YEAR IN REVIEW
A message from our President.
At the beginning of this year, we set out to expand the breadth of our entrepreneurial offerings across 75+ HBCUs, while also helping to build local capacity in support of entrepreneurship on multiple campuses. Thanks to the generous support of our corporate and foundation partners, this fall we were able to launch dedicated pre-accelerators on seven HBCU campuses. The opportunity to work with the amazing students and faculty at each of these schools has been truly inspiring. Before we close the chapter on 2022 and look ahead to more “good trouble” we can inspire through entrepreneurship and innovation at HBCUs, we hope you will take a moment to review some of the HBCU Founders Initiative highlights from this year. We are grateful for all the funders, administrators, startup advisors, staff, and most of all, the founders that made all of this possible.
Happy New Year!
Marlon
We partnered with amazing organizations.
This year we established partnerships with Intel, Costco, Chase for Business, and Concrete Rose. Additionally, we continued to foster partnerships with our founding partner, Franklin Templeton, as well as UNCF TechVentures, Verizon, and AARP.
Each of these partnerships has allowed us to scale entrepreneurial education and training across HBCU campuses. Check out more amazing moves made this year by HBCUFI, including receiving recognition from former President Bill Clinton.
President Clinton, March 2022 – Former President Bill Clinton announces the Verizon Forward for Good Challenge winners and recognizes HBCUFI for our support of the Challenge. The Verizon For Good Challenge awards current undergraduate and graduate students who leverage leading-edge technology to advance equity within the U.S.
WATCH THE VIDEO
We hosted our Fall 2022 Pre-Accelerator cohort.
This year we welcomed 70 startup founders from 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities into our eight-week Pre-Accelerator program. Our cohort included the following 7 HBCUs: Bowie State University, Elizabeth City State University, Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T University, Oakwood University, Prairie View A&M University, and Spelman College.
Each of the campuses hosted eight-week pre-accelerators in support of approximately five startups per cohort; all of which are early-stage founders who are past the ideation stage and ready to validate a problem and build an MVP.
Our fall program taught our cohort topics that will carry them through their journeys as early-stage founders. Our curriculum covered everything from validating the idea to building a prototype and navigating customer discovery. Other focal points of the program allowed founders to understand marketing/branding, legal operations, and how to fundraise.
Franklin Templeton, June 2022 – Founding partner Franklin Templeton announced its continued support of the HBCU Founders Initiative. Franklin Templeton works to help inform the fintech program offerings as well as provide hands-on support to the new entrepreneurs through its employees who will serve as mentors and advisors.
READ THE FULL STORY
UNCF TechVentures, July 2022 – UNCF Tech Ventures, a tech-entrepreneurial education and training program for African American students participating in UNCF STEM programs, partners with HBCU Founders Initiative to establish the inaugural cohort of the HBCU Pre-Accelerator Program.
READ THE FULL STORY
“What I loved most about the HBCUFI pre-accelerator was the open-door approach and culture fostered by the entire Nex Cubed team. Expectations were clear and reiterated from the beginning that the amount of effort us founders put in would equal the amount of value we received from the program. I’m especially thankful for my mentor, cohort, and the HBCUFI team for taking the time to answer my questions, giving critical feedback on my startup, and extending themselves as a resource for help during this journey.”
— Emanuel Perez, Fall 2022 Pre-Accelerator Graduate
We grew.
In 2022, we expanded our team and brought on Miranda Perez as a Program Coordinator for The HBCU Founders Initiative. Miranda is a proud HBCU graduate and cross-topic multimedia journalist who received her B.A. in Mass Media Arts from Clark Atlanta University. As Program Coordinator, Miranda is managing communications and relationships with campus administrators and faculty and their campus-based Pre-Accelerator cohorts, planning and executing the HBCU-wide virtual Pre-Accelerator, facilitating communications and recruitment of speakers and advisors, and developing and maintaining relationships with local startup ecosystem partners and corporate sponsors.
We launched a Look Book.
This year we launched The HBCU Founders Initiative Startup Look Book. When we started to look for information about HBCU founders building companies, we hit a dead end. The data wasn’t there. So we are building it. The HBCUFI Startup Look Book features HBCU affiliated startups to increase awareness of the tech solutions that they are building.
The Look Book has data on 30+ startups led by founders who have attended or are current students at HBCUs. Our one-of-its-kind database received press coverage from The Plug and HBCU Buzz.
Our founders excelled.
Beyond their work in the HBCUFI programming, our founders went above and beyond to obtain external opportunities that aided in the growth of their startups. HBCUFI graduates have gone on to win pitch competitions backed by Black Girl Ventures, Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition Prize, and more. Read on to check out more exciting progress made by our founders this year.
GABB GLOBAL - Gabb Global was selected as a finalist for the Black Ambition Prize. They were a winner of the 2022 Verizon Forward for Good Challenge, and Black Girl Venture Next Generation Pitch Competition. Gabb Global was accepted into HBCUvc’s Lab Fund cohort and inaugural Venture for T.H.E.M. cohort.
LEARN MORE
MONOCLE - Monocle released its Beta. They were also accepted into the Visible Hands Visionaries Accelerator.
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BEENEVOLENT - BEEnevolent was selected as a winner of the 2022 Verizon Forward for Good Challenge.
LEARN MORE
“It was fabulous and absolute fun to be involved as an advisor with the Fall 2022 HBCU Founders Initiative cohort. There were good startups with smart, passionate, and driven founders committed to making an impact and future difference.”
— Raghu Iyer, Advisor
Want to partner with us?
If your organization is looking for a programmatic way to identify diverse talent and support entrepreneurship, we encourage you to reach out to us.
Companies that partner with HBCUFI have the opportunity to activate their employees' expertise by allowing them to volunteer for mentoring and speaking opportunities within our programming.
Together we can work to close the racial wealth gap.
Interested in bringing HBCUFI to your HBCU?
Our vision at the HBCU Founders Initiative is to be present on every single HBCU campus (all 107 of them)!
Whether you’re an HBCU faculty member, current student, alum or friend – feel free to help introduce us to your HBCU so we can continue on our mission of scaling entrepreneurial education and training across every HBCU campus.
Interested in donating to the HBCU Founders Initiative?
The HBCU Founders Initiative is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Your donation will help ensure that all HBCU students, alumni, and faculty have access to the technical and financial resources necessary to launch impactful, digitally-enabled businesses that help close the racial wealth gap. Together we can build the next generation of founders.