Over the past few months, organizations across industries have come together to brainstorm ways they can pool their resources to uplift and support Black and brown entrepreneurs.
This week, Black Innovation Alliance — an entity comprised of support organizations that serve Black innovators — and VC firm Village Capital announced the launch of a new initiative called Resource, a nationwide effort that strives to amplify entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) that are led by and focused on founders of color, TechCrunch reports.
Resource — a coalition made up of companies like Moody’s, The Sorenson Impact Foundation, Travelers and UBS — is supported by a national coalition of funders that are dedicated to entrepreneurs of color.
According to TechCrunch, the initiative’s mission is to lend support to local accelerator programs and incubators to build a healthy, flourishing ecosystem of leadership with Black and brown founders helming it.
“We want to make sure that those accelerators and other ESOs have the financial, social and human capital to keep their doors open and grow,” Village Capital CEO Allie Burns told the outlet.
Black Innovation Alliance Executive Director Kelly Burton also added that Black-led organizations are often times the first ones to extend a helping hand to Black entrepreneurs, yet they hardly reap the benefits from these founders’ success over time.
“They receive very little support and very little funding,” she says to TechCrunch. “It’s almost like they do all the heavy lifting, they plant seeds and do all the cultivation but they don’t really get to benefit once that founder and that startup has really taken off. This is an opportunity for us to stabilize these organizations to help them build their own capacities and capabilities so that that organization can be sustainable.”
Through training and community, Resource’s “ESO Accelerator” will teach startup ecosystem leaders how to build a more financially-sustainable organization and connect them to potential funders.
Additionally, the program will also offer milestone-based financial support that incorporates organizational development, as well as create a nationwide community made up of ESO leaders of color and their funders to allow them space to share their best practices and “develop stronger capital and mentorship pathways” for Black, Latinx and Indigenous founders across the country, TechCrunch shares.
For more information about Resource, reach out to Rustin Finkler at Village Capital ([email protected]) or Bianca St. Louis at Black Innovation Alliance ([email protected]).
