Minority-Led

UMKC pitch contest returning with $90K in prizes; spots remain for emerging startups

By Tommy Felts / March 29, 2023

The 2023 edition of the Regnier Venture Creation Challenge (RVCC), an annual pitch competition hosted by UMKC, is expected to award $90,000 in equity-free funding to student entrepreneurs and Kansas City businesses. Ben Williams, managing director at the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, shared his excitement for this year’s event — set for April…

He’s building a more welcoming (and eco-friendly) KC, but this entrepreneur’s vision comes with a catch: It isn’t a one-man job 

By Tommy Felts / March 29, 2023

Reda Ibrahim’s home is open to everyone, he shared, especially for those who feel like they don’t belong anywhere.  “I have a big magnet toward everyone who doesn’t fit in. I faced a lot of racism; I have faced the struggle to be accepted. [When I came to the United States] seven, eight years ago,…

Art Junkez put Chicano custom culture on canvas with a colorful salute to family roots

By Tommy Felts / March 29, 2023

The Art Junkez — a venture crafted by a Westside-raised brother and sister and their spouses — set out to create “something out of nothing” in celebration of their Mexican-American heritage, Selena Moran and Jaime Calderon shared. Growing up, it wasn’t easy to find gifts that reflected their culture — like something for their grandma…

$60K in pitch competition winnings will help Black-owned businesses drive employment, book purchases

By Tommy Felts / March 25, 2023

The owner of a mobile phlebotomy company took home the $30,000 grand prize at Friday’s We Are Black pitch competition — the first such event organized by Kansas City G.I.F.T. LaVita Green said the funding and resources from G.I.F.T. will help Caresticks Mobile Phlebotomy, which provides patients with on-site and mobile phlebotomy services, to grow…

Hope starts at home: Economic mobility, inclusion hinge on realities of identity, panel says

By Tommy Felts / March 24, 2023

Editor’s note: The Junior League of Kansas City — through its C3KC conference — is an advertiser with Startland News. An important step in bridging the wealth gap and building equity is meeting people at their level of readiness, Terrell Jolly shared. “Because if you do not, they will inconvenience you in some kind of way and that’s the sad…