What do you do if your very identity effectively shuts the door on many types of capital as an entrepreneur?

How do you get capital for your venture if even the nearest ATM is an hour away?

And what can one determined entrepreneur accomplish when all other options simply don’t exist for her, or even her entire community?

In this episode, Vanessa Roanhorse, capital innovator, and founder of Roanhorse Consulting, shares eye-opening challenges that Native American women entrepreneurs face in getting capital, the invisible walls that keep Native American women from getting traditional credit financing, her own story of driving breakthrough capital innovations, and much more.

Episode Highlights:

1. Why the traditional financial system doesn't work for women entrepreneurs
2. The hidden problems with the "5C's" framework of assessing credit risk
3. The unique issues Native American women entrepreneurs face in raising capital, and why it matters
4. Why "lending deserts" exist despite the prevalence of small business lending programs from traditional banking institutions
5. How to develop a realistic risk assessment framework that's equitable to all entrepreneurs
6. The "5R" risk assessment framework and why it works
7. An inspiring case study of grassroots capital innovation
8. How mainstream finance can participate fruitfully in capital innovation for disadvantaged entrepreneurs
9. Why capital and ecosystem have to align to work
10. A working model to scale capital access and innovation for underfunded women entrepreneurs