also exercises transparency with pricing and charges a limited fee in order to maintain the costs of running the business.
From The People is a Native and woman-owned online Indigenous marketplace and decolonized community We cater specifically to Native artists and vendors and have features like our Native lands map to showcase Native-owned businesses. Our platform facilitates exchanges of cultural appreciation between customers and vendors by making it easy for customers to directly support Indigenous artists who can then continue to create their traditional crafts. Additionally, a percentage of our proceeds are donated to the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women and the First Nations Institute Emergency COVID Relief Fund. — Isabella Johnson, Co-Founder of From the People
MEET THE TEAM
Chase McNiel, Co-Founder
- Previously, Chase graduated from Stanford with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2018. He started his career as a Mechanical Engineer for Applied Technology Associates in 2018. He founded From the People shortly after in April of 2020.
Isabella Johnson, Co-Founder
- Currently, Isabella is a Senior at Stanford University working towards a degree in management science and engineering. In May of 2020 she Co-Founded From The People.
THE START-UP SOCIETY ASSESSMENT
- Currently, B2C E-commerce is a $10B+ industry mainly dominated by well-known public companies such as Walmart and Amazon. However, there are many potential niche marketplaces that are successfully developing in areas like fashion, craft goods, luxury goods, auto, art, consumer electronics, and home goods, as well as used products of all kinds.
- A niche business is one that can grow unbothered by current incumbents. Specializing in the products of Indigenous Peoples has more benefits than enabling and uplifting the community of product makers. In accordance with The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, there are several guidelines and regulatory hoops one must jump through in order to legally sell goods that are related to Native American Heritage.
- A young e-commerce company with two ambitious founders looking to support their community and protected by regulation is ripe to gain traction and success as retail buyers look away from dominant incumbents for more unique and authentic products.
GO DEEPER
From The People marketplace offering virtual help to Native artists, vendors
Thank you for reading this article! Feel free to leave a comment, clap, and follow. Stay tuned for next week’s write-up, posted every Monday at 5 AM ET.
Authored by Arteen Zahiri and Rumeer Keshwani
