COLUMBUS, Ind. — Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) announced Thursday a $5 million partnership investment with Boston-based Reinventure Capital, an impact fund that invests in U.S. based companies led and managed by people of color and/or women.
Co-founded and managed by expert impact investor, Edward Dugger, III, Reinventure provides its partners the opportunity to advance racial and gender equity through access to diversified portfolio companies while achieving competitive returns.
As a limited partner (LP), Cummins has joined the ranks of companies such as MassMutual, Bank of America, and others in contributing to a $50 million total fund to be leveraged over an approximate five-year period. An ideal collaboration, Reinventure aligns its services with organizations who believe in the value of diversity, equity and inclusion as an operational practice.
Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) was launched in 2020 to take decisive action in the work to address systemic discrimination against Blacks, and drive racial equity in the U.S. To accomplish this work, CARE brings together all of Cummins’ capabilities and resources to spearhead change in the communities where we operate, across four areas of focus: criminal justice reform, social justice reform, police reform and economic empowerment. As a focus area, CARE strives to create economic empowerment by building Black wealth and income. This has been accomplished solely through grant funding and loan programs to date, with CARE’s Economic Empowerment – Financial Investment team providing almost $5 million to Black-owned enterprises (BOEs) through strategic partnerships with community-based organizations and community development financial institutions (CDFIs). In looking ahead, the team, led by Akunor Azu, Director – CSSNA New Power and Gbile Adewunmi, Executive Director – Power Systems Strategy, began to consider its sustainability strategy and what that should look like beyond grants and loans. After considering various options, the team decided that private equity investing would be the path forward.
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
