Navigating The War on Diversity as A Diverse Entrepreneur

As we enter 2024, diverse leaders and business owners face several challenges. Major corporations are backtracking on commitments to diversity and there are setbacks in the venture capital world, continuing to leave diverse founders underfunded. Women of color are silently suffering, amid bullying and impenetrable glass ceilings. Amidst these obstacles, I am offering the opportunities I see for diverse founders and leaders to emerge empowered and resilient.

Recent events, including Google's backtrack on diversity commitments, legal troubles at organizations focused on supporting communities of underrepresented entrepreneurs, like the Fearless Fund, as well as the mistreatment and invisible assaults on women of color leaders, including those in higher education, like Dr. Gay from Harvard, and Dr. Candia-Bailey from Lincoln University, further highlights the need for concerted efforts to address systemic issues affecting diversity.

In this challenging environment, I was compelled to offer insights crucial for diverse founders to be able to continue to focus on their missions and serve their communities. I thought of seven key strategies we use at Black Business Boom , and that we share with our cohort members, for founders to navigate this complex landscape and ensure sustainability:

1. Strategic Alliances: Forge alliances with other diverse founders and individuals. Create referral networks, be mentors and sponsors for one another. Speak highly, and often, of your diverse colleagues when they’re not in the room.

2. Community Engagement: Actively engage with local communities and grassroots movements, fostering a sense of belonging and shared purpose. If you can, go back to the community you grew up in, or communities of individuals who look like you and share your lived experiences, to do “the good work.”

3. Diversify Funding Sources: Explore alternative funding channels beyond traditional venture capital, such as impact investing, grants, and community-driven initiatives. Get the financial education and support you need, to make sure your business is “bankable.” Circulate your dollars among your diverse community.

4. Education and Advocacy: Stay informed and actively advocate for diversity and inclusion, educating both internal teams and external stakeholders. Make sure your team is open and engaging to all individuals and that your organization has a zero-tolerance policy against discriminatory actions.

5. Resilience Training: Develop resilience and coping strategies to navigate setbacks and challenges, ensuring the ability to bounce back from adversity. Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.? Plan for funding plateaus and valleys.

6. Tech Independence: Explore technological solutions that empower businesses to be independent of traditional platforms, reducing reliance on potentially volatile corporate entities. What tech companies really support diverse businesses and communities? Do business with them.

7. Crisis Communication Plan: Develop a robust communication plan to address challenges transparently, building trust and support within the community.? You never know when your mission to help people that look like you will essentially become a crime. Have a plan in place to communicate with your audience about what’s happening and what’s next. Also have a plan to keep business moving.

?According to a 2022 VC report from consulting firm McKinsey & Company, “Black and Latino founders received only 1 percent and 1.5 percent respectively of total US venture capital (VC) funding. Women-founded teams received 1.9 percent of VC funds, and only 0.1 percent of VC funds went to Black and Latino women founders.” Black Business Boom remains dedicated to empowering Black, and other diverse, entrepreneurs through education, marketing programs, and financial support.

Finally, as we navigate the complexities of simply waking up in our skin, I take inspiration from the resilience of the diverse entrepreneurs we work with, and talk to daily, who are impassioned to continue building great things, despite funding gaps and legal battles. Together, through strategic alliances, community engagement, and diversified funding sources, we can build a more inclusive and equitable ecosystem, within our communities, that supports us, both emotionally and financially.