Multiple websites related to Shopify’s Equitable Commerce programs are no longer active following the recent departures of the company’s Equitable Commerce and Build Native leads, BetaKit has learned.
Pages for the Build Native with Shopify, Empowered by Shopify, and Social Impact programs are no longer live on Shopify’s site. The Internet Wayback Machine indexed archived versions of these pages as recently as Jan. 18.
The Build Native program provided resources and financial incentives for Indigenous-led companies to grow their e-commerce presence.
The Build Native program provided resources and financial incentives for Indigenous-led companies to grow their e-commerce presence. Its stated goal was to build a “global support system” for Indigenous entrepreneurs.
The program was established in June 2020 to provide Indigenous entrepreneurs with access to educational resources about e-commerce through an online platform. Shopify also provided financial support to Canadian partners such as Raven Indigenous Capital Partners and EntrepreNorth, as well as New Zealand-based organizations Te Whare Hukahuka and Rise2025.
Pow Wow Pitch, a pitch competition for Indigenous founders, was also a listed partner of the initiative. Shopify is still a Pow Wow Pitch sponsor, according to the organization’s website.
BetaKit has reached out to Raven Capital, EntrepreNorth, and Pow Wow Pitch for comment.
“We built something from the ground up”
The quiet shuttering of Build Native’s webpage comes alongside the departure of co-founder and program lead Kyle Brennan Shàwinipinesì. Multiple sources confirmed to BetaKit that the Head of Equitable Commerce, Brandon Davenport, is also no longer with the company.
In a Jan. 20 LinkedIn post, Shàwinipinesì wrote that last week “marked [his] final days at Shopify” and that he would be moving on from his role.
“With years of advocacy and the allyship of so many incredible people, we built something from the ground up—a mission rooted in creating opportunities for my community, helping others see their own worth, and empowering them to chase their dreams,” Shàwinipinesì wrote.
Several commenters praised Shàwinipinesì’s work on the Build Native program, with one former employee writing she was “sorry to hear Shopify is losing one of the best and brightest.”
Shopify has not responded to multiple requests for comment regarding the current status of its Build Native program or its Equitable Commerce team members.
Build Native was not the only Shopify program geared towards uplifting racialized entrepreneurs. In 2020, the company launched Build Black, a program for Black founders to gain access to resources and education to grow their businesses. That webpage was still active at publication time.
The initiative tied into Shopify’s $130-million pledge to help create an additional 1 million Black-owned businesses in the US by 2030 in partnership with non-profit Operation HOPE. One source familiar with the initiative speculated that 1MBB, and therefore Build Black, is still in operation due to this financial commitment.
In June 2020, Shopify also promised donations of $500,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, $250,000 to Black Health Alliance, and $250,000 to Campaign Zero, a non-profit that analyzes inequitable policing practices in the US.
Shopify’s Social Impact page and Empowered by Shopify, an employee-initiated directory of Black and Indigenous-owned businesses, were removed around the same time as Build Native.
Shopify’s slow shift away from DEI
Several of these programs were launched in 2020, following the police murder of George Floyd that sparked a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US. But as the political pendulum has swung the other way, a spate of large corporations have rolled back their DEI commitments, including giants such as Amazon, McDonald’s, Meta, and Walmart.
In recent years, tech leaders have followed suit, rejecting DEI and embracing “anti-woke” rhetoric. Some of the world’s most prominent tech CEOs stood beside US President Donald Trump at his inauguration before he issued a slew of anti-DEI executive orders. The timing of Shopify’s decision to shutter the Build Native program stands out in light of these political events.
The timing of Shopify’s decision to shutter the Build Native program days before Trump’s inauguration stands out.
But Shopify’s approach to workplace inclusion and the treatment of racialized employees has been subject to internal and external controversy for some time. Former employees revealed to Business Insider in 2021 that leadership shut down internal conversations surrounding a custom Slack emoji of a noose, which was seen as a symbol of lynchings by Black employees. Around the same time, CEO Tobi Lütke reshared a Shopify-made parody rap video that many employees internally decried as racially insensitive.
Externally, Shopify has continued to provide services to shops that advocates say promote hate, such as those run by Breitbart in 2017 and Libs of TikTok in 2022. As first reported by independent journalist Rachel Gilmore, Shopify is now powering conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ new online store. Jones was ordered in 2023 to pay $1.5 billion USD in damages after US courts found he intentionally defamed relatives of school children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting.
Gilmore also first reported in November 2024 that Shopify had quietly changed its Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to allow for hateful content.
The previous version of its AUP listed 10 categories of prohibited activities on Shopify platforms, including: child exploitation, harassment and threats, hateful content, illegal activities, intellectual property infringement, malicious and deceptive practices, uploading confidential information, self-harm, spam, and terrorist materials.
Under “hateful content,” Shopify clients were previously prohibited from promoting or condoning hate or violence “against people based on race, ethnicity, colour, national origin, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, medical condition, or veteran status.” The same applied to clients using Shopify’s platform that promote or support organizations doing the same.
Now, the page states a shorter message: “There are activities we don’t allow on the platform because they breach the social contract of commerce. This means you can’t call for, or threaten, violence against specific people or groups. And you can’t sell products that facilitate intentional self-harm.”
If you are a former or current Shopify employee and have information relevant to BetaKit’s reporting, please reach out on a non-work device at madison.mclauchlan@betakit.com or via Signal at @madisonmcla.12.
One former employee familiar with the Equitable Commerce team’s work told BetaKit that part of the reason they left the company was due to an environment of perceived racism and a lack of understanding. Multiple racialized employees BetaKit spoke with in the summer of 2021 noted discomfort with the direction the company was heading under its leadership. The employees pointed to current Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian as a catalyst for those changes, but also noted a fear of being found outside of the “mission-based” vision set by CEO Tobi Lütke.
Former employees BetaKit spoke to for this story referenced Nejatian’s public statements, which they characterized as “anti-Indigenous.” The Shopify COO has been an ardent defender of controversial Canadian historical figures, such as Sir John A. Macdonald, the country’s first prime minister who was also the architect of the residential school system.
Shopify’s board of directors ranked 204th out of 215 in The Globe and Mail’s 2024 evaluation of Canada’s largest companies for their board governance practices. Despite scoring well on the diverse makeup of its board of directors, the company scored zeroes according to the ranking criteria on policies to ensure the representation of women or other diverse members.
Disclosure: BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.
With files from Douglas Soltys. Feature image courtesy Shopify.