Last week was an amazing week for me as a social entrepreneur and black woman! Intersectionality is often left out of the conversations regarding entrepreneurship and small business, yet the reality of it is quite vivid! This year I attended New Orleans Entrepreneur Week or NOEW armed with the data from #ProjectDiane I searched for a reason why investment in black women founders has become even worse. I could find no definitive answer so I had to come up with my own conclusion.
The same people who have been in charge of deciding where "smart ideas" come from cannot now be expected to be in charge of diversity! Our nation's business leaders cannot continue to get their "on the ground" reports on impacts from the very same people who weren't investing in first place! There was much talk this year about the lack of investment, sustainability and a lot of congratulations on jobs well done! Only the data doesn't match up! Not with ProjectDiane nor a report where the CIA found the economic inequality in the city of New Orleans is on par with Zambia post-Katrina.
This is why my win during my NOEW pitch with LaunchNOLA as People Choice earlier this week was so poignant to me. Since 2011 I've sought to work with organizations in the city of New Orleans to develop my social enterprise. Much of the journey was just the path of developing a business idea into a business that makes money. Unfortunately, and data proves, a lot of it was manure! The best part of the journey has been connecting with people and providing a product that will not only benefit the consumer market, the production cycle provides a sustainable method for development of the community and environment.
The second part of this just begins for me. After some glitches and human error, a new crowdfund campaign is live on Start Some Good. Investment has left me behind, and lives are needlessly impacted. But together we can make a difference!
With your support, Nkwa Nsuo~Fresh Water Depots can reach people who right now are not drinking safe water! Safe water will continue to be a world issue and solutions are needed that solve more than one problem. Venture capital and venture incubators must start looking at entrepreneurs that look like the people they are serving with their enterprises for investment and to support. But until then I have to count on people choosing to take action and make a difference! I hope that's you!
Click here to become a Rock Star, Supporter, Booster, Changemaker or ANGEL! Because we all need angels!
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