Closing the Racial and Gender Wealth Gap via Small Business Ownership
March 22, 2022
by an investor from Babson College - F.W. Olin Graduate School in Boston, MA, USA
New Majority Capital Founding Partners featured here on the Higher Purpose Venture Capital blog speaking about Small Business Ownership via ETA to help close the racial and gender wealth gap
from Carnegie Mellon University in Philadelphia, PA, USA
Or are we approaching the problem too late in the funnel? My MBA program was 30% women and the entrepreneurship program was almost exclusively male. It was also largely white. So even if women wanted to go into entrepreneurship at a 50% higher rate than men, fewer women would end up in the field. Same with people of color.
How many boys from communities of color, or girls from any community, grow up thinking that business ownership is an option? Probably not a huge number. How many aren't given the chance to develop skillsets (either through jobs at good companies, networking with HNW individuals, or entry to good business schools) necessary to be a successful business owner? Should we, the ETA community, be providing funds or mentorships at the high school or college level, rather than capital to for mid-career professionals, to increase the top of the funnel? Or should we be providing dedicated capital in order to help those near the bottom of the funnel complete a successful acquisition?
I don't know the *correct* answer to the these questions, but would enjoy a conversation with someone who has some insight. My goal post-acquisition is to go into impact investing (my early career was impact evaluation of socioeconomic development projects) and I love to discuss it.
from Harvard University in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia