Akiptan (AH-KEEP-TAHN) is the Lakota word for together, in a joint effort, cooperatively.
Akiptan’s mission is to transform Native agriculture and food economies by delivering creative capital, leading paradigm changes, and enhancing producer prosperity across Indian Country.
Skya Ducheneaux grew up on a cattle ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in Eagle Butte, S.D. When Skya left home at 18 years old to pursue a business degree, she vowed she’d never be back. “I never wanted to work that hard again,” she says.
But she missed agriculture’s close-knit community and culture. After graduation, Skya returned home to work for the Intertribal Agriculture Council, where she was tasked with creating the first Native Community Development Financial Institution dedicated to serving Native agriculture producers across Indian Country. The driving question was “How do we make lending Indigenous?”
For Skya, Akiptan’s executive director, and her colleagues, the answer was a partnership that equally balances lender security and borrower prosperity, helping producers reinvest in themselves and grow their operations; they named the organization Akiptan, the Lakota word for together, in a joint effort, cooperatively.
In its first year, Akiptan distributed $1.8 million in loans; in 2023, Akiptan distributed $7 million.
“The demand for how we lend is astronomical–last year we received nearly $40 million in loan requests,” says Skya. “The sheer volume is tough to navigate, and our loan officers handle it amazingly well, from the technical assistance they offer to their innovation and ideas. They always come from a place of curiosity and a desire to help.”
Highlights from 2023 included breaking into new industries and going deeper into the food chain. Akiptan distributed loans to two fisheries and a pig operation, offered value-added services and increased the number of mortgages mostly in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Today Akiptan has reached 28 tribal nations, with $22.2 million in capital committed and 334 loans.
While loans are Akiptan’s “bread and butter,” the programmatic side of the organization took off in 2023, according to Skya. Akiptan offers webinars, financial literacy workbooks, and trainings around succession planning, tax preparation, “Indian Lands 101,” and more. The youth programs are also flourishing–in 2023, they added a Youth Agriculture Business Plan Competition with a $2,500 prize and encouraged partners to offer paid internships.
Now that Akiptan has fine-tuned making lending Indigenous, Skya and her team are asking, “How do we address generational poverty?” Solutions to big questions are often best answered at home, where Skya is happy to be.
What Partnership Can Look Like
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