Q&A with Allison Kelly of ICA
Impact Profile
Allison Kelly, CEO of ICA
The Impact Summit is coming up on April 30th, and we are virtually connecting with our community of founders, ecosystem builders and funders that have spent their careers building and investing in companies that are solving real problems and creating widespread social impact.
Allison Kelly, one of our Impact Summit speakers and CEO of ICA, is deeply committed to fighting economic inequality through innovation and out-of-the box partnerships at this community-based CDFI. We talked with her to share some insights from her more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and for-profit worlds.
What are some of the social and environmental challenges you are addressing through your work as an investor? (In essence, the themes of your fund, with any compelling statistics you would like to share that underscore the problem)
Wealth – and the opportunity to build it – is key to economic mobility. Yet, inequitable and discriminatory practices in education, employment, and the financial system have resulted in significant racial and gender wealth gaps: white households own 10X the wealth of African American families, and men own 3X the wealth of women. Here in the Bay Area, our booming economy is simultaneously creating vast wealth for some, while making it harder and harder for even middle-wage workers to afford to make ends meet, much less build wealth for long-term stability. ICA accelerates great businesses through mentorship and investments to close the racial and gender wealth gaps.
How large of an impact do you believe startups can have toward these challenges? Why is it important for investors and others in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to support them?
ICA believes that local entrepreneurs are agents of community change, and that capital is key to business growth and success. Our approach to accelerating local businesses is grounded in more than two decades of deep, place-based knowledge and experience - as well as the deep partnerships we have built to strengthen the local ecosystem of small business support. Since 1996, ICA has worked hands-on with over 600 diverse, high-potential local entrepreneurs to help them get the capital and expert advice they need to grow their businesses, build wealth, create good jobs, and drive economic activity in their communities. With ICA’s support, our community of companies has secured more than $300 million in investments, created 5,600 jobs, and paid more than $110 million in wages to employees in Oakland and the broader Bay Area.
Can you provide 1-2 examples of startups that are on the path to achieving meaningful social/environmental impact, along with high profitability?
Red Bay Coffee, an Oakland based craft-coffee company, was founded in 2014 by Keba Konte, a San Francisco native. Keba set out with a dual mission: to deliver “beautiful coffee to the people” and to serve as a vehicle for diversity, inclusion, and social and economic restoration in his unique East-Oakland community. His goal is to transform the nature of low-wage jobs and demonstrate inclusive hiring practices, with a focus on people of color, formerly incarcerated women, and people with disabilities. Keba’s vision is to create a lifestyle brand, where employees and customers reflect the diversity of the global coffee community. However, Keba’s path to entrepreneurship begins with under-capitalization: a burgeoning coffee company facing big obstacles to accessing the forms of capital best suited to help a unique product and brand grow.
Keba first came to ICA in 2014 to participate in workshops on growth strategies and preparing for investment. In 2015, ICA invested Red Bay Coffee … In 2018, ICA worked with Keba to convert our $100,000 equity into an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for Red Bay’s growing and diverse workforce. Last year, Red Bay Coffee ended its Series A round. ICA continues to work with Red Bay Coffee to support the company’s growing brand and story, as Keba seeks visibility on the national stage. Over the course of five years, ICA has built a partnership based on trust and transparency with Keba and Red Bay Coffee. This relationship – and Keba’s journey – provide a clear an example of the trust, time and transparency it takes for entrepreneurs to create lasting value for themselves and their employees.