Guetto Institute, a Rio de Janeiro-based non-profit organization is enabling access to cutting-edge technology and a brighter future for Black Brazilians while tackling systemic racism. It’s focused on equipping its target audiences with skills for the new economy and fostering black entrepreneurship. How did the organization begin? It started from a Facebook group created in 2016 by sociologist Vítor Del Rey. At the time, Del Rey was studying at the prestigious business school Fundação Getúlio Vargas with a scholarship provided by Educafro, an organization focused on education inclusion for black
Christian Smalls, primarily recognized as the brains behind the movement to unionize Amazon warehouse workers, was threatened by police in New York. Smalls, who Amazon infamously fired, led one of the first labor actions of the pandemic in 2020. After being fed up with the company’s unsafe practices, he decided to fight back, which put many workers’ lives at risk. So what happened? Earlier this week, workers at the warehouse in New York attempted to join the Amazon Labour Union. While organizing the rally at a fulfillment center bus stop,
Black-owned professional network, Black British City Group (BBCG), has launched its flagship City Booster program, designed to help support the growth of Black founders. Through BBCG’s City Booster program, Black entrepreneurs not only be eligible for grants of up to £3,000 but will also have access to coaching opportunities and skill-based workshops to help them elevate and grow. The City Booster program run by BBCG aims to provide mentorship, skills-based workshops, and financial support to Black founders. In addition, the program, which spans nine months, will give Black entrepreneurs exclusive
Video-sharing platform, TikTok, has partnered up with Cyversity to connect underrepresented individuals with more opportunities in the cybersecurity world. TikTok is championing the #SeeYourselfInCyber hashtag as a part of a new HBCU program set to launch later this fall. The program, made up of an online mentoring syllabus, will host in-person events at HBCUs to aid students with the skills needed to work within the cybersecurity sector. The initiative aims to solve the issue of 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by awarding 50 students a scholarship representing the platform’s ongoing commitment to helping the next
Founded in 2017 by Hilda Moraa, Pezesha is a Kenyan digital lending infrastructure that allows both traditional and non-traditional financial institutions to offer working capital to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Now, the startup has secured an $11 million pre-Series A equity-debt round led by Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II with participation from Verdant Frontiers Fintech Fund, cFund and Cardano blockchain builder Input Output Global (IOG). The round also included a $5 million debt from Talanton and Verdant Capital Specialist Funds. Access to finance remains a key growth constraint
Kuda, a digital bank based in Nigeria and the U.K., has confirmed via email to media that it has laid off less than 5% of its 450-strong workforce, equivalent to about 23 people. There have been other startups, especially those that have raised vast sums of venture capital within the last year or two, that have laid off hundreds of staff; for instance, Swvl laid off 400 people; Wave, approximately 300; 54gene, 95; and Vezeeta, 50. The layoffs come a year after Kuda, which provides zero to minimal fees on cards, account maintenance and transfers,
One young company attracting interest in the field of autonomous driving is Heex Technologies, a POC-led startup offering a “smart data management platform” to help carmakers sift through the sea of data required to put autonomous vehicles on the road. CEO and co-founder Bruno Mendes Da Silva was initially focused on solving the pollution crisis before this idea. “My original focus was on fighting pollution — I first launched an electric vehicle rental service after an academic exchange in Shanghai. [It was then that] I realized there are more problems
US-based fintech startup Deposits raised $5M in seed funding to develop its platform. The funding round led by ATX Venture Partners also included Cabal Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and others. The Dallas-based finance startup, co-founded by Joseph Akintolatyo and Daniel Paramo, is a cloud-based fintech platform that helps credit unions, community banks, insurers, retailers, and brands seamlessly implement digital banking tools onto their platforms. The program also allows companies to put together a package of financial features, including mobile apps, debit and credit accounts, virtual cards, peer-to-peer payments, and lending. Akintolatyo and Paramo launched Deposits
Natalie Madeira Cofield, the assistant administrator for the Office of Women Business Ownership at the US Small Business Administration (SBA), has stepped down from her role to pursue a new venture. Cofield, recognized as one of the high-ranking Black women in the president’s administration, was also the first Black woman to hold that position and head a female business ownership office. According to Bloomberg, the Executive Director of the National Women’s Business Council Tene Dolphin praised Cofield for her hard work in a recent statement. “Her tireless efforts during her tenure
The tech industry in India is one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the world, reporting a growth rate of 12.2%. The southern Indian tech hub of Bangalore is also home to the most significant number of high-growth companies in India. It ranks fourth overall among Asian cities, according to the FT’s latest ranking of High Growth Companies in Asia-Pacific, compiled by research company Statista. Twenty of the top 500 companies on the list are based in Bangalore, representing four percent of the total. India’s financial capital, Mumbai, is Bangalore’s
