GEWKC conversation: Black women are building tech — but are we building them?
November 16, 2020 | Startland News Staff
A coalition of organizations working to connect early-stage founders to critical resources — with an emphasis on equitable access — is shining the spotlight on Black women in tech during this week’s premier entrepreneurship event series, Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City.
“Black women are launching businesses at the fastest clip of any racial group. Despite this, Black women founders continue to be the least funded and often face significant barriers when building tech companies,” event organizers said. “What role does our ecosystem play in supporting Black women in tech? What’s working — and what isn’t?”
Set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, the community conversation is expected to draw inspiration from specific Black women and their experiences navigating the local and national tech startup ecosystems, said Dan Smith, co-founder of The Porter House KC.
Panelists for the conversation include Shelley Cooper, co-founder of SureShow; Carlanda McKinney, founder of Bodify; Jannae Gammage, CEO of The Market Base; and Tammy Buckner, founder of Techquity Digital.
Click here to register for the Black Women in Tech event.
“We have four powerful Black women who are tech builders locally, and a national powerful Black woman representing the national tech landscape in Felecia Hatcher [co-founder of the Center for Black Innovation],” Smith detailed.
The Porter House KC, Digital Sandbox KC and Square One Business Services at Mid-Continent Public Library organized the event.
The GEWKC conversation — broadcasting live Wednesday from the Medallion Theater at Plexpod Westport Commons — is set to stream on The Porter House KC’s Facebook and YouTube pages, with a Zoom link available for those not on the social media platforms, Smith said.
Click here to explore additional Global Entrepreneurship Week Kansas City events, running Monday through Friday, primarily on virtual platforms.
“For this year, we asked entrepreneurs what they needed most to start, recover and make their businesses more resilient for the future, and the entrepreneur community submitted events that fit those key areas of assistance,” said David Cawthon, communications coordinator for KCSourceLink, which powers the week-long event series.
Click here to learn more about the vision for GEWKC 2020.
Among this week’s most popular GEWKC events by pre-registration, according to KCSourceLink:
Tuesday
- 8 a.m. — Do Not Hire Your First Sales Person Until You Attend This Event
- 11 a.m. — Designing Impact for Social Acceleration
Wednesday
- 10 a.m. — Financial Literacy
- 10 a.m. — How to Access Alternative Financing
- 11:30 a.m. — The Care and Feeding of the Small Business Owner
- 12 p.m. — Using Social Capital to Maximize Business Outputs and Outcomes
- 12 p.m. — Grow Your Mutually Supportive Ecosystem to Grow Your Business
Thursday
- 10 a.m. — Problem Solving and Idea Mastermind
- 12 p.m. — Keynote: No More Excuses. Own Your Results! with Marquita Miller
Friday
- 3:30 p.m. — The Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile (EMP)
Not sure how to attend? Click here to learn more about the free GEWKC entrepreneurship celebration.
Featured Business
2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
RFP360 doubles in size since December; team back under one roof with move to new space
RFP360 is coming full circle, said Stuart Ludlow, as the software company he co-founded with David Hulsen in the Kansas City Startup Village once again levels up to accommodate a swelling team and increasing market demand. “We’re moving into a place — scale and scope — that Dave and I envisioned,” said Ludlow, who also…
Super Dispatch expands reach into auto transport, launches car shipping platform
The “Amazon experience” is coming to the world of car shipping as Super Dispatch launches a new platform to bring the auto transportation industry up to the speed companies are demanding: now, said Bek Abdullayev. “We are creating a better way to transport cars with new technology that solves major problems for shippers and carriers,”…
‘Queer Eye’ hero paints an ‘inner circle’ for young Latino artists craving a creative outlet
Deanna Munoz’s childhood dream to become an artist — once faded and long forgotten — was revived years later by her 6-year-old daughter, said Munoz, founder of the Latino Arts Foundation. “I wanted to be a graphic designer, but I kind of got caught up in a lot of different things when I was young…
Two Missouri biology students just wanted an ‘A’ — ultimately they devised a treatment for Crohn’s Disease
Launching a biotech company based on a class project took the quest for an ‘A’ to a whole new level for two Missouri University of Science and Technology students — founders of Bionic Bowell. Prompted by professors to find a use for a special ion-interacting glass compound, Vanessa Mahan and Catherine Pollman devised an ingestible…