Even with a good product, finding seed money and investments to scale a business can be an uphill battle for Black entrepreneurs.
Only 1.2% of venture capital is funding Black entrepreneurs, according to Crunchbase, which collects data on early-stage startups, with Black women founders receiving just 0.27% of funding.
“Understanding the financials and scalability is important to build and grow,” Monique Rodriguez, CEO of Mielle Organics, told Yahoo Finance. “Getting the business off the ground there was a lot of bootstrapping with no initial seed money because we don’t have the same access, opportunity, resources, or funding to even get started.”
That is the importance of Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings’s InvestFest, a financial festival in its third year. Attendees heard from entrepreneurs like Rodriguez on how she scaled her company, empowering aspiring Black entrepreneurs with the financial tools and knowledge with a message of collective economics to build generational wealth.
“Witnessing over 20,000 individuals come together underscores the urgency to create platforms that uplift and educate, which is why InvestFest was created — to transform lives, spark conversations, and drive change,” Millings said.
Culled from: Yahoo News
