Note from BW of Brazil: The rise of the black entrepreneur in Brazil has been one of the most intriguing developments in the past few decades. Quiet as its kept, non-white entrepreneurs actually make up the majority of entrepreneurs in the country. But it’s not exactly what you might think. For although they are more than half of all entrepreneurs, the flip side is that most of them don’t have employees, opened their own businesses due to be being frozen out of the job market and very few are able to attract the credit and investment they need to make their businesses grow. Today, more and more people are talking about the concept of Black Money and recently, a few of the most prominent of the bunch are pooling their resources to help other entrepreneurs find the path to success and hopefully pull up even more aspiring business people and thus help propel the advances of the Afro-Brazilian community as a whole. There’s still a LLOONNGG way to go, but this is still exciting news!
Learn about the Afro Hub, an acceleration program for black entrepreneurs
With the support of Facebook, an initiative carried out by by Feira Preta, Afro Business e Diaspora.Black was born with the aim of promoting networking and expanding business
By Rennan A. Julio
Afro Hub, an acceleration program for black entrepreneurs, was launched on Wednesday, May 30th, in an event held at the Estação Hack do Facebook, in São Paulo. Promoted by Feira Preta, Afro Business and Diaspora.Black, the initiative was born with the proposal of fostering business growth founded by black entrepreneurs with the use of technology.
According to data from the Instituto Locomotiva, with information from the PNAD, Brazil has more than 5.8 million black entrepreneurs with access to the internet, representing a movement of R$ 219.3 billion. According to the Sebrae, blacks are at the head of 51% of Brazilian companies.
Afro Hub will operate between June and November of this year, with activities on three fronts. In the first phase, ten entrepreneurs will be selected. The companies chosen will have access to mentorias with executives from Facebook, advanced tools of Instagram and Facebook, credit coupons for testing on the platform of network ads, access to the contents of e-commerce via partners, in addition to management, sales and marketing courses.
According to Adriana Barbosa, from Feira Preta, entrepreneurs interested can register for free for the acceleration process. To participate, however, businesses must be mature, selling products and services. In addition, businesses must operate in the field of questão social negra (black social issues) and also use the technology in its business.
In a second moment, Afro Hub will promote free meetings, in Estação Hack, in São Paulo, between black entrepreneurs. The events will be organized by Feira Preta, Afro Business e Diaspora.Black, with the aim of fostering networking in their businesses. “It is a kind of ocupação preta (black occupation) that will happen in a space that is not usually ours”, says Adriana.
For Carlos Humberto, of Diáspora.Black, Afro Hub represents an opportunity of access for the população negra (black population). “We are the majority, but we’ve hardly managed to reach spaces like these. It makes all the sense in the world that our threefold works in this initiative. We are moving forward with the possibility that the black population begin to have access to technologies that can boost their businesses.”
In the month of November, closure of the program, Afro Hub will also be present in other capitals of the country, among them Salvador (state of Bahia), Rio de Janeiro (state of Rio de Janeiro) and São Luís (state of Maranhão). The workshops will have the purpose of empowering black entrepreneurs regarding the use of social networks as a strategy to leverage business. Moreover, the visits will include lectures by specialists in management and business.
Access to investments
In this first moment, Afro Hub won’t come with financial contributions in selected businesses. However, Adriana says that throughout the year the program will debate the possibility of investments in selected businesses with potential partners. “We are well advanced in this. We believe that it will be possible to create an investment fund looking for diversity. We very much want this to happen by the end of the program,” she says.
Source: Revista PEGN
This is what I like to read about!! This is what I have been saying for a long time we need to start are own businesses lets stop depending on a job from white people. We can start our own economy and that’s what Afro-Hub intends to promote and that is take your money to black owned businesses and spread the support across that is the only way we win. Great article as always!! Peace……