- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Indigenous Entrepreneurs
A new slate of Native-led and Native-focused business ideas, attempting to tackle traditional problems with modern solutions, will receive financial, networking, and mentorship support through MIT Solve’s Indigenous Communities Fellowship.
The fellowship announced six new members into the Indigenous Communities Fellowship, which is itself part of the larger 2024 Solve cohort. Those Native American members and their solutions include:
- ʻĀinaQuest, led by Amy McKee (Kanaka ʻŌiwi), is a gameplay experience that uses art and stories to improve Native Hawaiians’ relationships with traditional plants and foods.
- Consultation Corral, led by Elise Blasingame (Osage Nation), utilizes machine learning and data to reinforce tribal positions during state and federal consultations.
- Renewable Rebirth, led by Saxon Metzger (Osage Nation), leverages modern recycling technology to reclaim decommissioned solar panels, including a cutting-edge recycling facility on Osage land.
- Yucayekeno Connect, led by Priscilla Bell Lamberty (Borikua Taino, Yucayeke Yaguecax), will create a digital portal for descendants of the Borikua Taino nation to enroll, connect, and celebrate their heritage.
- wâsikan kisewâtisiwin, led by Alix Reynolds (Metis), is an AI system aimed at monitoring and flagging hate speech against Indigenous people.
- Resilient Roots: Otoe-Missouria ThriveMap, led by Theresa Yellowbear Tsoodle (Wichita and Affiliated Tribes of Oklahoma), creates a series of interactive maps to both educate users and preserve Otoe-Missouria data and culture.
Each Native solutions project will receive a $10,000 grant directly from MIT Solve, per a press release from the organization. Two of the projects — ʻĀinaQuest and Renewable Rebirth — each received $25,000 in further support through the GM Prize grant, awarded by General Motors.
The MIT Solve program offers participants a nine-month support program to help scale their work and locate additional resources, investment, and education. Prior class members have included hydroponics development company Indigieponics and the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy (then Indigenized Energy Initiative), per prior Tribal Business News reporting.
