South Florida Tech HubSouth Florida Tech Hub

By Nikki Cabus

BCEx and Tech Hub celebrate Black Founders at exclusive annual brunch

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The Broward College Entrepreneurship Experience, or “BCEx,” and South Florida Tech Hub collaborated to host the 2nd Annual Black Founders Brunch in an effort to bring together black entrepreneurs across the region to support stronger relationships in the back startup community.

The exclusive event was held on Saturday, February 25th at the Beach House in Pompano Beach with approximately 35 startup founders from across all three South Florida counties in attendance.

The guest speaker of the morning was BCEx Faculty Coordinator and Associate Dean (AD) of the Institute of Public Safety at Broward College, Rudy Jean-Bart. He is also the college’s Chair of the Advisory Council for the Advancement of Diversity, Equity, (ACADEI) and Inclusion. The Advisory Council for the Advancement of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ACADEI) oversees the College’s focus across seven areas— accountability, benchmark best practices, cultural competence, communication and discussion, training and education, policy/procedure/practice, and community outreach.

A former African American history professor, Jean-Bart, was exposed to the meaning of activism at a very young age. He has always been at the forefront of issues such as racial equity and social justice, participating as a keynote speaker and panelist in many events. Jean-Bart spoke to the founders on the topic of ‘Generational Trauma to Generational Wealth.’

Jean-Bart closed his speech out by saying, “It is important that people believe in the power and the ability of Black founders.”

This quote resonated with attendees and spoke to the importance of supporting, celebrating, and elevating minority founders as we continue to grow the tech ecosystem in South Florida. As an ecosystem, we must be intentional about inclusion of our founders from all corners of the region ensuring inclusion and overall innovation for the region.

According to a recent Tech Crunch article, “In total, U.S. Black founders raised an estimated $2.254 billion out of the $215.9 billion in U.S. venture capital allocated last year. That’s about 1%, a slight drop from the 1.3% raised in 2021.” It seems like no matter the efforts of organizations across the country working to diversify funding and across all marginalized groups of founders, that black founders continually remain around the 1% mark for funding. This percentage has stayed stagnant even though the overall VC numbers continue to rise.

Assistant Director of BCEx, Quinella (Queen) Davis, told South Florida Tech Hub that these events are crucial to ensuring strong connections in the black founder community, but also making sure they have connections to industry organizations such as Tech Hub and are able to see themselves in other successful entrepreneurs and leaders such as keynote speaker, Jean-Bart.

“I’d like to give a special thank you to Rudy Jean-Bart for delivering an impactful message, sharing valuable information about generational wealth, and helping our founders discover ways to think differently about the businesses we develop to have an everlasting presence in the tech ecosystem,” stated Davis.

BCEx helps Broward College students, faculty, and staff cultivate their entrepreneurial mindset and turn their ideas into reality by launching high-quality businesses at little-to-no cost. Started in 2018, BCEx began assisting participants innovate, create, and prepare for the future of work through mentorship, coaching, funding, and training.

Participants in BCEx receive support through six main strategies: Campus Accelerators and Events at Broward College, Student Learning at Broward College, the Innovation Hub at Broward College, LaunchBC – the BCEx business accelerator, the J. David Armstrong, Jr. Student Venture Fund, and Partnership Opportunities with Broward College.

The next Ideation Phase cohort is a student-community friendly introduction to the entrepreneurial mindset, customer discovery and business model canvas. Students, faculty, staff and community will develop or refine your business idea by focusing on your customer segment and value proposition while finding your WHY. This 4-6 week virtual program will prepare you for the next phase while helping you articulate a well-developed idea.

To learn more about the next cohort that begins March 21st, visit https://forms.gle/ToscjC3CfTDT6M1k7

By Nikki Cabus

$1M in grants were awarded to underrepresented founders; 4 in South Florida

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Just in time for this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week celebrations (November 14 – 20, 2022), the recipients of the Antares REACH Grant Program were announced and four South Florida startups made the list!

Presented in partnership with Hello Alice and the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), Antares Capital will provide small businesses grants to help them grow and scale. This initiative awarded $20,000 grants totaling $1 million to 40 historically underrepresented entrepreneurs including women, people of color, military-affiliated, persons with disabilities, or LGBTQ+.

Antares Capital aspires to increase representation in business by leveraging the organizations” financial resources and leadership skill sets to provide capital and support underrepresented entrepreneurs. The funds will support businesses as they prepare for the next stage of growth.

“Each grant recipient underscores REACH’s core mission of supporting diverse and historically underrepresented founders and ensuring they have the resources needed to expand their businesses,” said Mary (Gaede) Rose, managing director and head of the REACH program at Antares.

“We are thrilled to support these companies and enhance the flow of capital at a foundational level, expanding diversity in the ecosystem of business on the pathway toward private equity.”

This announcement comes just one year after women-founded companies received less than 2 percent of capital invested in VC-backed startups in the US, and Black-owned startups received just over 1 percent. REACH aims to address this discrepancy by expanding access to capital for these historically underrepresented groups at their earliest foundational stages.

Of the recipients, which were chosen from a pool of over 100,000 applications, 90 percent are businesses led by individuals of color, and 88 percent are led by females or gender non-conforming persons. Companies from over a dozen varied industries led by founders from 4 distinct generations are represented. The founders will use the grants to introduce products, expand their regional presence, and further promote a positive social impact within the communities in which they operate.

The four South Florida startups who made the list are:

  1. 2ndVault | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Jaclyn Strauss & Nicole Mayer
  2. Caribshopper | Davie, FL | Kadion Preston
  3. Rohi’s Readery | West Palm Beach, FL | Pranati (Pranoo) Kumar
  4. Tappas | Miami, FL | Sandra Portal-Andreu

Jaclyn Strauss, a licensed CPA in Florida for over 15 years, was given a second chance at life after experiencing a life-threatening condition while giving birth to her second child. Jaclyn has taken this second chance and allowed it to fuel her passion for helping others through the mission of tech startup 2nd Vault.

“Receiving the REACH grant is instrumental in enhancing our current digital vault by allowing us to further financially invest in our robust technology solution to cater to the business customer that serves hundreds, if not thousands, of clients daily,” said Strauss. “2ndVault could not be more grateful that Antares realized our value and, more importantly, the impact that we will have on the greater community. Thank you to both Antares Reach and Hello Alice. You have provided two female co-founders with a huge spark to continue fueling their passion.”

To qualify, businesses must have a viable product or service with less than $5M in annual revenue and they must be operated by entrepreneurs of historically underrepresented groups. In addition to the $20,000 grant, all recipients will be eligible to receive an additional $5,000 grant after completing a post-grant report demonstrating how the grant has impacted their business.. They will also be given access to professional development opportunities through Hello Alice.

 

 

BCEx and Tech Hub celebrate Black Founders at exclusive annual brunch
$1M in grants were awarded to underrepresented founders; 4 in South Florida