By Mary LeSure
HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. – On August 4, 2020, Rust College joined the conversation with Amplify which is an ongoing, student led speaker’s series. Rust College Student, Eric Johnson, Senior, Mass Communication major, and a Sullivan Foundation Ambassador, in collaboration with the Sullivan Foundation moderated and partnered with The Cornell University Entrepreneurship Club on Amplify Week 4. The conversation with Jean-Pierre Adéch entitled “Raising capital as a black founder in a homogenous venture funding ecosystem: lessons for women, minorities, and other outside-the-box founders.” Amplify is a ten-week series produced to support entrepreneurship ventures. All proceeds from optional ticket costs from these events will be donated to Black Venture Capital, Black Girls Code, Black Innovation Alliance, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, and Black Girl Ventures.
In 2018, an unimportant 1% of investment financing went to Black startups. This difference is more predominant among Black female businesses which are 0.02% of VC subsidizing. Around 63% of Black Americans are keen on beginning their organization; however, 14% announced having no genuine good examples. Adéch stressed the importance of learning from successful members within our community as a critical component to increasing exposure and visibility, maintaining motivation, and boosting confidence for an aspiring founder.
Ten leading universities across the country have partnered to create Amplify and later, Amplify added ten HBCU’s to join the conversation. Amplify is an on-going speaker series to support and empower underrepresented communities in entrepreneurship and venture capital.
