2023 Indigenous Communities Fellowship
Totem
Totem is creating a new tradition of Native wealth-building through digital banking.
Solution Pitch
The Problem
Native Americans are the largest group of unbanked people in the US when it comes to racial/demographic groups. They face systemic barriers to accessing financial services and seek opportunities to create belonging within the modern economy.
The Solution
Totem is the only digital bank by and for the Indigenous people. Totem partners with tribal governments and their enterprises to provide members with culturally relevant banking products, access to tribal benefits, and streamlined disbursements. It aims to be the first provider of indigenized banking and payments for tribes and their people.
Stats
250 lives are directly affected. This is the total number of accounts on Totem’s platform.
Market Opportunity
11.1 million Native American, Hawaiian, and Alaska Natives residing in the U.S.
Organization Highlights
Totem has entered into co-marketing partnerships with four Native American tribes. The tribes agree to help promote Totem's accounts and Totem shares a portion of its revenue with these tribes.
Partnership Goals
Totem seeks:
- Expertise to leverage artificial intelligence to refactor the code base and optimize engineering operations, with the goal to make DevOps more efficient and effective.
- Assistance with code reviews and optimization for the mobile app which uses Dart Language and Flutter framework.
- Advice on the development of a white-label offering that would enable Totem to provide custom versions of the app to tribal partners.
- Web-development expertise
- Assistance with developing a repeatable sales strategy and speeding up the sales cycle.
- Assistance in maintaining and growing the consumer-facing mobile app while developing the tribe-facing B2B offerings that are essential to the business model.
- Advice on how to effectively activate co-marketing opportunities and an assessment of its social media-focused acquisition strategy for customers who may not be closely tied to their tribes.
Organization Type:
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Headquarters:
Tulsa, United States
Stage:
Pilot
Working In:
United States
Current Employees:
5
Solution Website:
http://mytotem.app/
Solution Socials:
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
LinkedIn
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Amber Buker Founder and CEO, Totem
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