*Pharrell Williams believes investing in culture will reap big rewards, so he founded Black Ambition, a non-profit initiative that supports Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs.
According to a news release, the foundation recently awarded $3.2M to 36 Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs. Williams believes investing in these communities will yield significant returns.
“Where we are is where the profit is,” he said in a new interview with Forbes. “There’s no denying that. We influence it.”
According to the release, Black Ambition “awarded $1 million dollars to Antoinette Banks, CEO and Founder of Expert IEP, a parent-facing app that optimizes existing Individualized Education Plans with predictive AI for children diagnosed with a disability, as the Grand Prize Winner of its 2023 Prize competition at the third-annual “Demo Day” event” held November 9th at Spring Studios in New York.
“Other Top Prize Winners include ECOMSPACES, a one-stop-shop for e-commerce solutions ranging from product photography to order fulfillment, and HBCU Grand Prize Winner, Monocle, a social e-reader that creates a community-focused reading experience, who was awarded $250,000 and $200,000, respectively, towards their venture,” the release states, “in addition to 33 other prize recipients who also received monetary prizes.”
Black Ambition was founded in 2020 to address the lack of capital for startups among Black and Hispanic communities. Over 100 companies have received $10 million from the fund since its inception.
The non-profit targets entrepreneurs in sectors that include tech, healthcare, and consumer packaged goods, Forbes reports. Some of the organization’s partners include the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Chanel, Billionaire Boys Club, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
“We’re changing lives,” said Felecia Hatcher, the CEO of Black Ambition, Forbes reports. “But the lives that those entrepreneurs are going to change as a result of the investment — that’s what matters the most.”
“We need real change,” Williams told Forbes. “We can’t keep waiting. Our parents and their parents — for them, equality was No. 1. And for us, equality is absolutely on the list, but equity is more powerful than equality.”
Watch Williams’ conversation with Forbes via the YouTube clip above.
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