A federal judge in Georgia ruled that Fearless Fund, a venture capital fund for women of color, can continue offering a grant program only to Black women entrepreneurs. On Tuesday, the judge refused to issue an injunction blocking the program after a lawsuit alleged it engaged in “explicit racial exclusion”. The Lawsuit Against Fearless Fund The American Alliance for Equal Rights, founded by Edward Blum, brought a lawsuit against Fearless Fund in August 2023. It targeted the fund’s Fearless Strives Grant Contest, which awards Black women who own small businesses
The economic influence of Latine and Hispanic communities is on the rise. Nearly 5 million businesses in the US are Latine or Hispanic-owned, contributing over $800 billion annually to the nation’s economy. Latine and Hispanic communities are not just big contributors; they’re also big spenders. According to Nielson, their buying power surpasses the GDP of countries like Australia, Mexico, and Spain. So, this Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re spotlighting the online directories that help consumers connect with these Latine and Hispanic businesses nationwide. 1. Shop Latinx Shop Latinx, founded by Brittany
Big Tech companies are being probed about the treatment of their “ghost workers” by Democratic lawmakers. Ghost work refers to the undervalued, underpaid, and undersupported human labor utilized to develop and maintain the automation of websites and apps. This work is often outsourced, hidden, or rendered invisible by the tech companies who request it. With the rise of generative AI, this work often includes training and improving algorithms. According to Just Tech, ghost workers are usually vulnerable people from Asia, Latin America and Africa who are being paid less than
Black and Hispanic employees receive lower-quality feedback on their job performance, leading to poor retention, a new study has found. For the second year in a row, Textio’s annual Language Bias in Performance Feedback report found that employees receive personality feedback based on race and gender stereotypes. Last year’s findings showed that women, Black and Hispanic people, and those over 40 systematically received lower-quality and biased feedback at work. This year, the study investigated the connection between feedback quality and employee retention and found a clear link between the two.
Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong, the founder of 54gene, has started a new company, Syndicate Bio. The rise and fall of 54gene In 2019, Ene-Obong founded 54gene, a Nigerian health and biotech startup, to address the gap in the genomics market. At the height of the pandemic, the organization seized the opportunity to earn more money by transforming its lab into a COVID testing center. But, as Covid cases reduced and fewer people carried out tests, many of the staff 54gene recruited had to be let go. The organization was forced to
A Google Technical Program Manager, Terysa Ridgeway, is launching Alilo the Explorer, an educational toy robot that teaches children how to code. Meet Terysa Ridgeway Ridgeway has been a Tech Program Manager at Google for almost two years. She is also the author of The Terysa Solves It book series that introduces young girls to Computer Science. The child of two teachers, Ridgeway’s fascination with technology began early. One day, her mother brought home a computer, and Ridgeway was intrigued by the data processor that allowed the keyboard’s letters to
San Francisco-based startup Writer Inc., a generative AI platform for corporate content, has raised $100 million. Using AI to write content Writer is a generative AI startup that uses its large language models (LLMS) to let enterprises and their employees write and edit content. This may include emails, documents, and ads adhering to a company’s editorial guidelines. With the name “Writer”, the startup only produces text, removing the operation of visual content such as images and videos. Founders May Habib from Lebanon and Wassem Alshikh from Syria used their personal
Tech-based startup Remoteli connects African professionals with companies seeking to build a more diverse, skilled workforce. According to their CEO, Samuel Brooksworth, “Africa’s most educated generation has emerged from schools and universities.” Despite this, over one-third of the continent’s 420 million 15-35-year-olds are unemployed. According to Forbes Africa, the market for remote workplace services is set to grow from $20.1 billion in 2022 to $58.5 billion by 2027. Founding Remoteli London-born Ghanaian Samuel Brooksworth saw a gap in the market for a platform that could connect businesses with individuals from
As Black-owned businesses face increasing financial pressures during and after the startup stage, many of them have sadly had to close their doors. The state of Black entrepreneurship Black Americans are among the most entrepreneurial groups in the nation, with 1 in 5 Black people in the US starting their own business. From 2017 to 2020, the nation witnessed a remarkable 13.64% surge in the number of Black-owned businesses. Black-owned firms brought in an estimated $141.1 billion in gross revenue in 2020 – an impressive 11% increase since 2017. In
Black tech entrepreneur Dedren Snead has soft-launched Subsume Studios in an Atlanta downtown hub, Underground Atlanta. According to Black Enterprise, Snead’s vision is to build a ‘Black Pixar’, revitalizing tourist attraction to promote art, culture, and technological advancement within the city. Naming the studio as “the world’s first Afrofuturism lab,” his mission with this space is to build “a template for the solutions of tomorrow.” Dedren Snead Snead is a writer, artist, game developer, creative consultant, emerging technologist and futurist from Atlanta, Georgia. He uses graphic novels, animation, gaming and
