Working in the factory was what was expected of him – his family had done it and he was meant to do it too. But Carlos Vasquez quit his first job working in the manufacturing sector after spending hours listening to engineer-turned-billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who sparked his early interest in coding. For Vasquez, his dreams of working in tech were feeling more difficult by the minute as he faced dozens of hurdles. As we already know Latinx professionals make up a tiny share of the workforce in the tech
Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate Sherman Byrd was the first Black explosive ordnance disposal technician in the U.S. Navy. He trained for that dangerous career in Florida in the late 1950s, going on to serve aboard multiple warships and with the nation’s leaders until his death in 1971. The U.S. Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Division was founded in 1941 by Lt. Cmdr. Draper Kauffman after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, according to the Navy. Byrd joined the Navy in 1947 and served on a number of ships before graduating from the Deep Sea Diving
The announcement of the collaboration between the 10 studios was made today against the backdrop of the Africa Games Week 2022, which is taking place in Cape Town, South Africa. The clan, which have named themselves Pan Africa Gaming Group, or PAGG, said they aim to grow the industry by two times annually and to put Africa “on the map of the global game industry.” South Africa has the highest saturation of gamers across Africa with 24 million people – this is almost half of its population – playing, according
James Curran, 35, — who some of you may know well as JTM or James the Mormon – started off as a struggling teenager who had been expelled from BYU-Idaho twice. It wasn’t until a reported encounter with a police officer who let him off for driving while drunk and high on marijuana that he finally decided to turn his life around. “He knew that was a turning point for me,” Curran said. “I could either choose to change my life or go to jail and who knows what would
Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, an independent film producer, are personally donating $10 million to Tougaloo College, a historically Black college and university in Mississippi, and the school’s partnership with Brown University. The gift will fund much-needed financial aid for Tougaloo students working toward careers in medicine, public health, the sciences, education, business, and other fields and aspiring to make a positive impact on their communities after graduation. Of the total, $5 million will fund scholarships at Tougaloo, in Jackson, Miss., and $5 million will establish the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership
Founder and CEO Chandler Malone’s tech startup ‘Bootup’ has reportedly raised $2.1 million in seed-round from all Black investors. The product was first launched in July 2021 during what was considered the pandemic’s peak where dozens of countries were thrown into lockdown. Bootup, which focuses on sourcing and hiring non-traditionally trained talent for a range of companies, is said to have grown rapidly, increasing revenue 100% month over month from July through November to a seven-figure run rate, while developing relationships with over 80 employers and 125 tech training programs, according
Investors will be with you for a long time – and ending the relationship can be harder than getting a divorce, says June Angelides, a business owner, venture capitalist, and columnist. Before we discuss the business tips she’s shared in her most recent FT column. Here’s a breakdown of who she is for those of you who don’t know. Angelides was raised in Lagos, Nigeria where she had an early introduction to entrepreneurship through her family. Her uncle Ben Murray Bruce founded Silverbird, the first cinema in Nigeria. She recalled in an interview
MarketForce, the retail B2B and end-to-end distribution platform founded in Kenya, has raised $40 million in Series A funding for its merchant inventory financing and expansion across Africa. The firm, which first launched in Uganda in 2018, plans to introduce buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) options to help merchants access fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) on credit. It also plans to enter additional markets in East and West Africa. Through its merchant super app RejaReja, informal traders can source goods directly from manufacturers and distributors, make and pay for orders digitally, accept payments for utility
The historical and ongoing cost of not addressing our climate disasters is some-what insane. The United States is said to have spent $29bn cleaning up climate disasters in the 1990s, but $112bn dollars in the last five years. That’s a huge jump. This week we’re celebrating the Black-owned innovative companies from across the US that are working on sustainability and environmental solutions. The three founders, based across the US — from Silicon Valley in California to tribal nations across the Midwest — are driving innovation in energy efficiency, AI, solar,
It’s not the first time we’ve heard of a startup founder or colleagues reportedly fabricating things in order to appear more advanced than they are. Remember Ozy Media?
