what we do
The Sage
Initiative is specifically designed to build wealth and prosperity for Indigenous womxn and their families and communities by building the skills and capacity needed to make small to medium sized impact investments that have balanced social, environmental, and fiscal returns.
By focusing exclusively on investing in Indigenous-owned social purpose businesses, Indigenous wealth will stay in Indigenous communities and begin to form a “circular economy”.
The Design
The design of the Sage Initiative online learning curriculum is rooted in Indigenous epistemology and will include unique features such as Indigenous concepts of “Wealth”, an examination of traditional Indigenous systems of commerce and reciprocity (such as the potlatch system), and a focus on our trauma relationship with money.
- Provide trauma-informed impact investment literacy training that intertwines Indigenous commerce with hard investment skills
- Provides mentorship from folx who have been active in this field for years to emerging Indigenous investors
- Uses an intersectional lens and examine over-lapping identities such as Indigeneity, gender, age, and sexuality
- Interwoven curriculum with training around more technical investing skills and practices such as deal sourcing, conducting due diligence, and understanding risk and return options when making investment decisions
Money as Medicine
The Sage Initiative is an Indigenous innovation - It is designed to disrupt and displace the current paradigm that exists in the investment sector which is dominated by white males and by a capitalist value system which places profit above people and planet.
A key strategy in the colonization process, the residential school system, and the Indian Act, was to remove Indigenous Peoples from the land and displace Indigenous economies for the benefit of the settler population.
This initiative is designed to reverse that process and re-establish critically important leadership roles for Indigenous womxn within Indigenous economies. A transformative feature within the context of the investment sector is that the Sage Initiative puts Indigenous womxn squarely in the driver’s seat and provides them with the skills and pathways to become impact investors while at the same time honoring Indigenous ways of knowing and being.
Meet Sage
Hadih Sage Lacerte Sahdnee.
Loretta Madam S`loo, Paul Lacerte S`ba. Tebee Snaychalya Lekwungen keloh. Sigh gunna Lushiboo injanyinkak dene.
Sage Lacerte is Carrier from the Lake Babine Nation and has served as the Founder and CEO of the Sage Initiative since 2019.
Between 2018-2021, Sage has served as the National Youth Ambassador of the Moose Hide Campaign – a grass roots movement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous men and boys that works to end violence against women and children in Canada, with a particular focus on post-secondary initiatives.
Sage holds a degree from the University of Victoria in Gender Studies and has been informed by Indigenous knowledge from all her relations across Turtle Island and beyond. This year she became certified as a BIPOC birthworker and doula.
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Thank you to Indigenous Innovation Institute for supporting the Sage Initiative.
