Omi Bell believes in Black women entrepreneurs. What’s more, she believes in making sure Black women entrepreneurs get the funding they need to start their businesses. So she is bringing her Black Girl Ventures (BGV) pitch event to New York City on November 7.
A computer scientist, Bell founded BGV nearly a decade ago to help small-business founders and entrepreneurs develop strategies for accessing capital. The BGV pitch event shows local entrepreneurs how to do this through its live crowdfunding competition — and also provides networking opportunities and a chance to win thousands of dollars in grant funding.
When she founded BGV in 2016, one of the organization’s first events was held in New York City. “We actually had a competition in New York,” Bell said. “And that was before we were capitalized. It was just me answering the question of why there are less than 1% of us who receive access to capital. That is still true today: It’s advanced a little bit, but not so much.”
Bell believes one way to get Black women entrepreneurs more funding is to crowdsource donations through a competition that could provide feedback to its contestants. The BGV pitch event follows that model. It features open applications, from which seven candidates are chosen. Those seven people participate in a live “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition like the one scheduled for New York on Nov. 7.
Black Girl Ventures photos
Following their pitches, the contestants have seven days to collect ratings and crowdfunding votes to support their business ideas. BGV’s algorithm, available on their platform, calculates the voting and donations: it divides the number of votes by the number of people and then divides the total amount of money raised by those people to determine a score. Prizes of $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000 are awarded to the top three highest-scoring contestants.
Even those not selected to compete for the top prizes will benefit from participating in the BGV pitch event, Bell promises. “The reason to be in the audience is for education: it’s to hear how people are getting feedback,” she said. But the number one thing is networking.
“Right now, we know we’re living through a loneliness epidemic as a society, so imagine what entrepreneurs are feeling,” Bell said. “Suppose you have decided to take a risk on your idea or the thing that you’re creating, or you’ve been in business for a while and you’ve kind of navigated and maybe hit some walls. The thing that’s going to keep you in business while accessing financial capital is definitely going to be your network: who you know, and who you surround yourself with to get answers on professional development, leadership growth, building your team, pitfalls, and lessons.
“So I think there are benefits to being in the audience, benefits to applying, and benefits to being part of the crowdfunding where you actually vote for someone with your participation.”
The Black Girl Ventures (BGV) pitch competition is free to attend and takes place on Nov. 7 from 6 to 8:30 pm at The Mezzanine by Liberty Church, 55 Broadway in Manhattan. For more info, visit www.blackgirlventures.org.
