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Functions for REI’s Navigate program at the moment are open to folks of shade that lead small however confirmed firms within the outside and journey segments.
Profitable candidates will obtain a $25,000 equity-free grant plus 16 weeks of devoted strategic steerage. They’ll additionally obtain sources to scale their small enterprise within the outside business.
Along with funding, the diversity-, equity-, and inclusion-geared program supplies leaders with bespoke mentorship, academic programming, and entry to REI’s operations, advertising, and expertise.
Why?
“It’s essential for entrepreneurs to belong to packages and communities that help them in each facet of their lives and companies,” stated Dr. Shakenna Williams. Williams advises Path Forward Ventures, REI’s DEI program that oversees initiatives like Navigate.
REI Navigate Program Standards
To be eligible for the Navigate program, candidates should meet the next standards:
- Run a U.S.-based firm that gives a product, service, or expertise that aligns with REI values, conjures up folks, and equips them of their outside lives
- That firm should fall inside the exercise or exterior classes – attire, footwear, gear, experiences, tech, providers, or client packaged items
- Document enterprise revenues of as much as $2 million
- Have at the very least one founder who’s Black, Indigenous, Latino/a/x, or Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), holds an energetic management place within the firm, and who acquired at the very least 20% founder’s fairness at preliminary incorporation
- Be 18 or older and a U.S. citizen or everlasting resident
From there, candidates are requested to speak their expertise, imaginative and prescient, and why they’re keen about what they do.
REI says that the appliance course of takes simply 20-25 minutes.
The applying deadline is Could 9, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PT. The Path Forward Ventures panel will choose 5 to seven founders of shade from the applicant pool, and the chosen purposes will probably be notified on June 24.
REI notes that the 16-week mentorship and strategic coaching program are a part of a predominately digital program. Nonetheless, it’ll kick off with an in-person occasion in Seattle on Aug. 1. There, Navigate founders will join with the Path Forward Ventures group and REI management.
Study extra in regards to the software course of and apply at rei.com/path-ahead/navigate.
Path Forward Ventures
The Navigate fairness grant is the second initiative to return out of REI’s nascent Path Forward Ventures program. It plans to take a position some $30 million in 300 leaders of small, minority-run companies. Moreover, this system is one step within the co-op’s current migration into DEI-focused philanthropy
To remain up on the brand new Navigate grant and different equity-based initiatives from the co-op, be part of the Path Forward Ventures mailing listing at rei.com/path-ahead.
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