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minority-owned businesses

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NBA Vet Udonis Haslem To Support POC-Owned Miami Businesses With $100K In Grants

It’s the best act of service when professional athletes support their teams’ cities. In partnership with FTX, Udonis Haslem is showing love to both his home team and hometown. The Miami Heat veteran’s foundation has joined the cryptocurrency exchange firm to provide two POC business owners with $50,000 grants, according to Miami Herald. The funding aims to help small minority-owned Miami businesses flourish while being subjected to the negative impact of gentrification in the city’s neighborhoods. “You’re bringing in bigger chains and the businesses that have survived in these communities for a long time have a different kind of competition,” said Haslem, according to Miami Herald. “They don’t have access to business plans and marketing and the financial backing (needed) to sustain in gentrified areas.” Being deeply in tune with Miami, it was far from a challenge to know the ways in which fellow natives need assistance. Being from the city and a longtime resident, the issues hit...

Ngozi Nwanji

Apr 19, 2022

Florida A&M University Small Business Incubator Backed By $100,000 Grant From Wells Fargo

Serving as the leading bank of Florida A&M University (FAMU) , The Wells Fargo Foundation has placed a generous contribution to spur women and minority-owned businesses. The $100,000 grant is a part of Wells Fargo’s continued partnership with FAMU to commit a total of $500,000 across Orlando and Tallahassee, FL. The funds will back the creation of a small business incubator and support the project’s staff operations, business development, and expansions goals. “As FAMU’s official bank, we are pleased to see Wells Fargo stepping up its commitment to small business development. This initiative will catalyze entrepreneurship and reap dividends for years to come,” says FAMU President Larry Robinson in an official press release from the FAMU Forward. The incubator will sow seeds of promise for many minority businesses who participate. In an interview with Tallahassee Democrat, Shawnta S. Friday-Stroud- vice president for University Advancement and director of the FAMU Foundation- noted...

Samantha Dorisca

Oct 25, 2021

The Home Depot Pledges $10M In VC Funds To Further Support Minority Entrepreneurs

The Home Depot continues to remain a leader when it comes to investing in Black entrepreneurs and businesses. In a new move, the company has committed to further setting entrepreneurs up for success in America. According to PR Newswire, the world’s largest home improvement retailer has announced plans to invest $10 million in venture capital funds that reiterate the company’s stance on diversity, technology and entrepreneurship. The funds will go toward Base10 Partners Advancement Initiative, L’ATTITUDE VENTURES, and Plexo Capital as a part of the company’s mission to create meaningful, inclusive and sustainable opportunities for minority-owned companies. The funds will also go toward the company’s continued commitment to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). “Striving to close the wealth gap and advancing education for all are two of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion commitments we set forward in 2020,” said Derek Bottoms, chief diversity officer and vice...

Shanique Yates

Sep 28, 2021

Facebook To Pay Up To $100M In Unpaid Invoices For Small Businesses Owned By Women And Minorities

Facebook is cashing out on small businesses owned by women and minorities! According to CNBC, the social media network has announced that it will purchase $100 million worth of unpaid invoices from 30,000 small businesses through the Facebook Invoice Fast Track program. It’s the company’s latest effort to build relationships with the businesses that look to the platform as a place to help their businesses thrive. Facebook first launched a version of the program in 2020. After learning the hardships businesses were facing, they wanted to do more than just feature them on the platform. “We just heard first-hand the financial hardships that these suppliers were facing, and it was created really quickly and brought up as an idea and pitched to our CFO to say, ‘Hey, would we be able to help our suppliers with this?” said Rich Rao, Facebook’s vice president of small business. “It was a very small pilot, but we did see that be very successful.” Today, they have expanded that original...

Shanique Yates

Sep 13, 2021

Largest Minority-Owned Financial Firm and Microsoft Launch $250M Fund For Minority Businesses

More and more companies are putting their heads together to find effective ways to fully support minority founders and entrepreneurs amid the widespread protests of systemic racism across all industries. Investment firm Siebert Williams Shank and software giant Microsoft have decided to partner to launch the Clear Vision Impact Fund L.L.C. for small businesses, with an initial $25 million seed investment from the latter, Forbes reports . “This is just the first step  to building a more  diverse and equitable  playing field and we look forward to the opportunities that this investment will help create,” Microsoft CIO Tahreem Kampton said in a press release announcing the fund’s launch. The newly-launched joint fund has a target size of $250 million total, according to Black Enterprise , and aims to invest both growth and operating capital in small and medium-sized businesses, with a focus on minority-owned businesses to emphasize social impact. “We are extremely pleased to have...

Njera Perkins

Aug 18, 2020