Red Lake Inc.

In our Ojibwe language we have no words for “goodbye” rather we say “see you later”. We had the pleasure of celebrating Jaycob Robinson last Friday with our fishery staff on his last day as Chief Development Officer at Red Lake Inc. We celebrated all of the contributions that he has brought to Red Lake Inc and our portfolio of businesses. Jake joined the Fishery team in 2019 as the General Manager and completely transformed the business. Through his leadership he was able to build a dedicated team that was able to enter new markets, expand current markets, increase productivity, and transform the workplace culture. When Jake joined our corporate team as the Chief Development Officer he sought new industries for development and investment opportunities that aligned with the current operations and core competencies of Red Lake Inc and our portfolio of businesses. Jake’s work has taken him all over the world on our behalf, brought our products to new countries and markets, and created opportunities for innovative partnerships. We wish Jake the very best in his next journey. Miigwech (thank you) Jake for everything you have done to elevate our businesses and our team.

Last month, the Treasurer, Chief Lynn Malerba announced $65 million more in Tribal State Small Business Credit Initiative awards through the U.S. Department of the Treasury. This funding will enable Tribes to support small business financing programs that are customized to the needs of diverse Tribal Nations. The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians will provide credit support for Tribal-owned and member-owned construction companies to obtain surety bonds. Some Tribes will be working with Native financial institutions, like the Oneida Nation which will be partnering with Bay Bank, a Native CDFI, to operate a loan participation program for Tribal member businesses in the service industry. Other Tribes are focused on developing new industries such as Saint Paul Island which will operate an equity/venture capital program to support a new Tribal business focused on federal contracting opportunities on its remote Alaska island. To date, $330 million in SSBCI Tribal funding has been approved to 93 Tribes. Thank you to our Tribal partners and the SSBCI program team for their collective hard work. To read more about recent approved projects, see Treasury’s press release: https://lnkd.in/euwzttRa #ARPA #TreasuryTribal #SSBCI

We are extremely honored to be featuring our Minnesota Grown Wild Rice and Wild Rice products such as our Wild Rice Pancake Mix and Wild Rice Flour at the upcoming first ever USDA Indigenous Focuses Trade Mission in Vancouver. Miigwech (“thank you”) USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) for creating opportunities for Indigenous producers to bring their products to global markets.