Trying to get your foot in the door in the corporate world as a Black woman isn’t easy. This becomes way more difficult when you’re also disabled. In 2023, the employment rate for people with disabilities in the US reached just 22.5%, and the numbers are even lower in tech. A global AWS community survey found that only 11% of respondents identified as having a disability or neurodiversity. Additionally, the unemployment rate for disabled people is reportedly twice as high as that of the general population, even though companies that are inclusive
Join our Patreon for extra-long episodes and ad-free content: https://www.patreon.com/techish Techish host Michael Berhane and TechCrunch reporter Dominic-Madori Davis unpack what’s really going on with funding for Black founders — and why so many are heading back to the 9-to-5. They also get into Elon Musk’s clash with X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, Meta’s smart glasses and the end of privacy, and why academics need to step out of the ivory tower. Follow Dom on Instagram (@dominicmadori) and subscribe to her Substack, The Black Cat. Chapters 00:28 Black Founders Are
On Friday, October 9, Black Tech Fest (BTF) hosted its fifth annual festival, which brings tech professionals, creatives, and academics. BTF hosts a range of workshops and talks by some of the biggest names in the tech and creative industry. For the first time since its existence, the UK government declined BTF’s invitation to speak at the festival. BTF planned to ask the UK government questions related to biases in AI, mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting, and the DEI pullback. As a festival that champions diversity and inclusion, it was
Pinky Cole Hayes has announced that Slutty Vegan is welcoming people to become franchisees of the company. Once a business becomes a franchise, it allows other people to sell goods through a licensing relationship. It also grants rights from one party to another. The new move will allow the business to expand. Cole hired former Planet Fitness and 7-Eleven exec Shawntel Daniels as franchise president, who has hinted that a high-profile celebrity will be the first franchisee. “I went to restructure on February 13, 2025, and then I repurchased the company
Meek Mill is reportedly developing an AI tool that will transform lives. “Working on a ai tool that can change the world lol,” the rapper wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on August 31. He has been teasing the project on X in recent weeks, suggesting it is one of his most ambitious ventures yet. “I can’t wait to get a chance to show the world how smart I really am!” he said on August 25. Days later, on September 2, he added: “I have some genius tech guy that’s building
The temporary surge in funding for Black startup founders after George Floyd’s murder was driven largely by investors who had never previously backed a Black entrepreneur, and most showed only surface-level support, new research from Cornell University shows. Funding returned to prior levels within two years. Cornell researchers analyzed PitchBook data on venture funding from 2020 to 2023, using algorithms and manual review to classify the race of 150,000 founders and 30,000 investors. Surge in funding in the wake of Black Lives Matter The researchers found that at the height
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
Arif Gursel, founder and CEO of Pan-African Center for Empowerment (PACE), has launched SEA619, a program created to support Black entrepreneurs in the Seattle area. Gursel is launching multiple programs within SEA619, taking an individual approach for each business. The organization’s name is a combination of the Seattle-Tacoma airport code, SEA, and 619 to honor Juneteenth. “I believe people come into things at varying needs, skill sets, and understandings, and when you try to put something on a rail, some of those carts go faster. Some of those carts go
Black-founded and centered membership club The Gathering Spot has announced its most ambitious plan to date: a 60,000-square-foot space in Atlanta called The Retreat. The new space features a rooftop pool, co-working spaces, and two restaurants, which will cost members $3,100 for an annual membership, according to The Inc. The Gathering Spot’s history The Gathering Spot appears to be on good, solid ground following its shaky merger with Greenwood. In 2022, it announced that Greenwood had acquired it. However, there were reported disputes between the two companies, including reports of a
The Black Founders Matter Fund is eyeing a second fund after fully deploying capital from its first. Launched in 2019, the early-stage fund invests in Black and other underrepresented founders building solutions in sectors such as health, wealth, and economic mobility. Managing Director Himalaya Rao-Potlapally says the experience has offered critical insights, not just for the fund’s strategy, but for how the venture ecosystem can better serve founders long term. Investing in Black startups Black Founders Matter began to gain traction in 2020, coinciding with the resurgence of the Black
