This post has been building since I abruptly ended my second failed crowdfund campaign April 1, 2016. That campaign to be able to have a solution ready for what I dreaded- Ghana flooding again.
About a week ago on a call with another local entrepreneur, who has successfully raised money in and out of the city of New Orleans, he made a passing comment about Dinner Lab. We met through the entrepreneurial community here in New Orleans and have over the years discussed how things are in the city. He's a progressive so we have great conversations. I was expressing my frustrations with my latest round of rejection for funding and he mentioned Dinner Lab. But it wasn't until I started to do a Google search that it really started to pain me along with following the social media news of yet another year of Ghana flooding.
Last year I devastatingly watched as Ghana flooded days after I received my rejection letter for funding from the Global Innovation Fund. Wishing me well in finding funding to help fight poverty. Their caveat to applying is that they do not give you feedback as to why your application has not been selected. But #ProjectDiane is probably the best explanation and Wired Magazine talks about it in this article.
About a week ago on a call with another local entrepreneur, who has successfully raised money in and out of the city of New Orleans, he made a passing comment about Dinner Lab. We met through the entrepreneurial community here in New Orleans and have over the years discussed how things are in the city. He's a progressive so we have great conversations. I was expressing my frustrations with my latest round of rejection for funding and he mentioned Dinner Lab. But it wasn't until I started to do a Google search that it really started to pain me along with following the social media news of yet another year of Ghana flooding.
Last year I devastatingly watched as Ghana flooded days after I received my rejection letter for funding from the Global Innovation Fund. Wishing me well in finding funding to help fight poverty. Their caveat to applying is that they do not give you feedback as to why your application has not been selected. But #ProjectDiane is probably the best explanation and Wired Magazine talks about it in this article.
It's easy to say that I am being rejected because I don't have a viable plan. The lack of feedback from the Global Innovation Fund would presuppose I'm not what they are looking for even though I deliver to their target market! But the feedback I got from investors this year that read my plan one who had previously expressed interest in the water filters replied that he wasn't investing because of other investments and another suggested I become a nonprofit. But I doubt funding demographics are much different in that field. I'll never forget the surprise on the face of a CEO from a local incubator when he saw me at an outside pitch event from New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, the selection did not go through their team. That time it was an outside selection process and once again I was the only black woman in the room pitching. At an outside event of NOEW's this year I was awarded People's Choice. Yet it did not translate into the capital needed to implement the solution. Whether it is Venture Capital or Angel Investors we need you to rethink how your investment can make an impact on economies and communities. Dinner Lab's failure is not a text book exercise but it will impact a lot of people's lives. There is always the ripple effect that exists and this failure is not just the Founder's but the investing community here locally.
The Founder of Dinner Lab is on safari in Kenya this month. It was my goal this June to begin delivering safe water. Instead it is a June with people who are surviving another disaster unprepared in Ghana. I am heartbroken.
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