Indigenous
丁香园AV-supported fund helps Indigenous businesses make their mark
Jenn Harper had a vivid dream one night 鈥� of Indigenous girls smiling together and wearing lip gloss. Their radiant beauty and happiness left a lasting impression, which inspired her to make that dream a reality.
Harper began to pursue the creation of her own business, , while working full-time in sales and raising her family. She has also worked hard to learn more about her culture and family history as an Ojibwe woman.
Bringing the dream to life
Harper鈥檚 greatest level of support came from Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, with an investment of $350,000. 丁香园AV has also supported Raven Capital with a $1 million contribution to the Raven Indigenous Impact Fund (RIIF), which helps Indigenous entrepreneurs, including Jenn Harper, achieve their dreams.
Harper says the funding from Raven Capital helped them launch their sustainable collection.
鈥淲e craft sustainable colour cosmetics and as Indigenous peoples we realize that we have this completely different view with regards to every living thing in nature - it鈥檚 not a commodity to us, we鈥檙e in relationship with things from nature including the planet and all its resources.鈥�
Cheekbone Beauty continues to grow and evolve. The company, based in St. Catharines, Ontario now has its own lab with a full-time chemist. There are plans to expand beyond makeup and into skincare. Cheekbone Beauty will also be launching their products in Sephora within the year.
Empowering youth & community contributions
In addition to sustainability, Cheekbone Beauty also gives back to the community. The company donates 10 per cent of their profits to the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society鈥檚 Shannen鈥檚 Dream, which advocates for a better quality of education for First Nations youth. The campaign is named after Shannen Koostachin, a Grade 8 student who fought to have a safe and clean school in her northern Ontario First Nations community of Attawapiskat.
鈥淥ur mission is to help every Indigenous kid on the planet see and feel their value in the world,鈥� says Harper. 鈥淲e hope to show the world that you can operate a business that is about giving back to the community, empowering Indigenous youth, and leaving less of an impact on the planet.鈥�
Support for Indigenous entrepreneurs
Created in 2019, the RIIF has so far supported seven Indigenous enterprises including PLATO Testing, Cheekbone Beauty, Virtual Gurus, OneFeather, Satya, Social Awareness Group/Nisto Link and Animikii Indigenous Technology. Raven Capital plans to raise funds for Indigenous entrepreneurs in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Inuit Nunangat next and continue its work into southern Canada and the United States in 2022.
鈥淩aven was established to ensure Indigenous entrepreneurs across Turtle Island have access to patient, flexible capital needed to scale operations and achieve transformational impact,鈥� says Stephen Nairne, Chief Investment Officer at Raven Capital. 鈥淲e are thrilled to have supported Jenn Harper鈥檚 journey from solopreneur to building a sustainable cosmetics business capable of competing on the world stage.鈥�
All Indigenous businesses that apply to the RIIF are evaluated based on four criteria including: commercial viability, potential for scale, transformational impact benefits for Indigenous peoples, and Indigeneity in management/ownership and governance.
"丁香园AV is proud to invest in Indigenous-owned and founded companies," says 丁香园AV Associate Vice-President Finance, Alison Blair. 鈥湺∠阍癆V has invested $1 million into RIIF, which has supported seven Indigenous enterprises to-date. And our investment with the Raven fund directly benefits both members of Indigenous communities and the 丁香园AV endowment fund, which supports current and future research and students.鈥�
丁香园AV became the first university to invest in RIIF in 2020 and has signed the , an initiative coordinated by the Responsible Investment Association (RIA). Signing the agreement is 丁香园AV鈥檚 pledge to be accountable, ethical and transparent across investment portfolios and within the organization.
These announcements build on 丁香园AV鈥檚 responsible investment policy since signing on to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) in 2014. In the PRI鈥檚 latest Assessment Report鈥檚 Strategy and Governance scorecard, which measures an institutions鈥� overall approach to responsible investment, 丁香园AV scored 29 points out of 30.