Nasdaq Foundation Partnership with 1863 Ventures Fosters Networks and Insights for Under-Represented Innovators in Business

The Nasdaq Foundation has partnered with 1863 Ventures in pursuit of equalizing the playing field for Black and Brown entrepreneurs. While under-represented communities have battled systemic barriers, the potential for innovation across the marketplace has been stunted. 1863 Venture’s 3R’s program provides riveting guidance and expertise for entrepreneurs to tackle these obstacles head-on in a post-pandemic world.

The 3R’s program contains three key components: Recover, Rebuild and Resilience. 1863 Ventures founder Melissa Bradley originally crafted this program to extend coaching, content, and capital for Black business owners who are still recovering from the destruction caused by COVID-19. 

After the 3R’s program’s completion, entrepreneurs are eligible to receive a $5,000 grant to support their business strategy, while walking away with the ability to enhance their business model in a variety of ways.

Bradley, a serial entrepreneur, investor, professor and researcher, noticed that there were tons of great ideas in the Black community but no way to do them. In response, 1863 Ventures, a business development nonprofit accelerator and venture capital fund, has since launched various opportunities for entrepreneurs to build peer networks and grow capital. 

“There's no roadmap on how to start a business,” said Bradley at Nasdaq’s first annual Purpose Forum. “We focus on running the business, and we spend a lot of time helping [entrepreneurs] get comfortable with numbers and having a CEO dashboard,” she added.

Ìpàdé

The reputation of Bradley and 1863 Ventures alike have attracted numerous entrepreneurs who continue to benefit from the 3R’s program. Elizabeth Gay, long-time follower of Bradley, jumped at the opportunity to join the program once she learned it was targeting Black-owned businesses in Washington DC, one of the 16 cities offering the program.

When Gay sought a community for progressive Black women but failed to find one, she created her own. Gay founded Ìpàdé with the goal to offer a safe space for Black, Indigenous, women and femmes of color (cis, trans, and gender non-binary) who want to socially remold society for the better. In the West African Yoruba language, Ìpàdé is a term that depicts a sense of gathering and coming together. The name embodied Gay’s vision when she founded her business back in 2013.

“Where can justice-minded women and femmes of color find training, mentoring, and community to support them as they step into their power? What safe spaces exist for us to learn, strategize, and organize in a world that is hostile to us? Where can we build community among people working to create a free future for people of color? The answer is Ìpàdé,” said Gay.

When coming across the 3R’s program, Gay was seeking a community of her own in the business world while she was fostering one in her backyard. The program gave her the opportunity to connect with insightful founders and knowledgeable resources to take Ìpàdé to the next level. She’s since been on track to become a more efficient business owner via the coaching and templates that cover all aspects of business. “Information is power,” Gay said, “and connections are currency.” 

BatteryXchange

Aubrey Yeboah agrees with Gay that information is power — literally. The BatteryXchange software that he created informs users where they can go to keep their mobile devices powered up.

Like Gay, Yeboah spearheaded his business in response to something lacking in his own life. Charging his mobile devices was quite the challenge while he was pursuing his MBA in China. Whether he was listening to music, working on a homework assignment, getting directions on the GPS, or staying connected with friends and family, he struggled finding and maintaining charged devices. By the end of Yeboah’s program, BatteryXchange was born. Once users download the app, they can conveniently find kiosks in popular locations to keep their devices charged. 

“I wanted to find a way to provide a convenient and accessible way for people like me to stay connected - while on the move.” While Yeboah has created a digital network to support the tech community, he’s also been engaging with his newfound network in the 3R’s program. The program gives founders like Yeboah a chance to collaborate with like-minded entrepreneurs, mentors, and community supporters to achieve their dreams.

KweliTV

3R’s participant DeShuna Spencer likewise founded kweliTV with the mission of creating and communicating the Black narrative through accessible media. Her media company is designed to convey the Black experience through award-winning films, documentaries, children’s shows, along with an array of content curated for the streaming service. 

“The inspiration for kweliTV was born out of desperation,” Spencer confessed. “As a Black-owned media company, our mission is to amplify global black stories while also creating a safe space for our customers to decompress from the constant images of Black death with films and docs of Black excellence, hope and resilience.”

So far, Spencer has found the 3R’s program to be valuable for navigating new territories within her business journey, including the curriculum on talent management and hiring practices. On a larger scale, this program’s support of diverse entrepreneurs plays a critical role for Spencer and the multitude of others looking to scale their businesses, but don’t have access to the resources or funding that their white counterparts do.

The Nasdaq Foundation and 3R’s Partnership

As Spencer’s professional dreams are coming true, countless others are still being developed in other minority communities. That is why communicating the 3R’s program in a retainable way is essential to its wider success. To support wider accessibility of the 3R’s program, the Nasdaq Foundation is offering content in Spanish so that Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs within the Hispanic community will benefit from the grant opportunity and useful information to help them navigate and sustain their businesses. 

Entrepreneurs like Gay, Yeboah, and Spencer are three of many 3R’s participants who’ve taken advantage of the grant program to take their businesses to the next level. Together, the Nasdaq Foundation and 1863 Ventures plan to continue their expansion of the program to reach even more business owners and cultivate accessible networks for entrepreneurs to tap into.