What would it look like if an individual’s economic wellbeing was not determined by the wealth that they were born into or the color of their skin? Learning from economic and financial solutions that prioritize access and inclusion, we’ll discuss how capital can be reparative for historically marginalized communities and why community-leaders are best positioned to lead us forward. Four global leaders will showcase innovative best practices, such as leveraging character-based lending as an alternative to credit scores and utilizing tools like built-in grant conversions in their lending activities. To heal the wounds of historic atrocities, we must shift capital, control, and power back to marginalized communities.
This session was curated in partnership with Common Future.
Funke is the Chief Data Officer at Hello Tractor where she focuses on using data to promote equitable access to mechanization services in Africa. She is a lawyer by training and holds a doctoral degree from Georgia Tech’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. Her research focused on understanding market opportunities for reducing post-harvest loss of maize among smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana. At Georgia Tech, Funke supported multidisciplinary research funded on issues ranging from financial inclusion, technologies and development, political economy, and international security.
Prior to Georgia Tech, Funke worked with the International Telecommunication Union Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on Information and Communication Technologies and Development. She also worked with the European Space Policy Institute in Vienna, Austria on evaluating European and African co-operation in space activities. At the International Labor Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, Funke worked on employment and transition to low-carbon economies.
Heather Fleming (Diné/Navajo) is the co-founder and Executive Director of Change Labs, an award-winning Navajo nonprofit supporting entrepreneurship and innovation on the Navajo Nation. Heather engages partners in and around the Navajo Nation to incubate, finance and train new and prospective Native American social entrepreneurs in an effort to diversify local economies and promote innovation.
The inspiration for Heather’s work to seed Native American social entrepreneurship was inspired by her upbringing in rural New Mexico and her work with Catapult Design, a company she co-founded in San Francisco and led for 10 years. Catapult is a product and service design firm with expertise in human-centered design for marginalized communities. Prior to starting Catapult, Heather was an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University and California Academy of the Arts, and worked as a design and innovation consultant in Silicon Valley, designing products and services for a diverse range of corporate clients. Early in her career she co-founded and led a volunteer group, the Appropriate Technology Design Team, focused on social impact design work through a professional chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) in San Francisco.
Heather was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow for her work with EWB and Catapult Design.
Ms. Y. Elaine Rasmussen is Founder/CEO of Social Impact Strategies Group (SISG) a Black/Native-led certified B-corp social enterprise.. SISG provides facilitation & consultation on social impact and racial equity; education workshops for investors & underestimated entrepreneurs, and produces the annual ConnectUP! MN Summit which promotes and grows inclusive and equitable entrepreneur ecosystems that drive positive, sustainable social impact grounded in economic justice. Rasmussen was named 2020 Finance and Commerce’s Top Women in Finance, AARP/Pollen’s 50 over 50, and is currently a Boston Impact Initiative (BII) Fund-Building fellow. Her overarching goal? To move billions of investment dollars in Black/Brown and rural communities. #MovingBillions #MoneyMoves
Brendan is the founder of The Working World and its President since 2004, when he and Avi Lewis traveled to Buenos Aires to present their idea to some Argentine friends. Initially involved in all aspects of the organization, he now focuses mostly on fundraising, marketing, and strategic planning. In 2015, Brendan helped to launch the Seed Commons network, which builds upon the successful model of The Working World.
