Black Girl Ventures has been working on a journey to build a community of Black and Brown women-identifying entrepreneurs eager to give back to their communities while building legacy businesses. We believe in the power of community, and the deep bond created when women come together as part of a greater goal. How far and how fast we grow is only limited by our efforts, bravery, and commitment to one another. In this round of updates, we continue with the community as our focus.
BGV TEA
Big news for our NextGen! Our NBA partnership will create access to capital, capacity, and community for HBCU student visionaries ranging from 18 to 24 years old. Share the deets with a young person you know!
We have also partnered with Black Women Tech to provide you with more resources to increase your network AND funding!
Attend the Roadmap To Billions conference on Aug 12th & 13th, a two-day immersive virtual conference for Black founders and innovators! Learn what it takes to generate funding for your business and receive group mentorship from over 50 industry speakers, workshops, breakout rooms, and much more.
WE PITCH
We chatted with Whitney Osei-Akintaju, Founder of Ethnic District, about the unbelievable opportunities since winning second place at the BGV pitch competition. And one of them was a $25k grant from American Express, where she is received six months of public relations assistance, a marketing consult, and access to more funding.
Whitney shared, "Be very clear about your business model as if you're explaining it to a child." The last piece of advice she gave was, "Definitely take advantage of the pitch practice. Black Girl Ventures gives plenty of resources to you even before you do a pitch competition. So make sure you're utilizing all of that to get yourself ready."
What could you do if you had $25k+ to invest in your business?
We're calling all Black and Brown business owners based in Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New York, and nationwide to apply for the BGV 2021 Pitch Season. This is the moment that you've been waiting for.
Halcyon Pitch Final Showcase
We teamed up with Halcyon to support ten incredible Black women-identifying entrepreneurs from across the country: from New York to Atlanta to California. Join us as we celebrate these founders on August 19th, 2021, at 6 pm EST!
WE BAG
They want to recognize the contributions of your small business despite significant challenges. Small businesses like yours thrived in the past year. They want to recognize these contributions to your customers and communities with the Small Business Impact Awards: an awards program designed to reward four (4) businesses with $10,000.
The beauty retailer Sephora is giving back to minorities. The company already signed the Fifteen Percent Pledge by committing at least 15% of shelf space to black-owned businesses. Sephora goes a step further to help aspiring entrepreneurs with grants for minorities through the Sephora Accelerate program.
Submission Dates: Application information, requirements, and deadlines will be posted to the Sephora Accelerate website on October 1, 2021, for the 2022 competition.
Entry Requirements: All applicants must be at least 18 years old and own an early-stage brand that's not yet widely distributed. Applicants should at least have a sample or prototype before applying. Must have a merchandise product brand, such as makeup, skincare, fragrance, hair care, and wellness.
The crowdsourcing platform GoFundMe.org wants to help small businesses that COVID-19 has negatively impacted. They started their own fund to help raise money to help businesses. To date, they have given out over 5,000 microgrants to small businesses and are giving out more. You must create your own GoFundMe of at least $500 and fill out this form to apply. The form takes less than five minutes, and setting up a GoFundMe is easy.
Due Date: Rolling
Funding: If your business raises up to $500, you can get a $500 match from the fund.
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on small Black-owned businesses. The Coalition to Back Black Business is offering $5,000 to at least 300 small business owners to combat this crisis. Applicants must have between 3-20 employees and have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The application opens in September 2021.
Subscribe to the Digital Orange Juice for juicy ideas and the people who fund them. You can find out about our next pitch competitions here. Also, be sure to join our new community BGV Connect!