Black-owned businesses often lack information, funding and the social capital necessary to scale a successful startup, according to digitalundivided, a California-based investment firm.
Black upStart, founded by Kezia Williams, seeks to remedy these challenges by convening small cohorts of competitively selected black entrepreneurs and innovators. “Freedom is the ability to control your own entrepreneurial talents. My goal is to create a village that incubates innovators equipped to start, grow and scale successful and profitable businesses,” Williams noted.
Distinctively Black
The Black upStart is distinctively black. At the core of the organization's mission is to administer “black education,” a necessary element of black liberation. The purpose of black education is to first, program the minds of black students who may have been introduced to anti-black ideologies in traditional school settings, then to give black students the necessary tools to control their individual destinies and build strong group consciousness.
Ronald Walters and Alan Colon, well-known scholars in the black studies tradition, argue that black education should come from outside of majority white and normative institutions of higher learning. Walters writes, “The main business of the liberation of black people requires the kind of education and programming that will come about outside of the control exercised upon us by white institutions.” Similarly, Alan Colon concludes, “The content of such an education can not- and should not- wholly emanate from and reside in the normative institutions of higher learning.”
Manifestation of a Vision
Black upStart is a manifestation of this vision insofar as the organization is black-owned, the curriculum is designed by and for black people, and the core element of the program, a six-day boot camp, is hosted in all-black spaces.
The 6-day boot camp assists black entrepreneurs in generating startup capital, brainstorming a business idea, validating the idea, building a minimum viable product, and testing the product with customers. “We map out how to identify venture capital, leverage community support, and how to fall in love with the grind,” said Kezia Williams. "Using history as a guide, we prove that success is possible among our people, and our outcomes prove that our ancestors’ blueprint is not outdated it’ for present-day entrepreneurs,” she added.
Afro-Centric Curriculum
The Black upStart curriculum, which is reviewed and validated by an academic advisory committee, is administered over the course of two weeks. It is uniquely informed by a culturally relevant, afro-centric perspective that teaches black Americans how to overcome obstacles that are specific to their communities. “Recently I attended a hackathon for young, black students,” Williams said. “The facilitators were telling the students they should aspire to be successful like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. I believe you fail a black student when you tell them how to succeed like a white male. The privileges afforded to a white male are not comparable to a black American’s experience. Black upStart teaches black people how to turn obstacles specific to race into profitable opportunities.” She continued.
The core themes covered by the curriculum include “Understanding the African American Marketplace,” “Building Your Prototype,” and “Economics: Understanding Your Market + Making the Sale.”
Outcomes
Black upStart has cultivated 100 black entrepreneurs, six of which are in the DMV area, since launching in November 2015. These entrepreneurs have went on to shelve products at CVS and Target, earn startup capital ranging from $5,000- $30,000 from Piranha Tank and the Greater Washington Urban League , compete as finalists for investments on Shark Tank, open their own brick and mortar spaces, and earn press with Black Enterprise, Washington Post, and ABC News.
Next Steps
Black upStart is currently expanding operations and service for black entrepreneurs to Baltimore, MD. Leaders in Baltimore and surrounding areas are enthusiastic about welcoming Black upStart and training the next generation of black entrepreneurs.
“Black upStart is a breath of fresh air,” said Jamal Bryant, the pastor of The Empowerment Temple AME Church, in Baltimore. “This initiative is needed and long overdue. I hope it becomes an incubator nationwide.”
Jared Brown currently coordinates a $25 million initiative at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) designed to cultivate the next generation of African American innovators and entrepreneurs. He awards scholarships and administers an online entrepreneurship curriculum to more than 150 undergraduate scholars representing more than 40 colleges and universities. He also serves as operations director at Black upStart, a startup social enterprise that has supported 100 entrepreneurs in the DMV area through the ideation and customer validation processes. He is a leading voice in the field of black entrepreneurship with publications appearing in Black Enterprise, Generation Progress at the Center for American Progress, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
