News — entrepreneurship

Coviello Salinès’ father, Freddie Francisco Salinès, introduced him to cooking and winemaking at a young age although his dad wanted him to become a neurosurgeon.

“He wanted me to be like the early Ben Carson, so he would bring home large brain books for me to study,” Coviello told Soul Vision Magazine. “They were 1,000 pages long, breaking down analysis and all this different stuff with him,” according to Travel Noire.

Coviello’s parents migrated to Southern Bronx from the Caribbean. His father was a serviceman while his mother was a nurse. Cooking was his father’s big hobby and he would often pair different wines and beers and things that match with the food that he made, Coviello recalled.

After completing a university in Ohio where he studied biochemistry and minored in petroleum engineering, Coviello worked in the engineering field for a while before he was discouraged from the field by the wide-scale land destruction, racism, and nepotism.

It was at this point that he decided to venture into winemaking, after all, he had been introduced to it in his formative years when his father was alive. He traveled to Geneva to meet his friends. While in Geneva, he learned about the unethical practice of wine coloring. Coviello got to work on a scientific blueprint.

“I started writing out the formula of not only the derivative of grape skins but the anthocyanin compound that is in multiple fruits and vegetables,” he told TravelNoitre. “I also wrote the analysis of spectrum when it came down to the acidic to pH scalability of these different types of skins that allowed the molecular breakdown of that compound to sustain another color.” 

“So at that point, I started researching it, I figured out a formula that I was comfortable with, and I brought it to a few of the researchers and a few of the people that I was close with. And we started to find different areas that we can start sourcing these products,” he said.

He also traveled to Italy, known for producing some of the finest wines in the world, to learn more about preparing wine. He finally managed to come out with a product he so desired.

“It broke down every single avenue of the color spectrum of blue,” he said of the final result. “So when you look at the bottle, it has every single hue of blue attached to it, which I wanted to achieve but I didn’t think it was possible.”

After successful trials, he launched Amour Genève, the world’s first FDA, TTB, and EU-approved natural blue. His blue wine is now making waves in several countries, including the United States. “People are loving it. They’re loving the story. They’re loving the journey and the shape of the business. It’s just, it’s just all beautiful.”

Also, the wine is linked to his father as the wine’s trademark color of blue is his late dad’s favorite color.

By age 19, Moses Shepherd was working at Sunoco gas station in Detroit and eventually became a manager. While at Sunoco, he ran eight stores and made all of them profitable. Although his work was draining, for Shepherd, it was an opportunity to learn as much as possible.

“I worked 12 hours a day, six days a week for a salary of $375. But it really wasn’t the money at all, it was about what they taught me, so eventually, I could write my own paycheck,” he told Chains Detriot Business.

After nearly four years at Sunoco, Moses left to start a music distribution company where he supplied music to gas stations across Detroit and later, countrywide.

His business became profitable and he decided to expand it. “I had three record stores — one in Pontiac, one in Detroit, and one in Inkster. So, as the market turned, I decided to shutter the stores, and I had an idea to start selling music and electronics to prison inmates,” he said.

He started selling music to one prison in 1996 and by the year 2000, he was supplying 3,500 prisons across the country. “This was the product that I had manufactured in China and shipped over here. And they were transparent, so the inmate couldn’t hide any contraband,” he said.

Everything was going on well for Moses until he became vindictive. Wanting to put an ‘enemy’ out of business, he withheld investment in his profitable prison business and got back into the rack distribution business. “So it goes to show where my mindset was, right,” he said. “And when I did that, I went out of business. It was a flop. So, I lost that business, and I lost the prison distribution business.”

Shepherd lost almost everything he had labored for and he barely could afford anything. He started reading real estate books but couldn’t buy the books, so he had to sit in the bookstore and read them.

His credit was however marginal enough to be able to buy a house and fix it up. “…My books told me that I can buy this house for $50,000. My book said (list) the house for $65,000, and I can pull $15,000 back at the closing.”

With time, he started buying more houses and ended up with a couple of hundred houses over in between the University District, Bagley, and Grandmont-Rosedale Park. He had so many houses that he actually controlled what the rents were, he said. By 2008, he had started buying the entire neighborhood.

After making it big in the real estate sector, Shepherd decided to invest in the fuel business. He launched Ace Petroleum in 2017, starting one of the nation’s largest minority-owned fuel suppliers. In 2020, ACE Petroleum obtained a $27 million contract with Detroit to supply fuel services for the city’s police cars, emergency medical vehicles, fire trucks, buses, and other transportation units. It is a contract for five years.

The stories of refugees pursuing economic ventures to contribute to the growth of their host country are replete in the literature. However, because of their status as refugees, their success stories are often not given attention in the media. In cases where stories of refugees are reported, they are often about their involvement in crimes and other social vices.

Despite the seeming lack of growing interest in the economic persuasion of refugees which leads to job creation, some of their success stories have attracted the world’s attention. One of such is Kanyi Maqubela, who migrated to the US with his family as refugees from South Africa.

The US remains one of the favorite destinations of refugees worldwide partly due to their refugee policies and their respect for human rights, although those were nearly wiped out during the Trump administration.

Kanyi arrived in the US at the height of the apartheid regime in South Africa. After living in debilitating conditions in his own country, he and his family felt migrating to the US will pay off for them. And as faith would have it, Kanyi has become a successful entrepreneur in the US and his parents got employed.

Kanyi co-founded Kindred Ventures with Steve Jang after successfully raising $56 million. Kindred Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital fund based in San Francisco, California. According to Shoppe Black, Kindred Ventures has invested in over 40 companies located in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. Previous Kindred Ventures investments count companies like Uber, Coinbase, and Virgin Hyperloop One.

Also, Kanyi recently raised $100 million in capital commitments from a mix of major university endowments, foundations, fund-of-funds, and strategic investors, according to Techcrunch.

Kanyi and Jang have served as founders, early employees, and advisors in several pioneering technology startups. Kanyi also served as a Partner at Collaborative Fund, where he was an early advisor to Tala and Walker & Co., and a board member at Buffer, Camino Financial, Spruce, and True Link, a post on Kindred Ventures’ website said.

In addition to co-founding Kindred Ventures, the Soweto born is also a co-founder of Heartbeat Health, a telehealth platform for cardiology that incorporates telemedicine, remote diagnostics, and digital heart health programs.

Indeed, Kanyi prides himself on founding the only virtual heart health app with video visits and at-home diagnostics. The app now has over 20,000 patients or subscribers as per its figures in 2019.

Despite making it in the US, Kanyi and his family’s story ‘in the land of freedom’ was not all rosy. They lived in a homeless shelter and were on food stamps until his mother got a job as an ESL teacher at Fashion Institute of Technology, and his father got a job as a cashier and coat checker at the Museum of Natural History, according to Shoppe Black.

Today, both parents are not only gainfully employed, but they are both accomplished educators while Kanyi did undergraduate and graduate studies at Stanford University, where he majored in Philosophy, and studied among others computer science, chemistry, physics, and mathematics.

He taught elementary and middle school math and science and claimed to have worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign team. “I really enjoyed being on the teaching team for Design Your Life, a class for undergraduates out of the Stanford Design Program,” he says on his website.

“We’re over-mentored and under-capitalized,” the venture capitalist told Bloomberg on why Black businesses need investment than activism. “I believe there’s an opportunity to use the acute national attention to catalyze structural change but it doesn’t happen on its own.”

There is nothing more rewarding and inspiring than to see women of color set new standards and trends through entrepreneurship. African American women were among the fastest-growing groups launching and owning new businesses according to Forbes. Tenisha Williams, CEO of Elite Realty Partners, is no exception. She has established and grown the largest Black woman-owned real estate brokerage firm in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale (South Florida) area—breaking $100 million in sales in just over two years.

While this is an impressive milestone, Williams and her Elite team show no signs of slowing down but are staying focused by remaining positioned and purpose-driven to help more individuals and families achieve their goals of homeownership and real estate acquisition. Currently, there are 140 agents with virtually no marketing efforts. Much like Chick-fil-a customers, agents keep on pouring in—what a wonderful problem to have.

Williams, a former county worker, knew from the onset that she was not there to stay. While fellow employees were content with great benefits and the future hopes of retirement, her sights were set on higher aspirations. In 2017, during a mother-daughter trip to St. Lucia, she was settled after speaking with her husband that she was not returning to work. She was convinced that she found her purpose through the love of real estate, and she had made her first six figures working part-time.

When asked to what she attributed the accelerated growth of Elite Realty, Williams credited it to her faith and favor from God. She was determined to put in the work and remain faithful. Although she manages a large team, there is a culture of family where no agent is an island. The benefits are the friendships that have been established, the collaboration of agents, the joys of winning together, and the willingness of helping one another succeed.

Williams says that she is more than a CEO, but a coach at heart that pours into her team keeping them pumped and empowered to crush their goals. Her passion to help and develop other agents are innate. However, the ability to manage so many personalities synergistically was initially a struggle. As a former correctional officer and teenage mom, her strong personality seemed curt at times. She quickly learned to master the right delivery in communication and messaging without hurting or offending others in the process.

“The pressure is unimaginable. Sometimes I cannot sleep at night because my brain will not stop thinking of ways I can add more value to my team,” Williams says of the pressure of running a top brokerage firm in South Florida. “I truly am invested in their careers, so I take the responsibility seriously. This is not a task for the weak at heart.”

Of course, striking a delicate balance between work and family is vital, so self-care is a must and Sundays are exclusively reserved for family.

Elite Realty Partners is also considered a ministry (serving the needs of others) to many agents and customers. There has been an overabundance of customers and agents breaking through various hardships and setbacks, bouncing back to victory with the help of the brokerage. For example, some agents did not sell one house at their former brokerage, and after coming on board with Elite, they become top producers selling millions in real estate.

“Some agents come through the doors timid and withdrawn, then evolve into bold and assertive real estate warriors. It is beyond amazing to witness,” she says.

As the head of the largest Black woman-owned brokerage firm in her area, Williams remains humble, grateful, and thankful to the Lord for being chosen and entrusted with such a huge role. Her mission is to change the narrative and diversify the faces in real estate throughout the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area. She and her team are always ready to do the work and reap the rewards that lie in the days ahead.

Most kids like to enjoy a bowl of cereal in the morning for breakfast. For one Black male entrepreneur, his love of the treat inspired him to develop his own brand of cereal dedicated to offering more representation of Black culture for youth.

Connecticut-based Nic King is the owner of Proud Puff Cereal, a vegan-friendly cereal featuring characters representing various aspects of African American culture. He came up with the idea in the middle of the night and said the idea behind the box design was to offer a positive representation of a Black family and household with his characters.

“I was sitting up in my bed and pulled out my phone and started scrolling in my phone seeing all these scenes from Minneapolis. And seeing a lot of companies talking about their initiatives involving Black creatives and going forward to help out the Black community,” King said in an interview with The Darien (CT) Times. 

 “The whole box has meaning, from the characters to a two-parent Black household, to the positive affirmations on the back of the box, as well as the facts on the side about iconic Black legends that helped shape our culture”

King revealed on his Instagram page that he has already received 1,000 pre-orders for his cereal and shared the company’s progress toward mass production. This brings the total to 4,000 since the new year began. He explained that he is looking for a larger crowdfunding platform to raise funds to grow his products and capital to produce large quantities for customers.

“In today’s climate, I believe a product like this is so important. We’ve been dealing with blatant racism, why Black Lives Matter Too, Diversity Inclusion, Systemic racism and so much more,” King writes on his website. “This cereal isn’t only for black people but rather it is a cereal owned by a black man. This is a cereal any and all families can enjoy as they start their morning on a journey to having a great day.”

South African-born entrepreneur Elon Musk has seen his fortune rise to $195 billion, making him the richest man on earth, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Until Thursday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was the richest man in the world with a net worth of $185 billion.

The Space X and Tesla founder was pushed to the top spot after shares in Tesla rose by more than 6 percent on Thursday. Since the start of 2020, Tesla’s capitalization has grown from $80 billion in January 2020 to just over $760 billion as of Thursday, according to NBC News, while his personal fortune rose by more than $150 billion last year.

The new evaluation is more than eight times the combined values of the traditional “Big Three” U.S. automakers — GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, NBC added.

“How strange,” Musk tweeted Thursday. “Well, back to work …”

“Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to the top of the rich list in history — and is a dramatic financial turnaround for the famed entrepreneur, who just 18 months ago was in the headlines for Tesla’s rapid cash burn and his personal leverage against the company’s stock,” CNBC wrote. “Tesla’s rocketing share price — which has increased more than ninefold over the past year — along with his generous pay package have added more than $150 billion to his net worth.”

Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion and was not among the top 50 richest list. However, he passed Warren Buffett to become the seventh-richest person in July. He gained more wealth than Bill Gates to become the second-richest person in November and has since gained more wealth over the past 12 months than Gates’ entire net worth of $132 billion, according to CNBC.

While Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index ranks Musk as the richest man in the world, Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires lists Bezos ahead of him. Bezos tops Forbes’ list with $184 billion while Musk comes in second with $177.2 billion.

However, according to CNBC, Forbes evaluation did not include the value of Musk’s options, which he received as part of his pay package, to buy more than 33 million shares of Tesla.

Last year, Musk’s Space X launched two crewed missions to the International Space Station, the first of it in the U.S. since NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011, according to space.com. In all, Space X launched 26 missions in 2020.

Dwight Neptune was studying electrical engineering when he picked up drone making as a hobby in high school. Little did he realize that his hobby would morph into establishing a drone company at the age of 18.

He is now the CEO of a drone startup, Beagle Drones. “I wanted to build something that people enjoy and saw FPV as the entryway to building really cool tech products,” he told CNBC.

Together with his friends, Neptune created a prototype of FPV drone off-the-shelf parts. They later sold it in May 2017 to test the market. It worked for him and his colleagues and that was how he created Beagle Drones.

He later dropped out of Mercer County Community College to work as full-time CEO of Beagle Drones. In October 2020, the company said it was on track to make $100,000 in sales that year. According to Neptune, he is working to raise $1 million at a $4 million valuation.

Neptune is envisaging some challenges in terms of raising funds to finance the company’s operation. His fear is well-grounded as multiple publications have pointed out the difficulties Black founders encounter in raising venture capital.

According to Harvard Business Review, Black founders received less than 1 percent of venture capital. Also, 81% of venture capital funds have no Black investors while 70% of VCs are White and only 3% are Black. 

“I’ve been with several VCs, angel funds, and nine times out of 10, I’m the only Black founder there,” Neptune told CNBC. “Our team is extremely diverse by default because our C-suite and our founding team is diverse, and it just attracts other people that want to work with a diverse group.”

Neptune dreams of becoming one of the household names in the tech space and one of the first Black founders to pull off a billion-dollar tech company. On its website, Beagle says it operates on the concept: “A one-stop shop for beginners to experience drone racing.” “It’s easy,” it says, adding: “We do all the hard work, so you don’t have to.” 

The New Jersey-based company which sells two different drones — priced at $130 and $400 — released its third drone, NOVA, on Kickstarter last November. NOVA is described as “a ready-to-fly, FPV drone equipped with a built-in 4k camera and lightweight cyberpunk shell design.” Its lightweight design makes it ideal for travel and for both indoor and outdoor flight.

The coronavirus pandemic not only disproportionally affected Black-owned businesses, but it has also delayed the opening of many companies led by Black people.

In the midst of all the uncertainties in the business world, particularly over concerns whether existing and new businesses could make a profit, three Kentucky brothers have defied all odds in a pandemic era to roll out their own distillery.

Known as Brough Brothers Distillery, it is the first and only Black-owned distillery in the state of Kentucky. It was founded by brothers Victor, Bryson, and Christian Yarbrough who were born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Their ambition was fueled by their desire to operate a Black-led distillery in a sector that has been widely dominated by Whites. Their distillery will provide job opportunities and economic growth for the community of Park Hill, a historically underserved area of Louisville’s West End, according to a press release announcing the commencement of operation of Brough Brothers Distillery.

“Brough Brothers has an opportunity to not only provide employment opportunities for our local community but also design an experience for locals and tourists in the heart of one of Kentucky’s cultural hubs,” Brough Brothers CEO Victor Yarbrough said. “At a time in history when there is much attention on Louisville, we are excited to represent positive change and hope for and on behalf of our city.”

Currently, Chris and Bryson serve as the company’s chief marketing officer and chief operating officer, respectively.

The Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau first approved Brough Brothers Distillery in August 2018 and was recognized by Kentucky’s Senate as the state’s first African American-owned distillery in August 2020. It was subsequently approved by the Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in September.

Meanwhile, its bourbon shop will be open for business to bourbon enthusiasts by appointment only in spring 2021. So far, customers have praised the product for being one of the smoothest on the market.

“I hope people are able to come to the West End and see a rose in the concrete, and are able to see there’s beauty there, there’s people willing to improve the community there, and we would like to see other businesses come in, as well as tourists and other supporters, to not just support our business, but surrounding businesses in the area,” CEO Yarbrough said in an interview.

Brough Brothers currently has major distribution partnerships in five states, including KY, FL, TN, IN, and CO. It will expand its distribution to another 20 states in early 2021, the release said.

The world of work can sometimes be vulnerable to shocks and global events leading to job cuts or losses. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the revenues of many companies, resulting in job cuts and dismissals.

Before the pandemic, hiring and firing was a normal occurrence in the world of work. Many adapted, nonetheless. Others found jobs elsewhere while others decided to open their own firm or become their own boss.

Such is the story of Patrick Glanville, who is very skilled in making chocolate. After years of going through the horrific experience of being dismissed, rehired and fired again, he felt he had had enough and wanted to be his own boss.

Glanville launched his own chocolate company, 3 Some chocolate, a chocolate brand that combines 3 flavors into 1, and offers it in a pack of 3. The company was created by his desire to utilize his skills as an artist and culinary artist, according to Blackbusiness.

Since he established the company in 2017 with his partner, Kristin Parker-Glanville, it has recorded more than 400,000 units sold with over 75, 000 customers dotted across the United States and beyond. It recently saw a spike in online sales, making over $130,000 in less than a month.

Born and raised in Southside Jamaica, Queens, Glanville learned the art of chocolate making from his grandmother at the age of 10. He became a certified chocolatier after studying at the Barry Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Lebbeke, Belgium alongside his partner, Kristin.

Kristin, born in Lower East Side of Manhattan, doubles as the CFO/Co-CEO of 3 Some Chocolates. She also has a background in business administration, operations and finance. Her job includes working to protect the company’s brand.

With his background in graphic design, management, and sales, Glanville created the design of the products as well as the website and recipes while being in charge of marketing.

Just like many Black startups, securing funds to expand the business is often difficult. According to the Harvard Business Review, Black founders receive less than 1 percent of venture capital. Black women founders represent less than 0.2% of companies that receive such funding. Also, 81% of venture capital fund have no Black investors while 70% of VCs are White and only 3% are Black.

To overcome funding challenges, Glanville and his partner launched a CrowdFunding campaign where many investors have come on board to join their chocolate journey. Glanville has, as of Saturday, raised $301,236 on Wefunder. 

Did you know that by the end of this year, more than 50 million people could experience food insecurity, according to Feeding America, the country’s largest hunger-relief organization? That’s one in six Americans and one in four children — nearly a 50 percent increase from 2019.

Giving in various capacities happens all year long, but there is something extra special about the holiday season. One thing about it, there is always a need that can be fulfilled in our communities.

Houston’s own FOREX mogul and network marketer, David Imonitie, along with his team of supporters, fed 1,000 families through his I Believe Foundation. Last week, they hosted a Turkey and Food Giveaway at Faith International Church and provided free meals, food, gifts, music, and loads of family fun.

The I Believe Foundation was established in 2013 and was created to facilitate transformative thinking for youth and young adults by enhancing their belief system. Belief is the bridge between where you are right now, and where you desire to be, says Imonitie. At the heart of the nonprofit is the notion that individuals can change their lives and current status with a positive outcome by raising awareness and creating belief in something greater than themselves.

The foundation’s signature event is its annual “Magic of Believing” gala that celebrates accomplishments and milestones while raising funds for the next year’s work and initiatives across the globe. The gala will take place on Jan. 10 in Houston and will be a magical night of giving and receiving. The foundation will support humanitarian efforts and global initiatives such as SARS in Africa; in addition it will provide grants and awards to other nonprofit organizations, 501(c)3 entities, churches, and ministries.

I Believe in Change is one of the foundation’s initiatives that increases awareness and currently is challenging others to make a change by impacting the community and tackling such issues as:

• Feeding the community
• Providing COVID-19 testing for those who can’t get access
• Engaging in police reform to institute change
• Providing youth education and literacy
• Offering healthcare in urban communities

Here’s a thought-provoking statistic: A whopping $290 billion would be created in Black wealth if the revenue gap between what Black-owned and white-owned businesses generate were equal.

That discovery came from building supportive ecosystems for Black-owned U.S. businesses, a fresh report from management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. reveals. The research showcases the hurdle Black entrepreneurs face and provides answers that the public, private, and social sectors can implement for equitable and positive business outcomes.

The report notes the right business ecosystems can mitigate or negate the effects of structural obstacles to the business building for Black business owners, adding $290 billion in business equity. The report released in late October found entrepreneurship and business ownership — particularly of community-based businesses— are crucial ways to develop community wealth for both business owners and their employees. Further, healthy Black-owned businesses could be an essential way for closing America’s racial wealth gap, which is projected to cost the economy $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion annually by 2028.

The COVID-19 crisis has further stressed Black-owned businesses and threatens to widen the racial wealth gap. This gap includes a $200 billion revenue opportunity that Black business owners are missing out on if they were to achieve revenue parity with white-owned businesses, translating to lost wealth and up to 850,000 jobs through 2021 due to increased liquidity constraints.

Asked what were among the report’s most stunning findings, McKinsey associate partner John-Paul Julien said “our report states that while nearly 20 percent of the 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. are owned by Black women, Black women experience significant economic and institutional barriers due to their race and gender.” For example, Black women are disproportionately shut out of venture capital funding, which can rapidly fuel business growth. Women of color receive less than 0.2 percent of VC funding, and at 4 percent of funded U.S. start-ups, Black women founders are underrepresented and underfunded. Indeed, the average Black woman-led start-up that received funding raised only $42,000.

The McKinsey report also offered some potential solutions to help create more economic parity for Black-owned businesses:

Apply policies that produce equitable outcomes

The public, private, and social sectors can help remove institutional barriers for Black-owned businesses and ensure laws, policies, and practices produce equitable opportunities and outcomes. For instance, procurement practices, especially at anchor institutions and large organizations, can evolve to be more inclusive of Black-owned businesses. Along with dedicating funds to procurement from Black-owned businesses, large organizations could simplify their minority-supplier certification processes to add new suppliers more quickly and dedicate funding to supplier-development programs that can help Black-owned suppliers better participate in supply chains.

Provide equitable access to capital

To help overcome economic barriers, Black-owned small businesses (SMBs) need direct investment or equity contributions, including grants, subsidies, loans, and revenue-participation agreements. Direct investment is especially key during COVID-19. McKinsey’s analysis suggests that an additional $7.6 billion to $15.4 billion in liquidity for Black-owned SMBs in the 2020-21 time frame — less than 3 percent of the $659 billion authorized under the Paycheck Protection Program — could preserve 460,000 to 815,000 jobs, for an average of $9,325 to $33,478 per job. Funding sources are also needed for Black entrepreneurs starting up or expanding. Banks, conventional and social impact investors, foundations, and public programs could make more capital available to Black-owned businesses. Possible programs include ones that make extending capital to Black-owned businesses less risky through measures such as guaranteeing funds and programs that help entrepreneurs from marginalized backgrounds acquire more capabilities.

Build business capabilities and facilitate knowledge sharing

To conquer market barriers, Black-owned SMBs need support for building capabilities and sharing a greater amount of knowledge. The private and social sectors — particularly anchor institutions — could provide resources. That could include offering help with reskilling and upskilling Black-owned businesses’ workers to make Black-owned SMBs nimbler. Many Black-owned businesses lack the resources to hire service providers that can help them digitize their businesses, but private-sector and social-sector organizations can provide free technology services and managerial assistance.

Expand opportunities for mentorship and sponsorship

Representation and participation in networking, mentorship, and sponsorship programs can help Black entrepreneurs overcome some sociocultural barriers. Private companies should take the lead by building more inclusive teams. Further, managers at every level should consciously develop — and sponsor the careers of — more Black leaders to counteract the effects of structural bias. Indeed, only about 3 percent of current Fortune 100 company CEOs are Black, and fewer than 4 percent of those oversee departments’ profit and loss functions. Those that tend to accelerate career progression for Blacks. Moreover, unconscious bias can affect mentorship and sponsorship, because humans tend to gravitate toward mentoring people they view as similar to themselves.

Community programs can help Black entrepreneurs connect with role models and commercial networks that can help Black prospective entrepreneurs pursue business ownership with more confidence and support. For instance, the private and social sectors could facilitate networking and partnerships between established businesses and compatible start-ups.

An investment in more business ecosystems that provide Black business owners equitable access to resources and opportunities can unlock part of the $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion in annual GDP that would come from closing the racial wealth gap, the report surmises. It adds, more importantly, by making social and economic institutions supportive of a wider swath of people, stakeholders can rectify the mistrust that has developed between Black entrepreneurs and institutions.

William Michael Cunningham, an economist who runs Creative Investment Research, had mixed reactions to some of the findings in the McKinsey report. He told via email a statement in the report that “Black Americans have never had an equal ability to reap the benefits of business ownership” is correct. But Cunningham maintains that Black businesses have continued to survive and innovate in what must be considered one of the most hostile environments for Black people on earth.

“The system of white supremacy that relies on the theft of resources from Black people has severed to limit the ability of Black business owners to fully reap the benefit from their labors.”

Cunningham added the report errs in several ways. For example, he says, Black-owned businesses don’t earn lower revenues and are overrepresented in low-growth, low-revenue industries such as food service and accommodations because they want to perform poorly.

“A reluctance to use Black-owned firms outside of these industries leads to overrepresentation,” Cunningham says. “They are limited to those fields. One policy prescription is to put into place a set of government policies to eliminate these barriers.”

Black business owners will get a hefty $20 million venture capital funding commitment courtesy of Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures.

The venture capital arm of Milwaukee-based life insurance and financial services giant Northwestern Mutual will invest the money in startup companies founded by Black entrepreneurs. Plans also call for the launch of the Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator, a new startup accelerator powered by nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor.

The company reports the new initiatives are part of its ongoing commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion and driving equity through innovation.  On the venture capital front, the funding is needed. Northwestern Mutual reports Black founders receive less than one percent of venture capital funding annually. It added Northwestern Mutual and gener8tor are committed to investing in and supporting Black entrepreneurs to help close this funding gap and advance their companies.

“At Northwestern Mutual we’re dedicated to supporting and promoting diversity not just within our company, but within our communities and the businesses we partner with nationwide,” John Grogan, chief product and innovation officer, Northwestern Mutual stated in a news release. 

“Allocating $20 million is only the beginning – we will continue to invest in and provide opportunities for Black founders and are committed to providing access to capital and resources to help them grow their businesses.”

Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures claims it is focused on advancing the company’s investment strategy of engaging startups whose technologies have the potential to transform how people experience financial security. It declares investment criteria for the $20 million Black founder funding allocation is aligned with the fund’s key strategic areas of focus:

• Building for consumers’ changing financial preferences
• Reimagining the client experience
• The digital health revolution
• Transformational analytics and technologies

“Innovative thinking is required to drive breakthrough solutions to close the racial equity gap, and by supporting Black founders through Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures and the new accelerator program in partnership with gener8tor, we can make a difference to close this funding gap,” stated Abim Kolawole, vice president, digital innovation, Northwestern Mutual. “Our company’s Sustained Action for Racial Equity task force, which launched earlier this year, is looking at racism and inequality from every perspective. These initiatives will drive change and create impact within our company and communities.”

Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.

Further, The Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator is gener8tor’s first accelerator exclusively focused on advancing Black founders. The 12-week accelerator will run up to two cohorts of five companies a year and startups must be aligned to Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures’ investment areas of focus. The first cohort will begin in early 2021.