Daymond John, founder of apparel line FUBU and investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” announced on Tuesday his launch of Black Entrepreneurs Day , a virtual event to support Black-owned businesses, on Oct. 24.
John has invested much of his time helping Black-owned businesses, which have been hit the hardest amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Only 4.3% of America’s business owners are Black, according to a February report from the Brookings Institute.
Black business-owners launch with about “a third less capital than their White peers and have difficulties raising private investments from mainstream investment systems,” reported Brookings. While 7% of white business owners get a loan in their first year of business, only 1% of Black business owners do so.
“We need to be building businesses, not burning them,” John tells CNBC Make It. “And I am going to tell anyone who will listen that.”
As part of the event, John will help in picking seven Black entrepreneurs, each of whom will receive a $25,000 grant funded by the event’s partners: Chase for Business, The General Insurance, Pepsi, Cisco Webex, Quickbooks, Robinhood and Yappa.
In total, $175,000 will be given to Black-owned businesses.
The grants, called the “NAACP Powershift Entrepreneur Grant,” will be administered through the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Applications are now open until Oct. 12 on the Black Entrepreneurs Day website.
The types of businesses encouraged to apply include food and beverage, technology, finance, beauty and wellness and retail.
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Author: Debrian Hughes
Name: Debrian Hughes Position: Vice President, Product Management for FIS Debrian has over 20 years of experience within the Payments Industry. He has held numerous senior leadership roles in the card production industry, supply chain management, marketing, revenue enhancements and quality. Under his current role, Debrian has responsibility over product...
