Caroline Wanga is stepping down from her role as president and CEO of ESSENCE Ventures. Wanga joined the company in 2020 but took a one-year leave due to health reasons. On August 25, ESSENCE Ventures issued a press release stating that Wanga would be leaving the company indefinitely, according to Black Enterprise. “We are profoundly grateful to Caroline for her leadership, vision, and unwavering advocacy of Black women and culture,” Richelieu Dennis, founder and chairman of Sundial Technology & Media Group, parent company of ESSENCE Ventures, said. “Her expertise in culture, equity, and
Atlanta-based Southface Institute has partnered with the Sustain Our Future Foundation on Building Improvement Toolkits (BIT) for Resilient HBCU, an initiative aiming to advance sustainability efforts within five historically Black colleges and universities. What will the initiative include? Each participating HBCU will receive $150,000 in grants to help each school reach its sustainability goals, as well as for workforce development, training, and hosting 25 paid student fellows, according to Atlanta Business Chronicle. An essential part of the initiative is an online platform, serving as a central hub for tracking performance
The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump Administration to cut grants issued by the National Institutes of Health in a bid to end federal DEI efforts. The decision was made on Thursday, the 21st of August, with the court being split 5-4 on the ruling, according to The Guardian. The court’s ruling marks a significant reversal, enabling the administration to reinstate grants that it had begun cutting in Late February. The split court decision The case was split among the Supreme Court’s nine justices, with three appointed by Trump, leading to a
Every entrepreneur knows that running a business is not for the fainthearted. You’re often working several hours a day, balancing several tasks, managing your own cash flow, and then there’s the extra burden of being a Black or Brown entrepreneur. 81% of minority founders experience mental health issues, with 60% experiencing anxiety and 20% dealing with depression. It’s an aspect of being a business person that isn’t spoken about widely enough, especially for minorities. This is what drove wellness entrepreneur and founder of BodyCompleteRx, Samia Gore, to launch Foundnwell, a community-driven non-profit
Alami Capital, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are collaborating to launch the LaunchPad at GITEX Nigeria 2025, a pioneering investment and venture-building platform designed to scale Africa’s most promising women-led startups. Women in Africa own 27% of businesses and contribute 13% of GDP, and yet they only receive 7% of total venture capital. The LaunchPad will tackle the under-capitalization of women-owned startups. After GITEX Nigeria, The LaunchPad will give $250,000 in catalytic capital to 5 selected ventures, along with mentorship and
NBA star Stephen Curry will team up with Google in a long-term strategic partnership, shaping the company’s hardware, features, and AI services. Curry will join the company as a “performance advisor” for Google’s Health, Pixel, and Cloud products. In his role, Curry will actively shape the future of Google Health and Fitbit products and features. Curry becoming Google’s performance advisor Curry will work with Google’s health and AI engineers to alter products, train algorithms, and craft next-generation health experiences. He will also test and provide feedback for Fitbit’s new personal
Create, an app-building platform, has secured $8.5 million in total funding, including a $5.5 million round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Other investors included Shopify, Front, Zapier, Intercom, Shippo, and Ben’s Bites. Its new product, Anything, which went live on August 7, reached 3.2 million views, over 30,000 new sign‑ups, within 72 hours of launching. It also tripled the number of paid subscriptions compared to the week before, bringing the company’s total registered users to exceed 500,000, as reported by Tech Funding News. What does Create do? While competitors were focusing
After serving at Target for 11 years, CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down from the retailer after it faced low foot traffic and backlash to ending its DEI efforts. Cornell will stay on as executive chairman and will be replaced by Target’s current chief operating officer, Michael Fiddelke, on February 1, 2026, according to a press release. He took over the company in 2014 and transformed the retailer, overseeing a strategy to remodel stores and strengthen the chain’s online business to compete with Amazon. Target’s decline Target has been on
Target has struggled to recover from boycotts and backlash following its rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The retailer’s foot traffic has remained low, according to data from analytics platform Placer.ai. Since Q1 2024, the company’s year-over-year foot traffic changes have closely mirrored its revenue shifts, Retail Brew reports, differing by an average of just 1.2 percentage points over the past five quarters. Scaling Back DEI Efforts In January, Target announced that it would end its three-year DEI goals, conclude its Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) initiatives in
Historically Black College, Tennessee State University (TSU), is preparing to build a 70,000-square-foot engineering building. The Tennessee State Building Commission approved the future-ready campus on August 15, and TSU’s commitment to sustainability, workforce development, and leadership among university engineering programs. The $50 million facility will serve as a hub for innovation, collaboration, and cutting-edge research, as stated by a press release. The completion date is summer 2027, with construction expected to begin later this year. “This facility will provide a world-class space that enhances interdisciplinary collaboration across six undergraduate programs,
