Black Women Talk Tech And Their Mission For More Minority- And Women-Owned Businesses

Do you want to learn more about black women in tech? Did you wish there was a community just for this? There is. Check out the video to learn all about it!

Welcome back to Bold TV with Holland Haiis. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe to Bold TV for entrepreneur news, and all things Bold.

Joining Holland Haiis today are the creators and co-founders of the Black Women Talk Tech, Regina Gwynn and Esosa Ighodaro-Johnson. We talk about their company, conference, minority founders and more.

How did this conference get started?

These two budding entrepreneurs started this company five years ago. Their backgrounds are radically different: one coming from banking and the other coming from retail. They were both searching for a community of women who were building big ideas. They realized that you need to have a great understanding of the tech landscape in order to flourish in it. So they created this community of founders who are looking to build and grow their businesses to the next level. When they started they expected a small group of 10-15 people but found that over 300 people were trying to join. This is how Roadmap To Billions, their annual February conference began. But this year because of the C-19 pandemic, it is taking place August 12th and 13th. Regina and Esosa welcome investors, founders, tech leaders, individuals who work in tech, tech enthusiasts, and so on. This panel will hold workshops, keynotes, panel discussions and even host recruiters talking about ways to get a job with large companies like Visa, Netflix, Roku, Shipt, Happy Money and so on.

There has been a push for diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in all industries. Have these entrepreneurs seen a difference in the tech industry?

Regina believes it will take time to see change. For now, she sees that more people are investing in the early stages of startups and startups run by people of color. These changes can be seen but they are happening in ‘trickles.’ In terms of lasting impact, which may be more meaningful, is not yet determined. For now, what we can hope for is that these calls for DE&I stay loud and consistent, because only then we would see that lasting impact.

Why does a funding gap still exist for minority entrepreneurs?

There are many factors that go into needing the necessary capital for these minority entrepreneurs to be able to grow their businesses. There is racial bias and if we look at the numbers only 2% of funding goes to women and only 1% goes to black people. A shocking 0.0006% of funding goes to black women. There are several issues in play. The people who have the money to invest may not have enough social capital. Then there’s the idea of pattern matching so since technology is such a high-risk industry and there is less data to validate early-stage ideas, these investors have to base their decisions on the past. So if they have only invested in Stanford graduates who are white men then that is what they will continue to invest in them for the future. This leaves off the table everyone else, which is what Regina and Esosa are trying to change by building more connections and de-risk the idea of investing in a woman or person of color.

What do you think about Esosa and Regina’s work? Will you be joining the Roadmap To Billions conference? Let us know in the comments below!

Learn more about Black Women Talk Tech here

👇 FOLLOW ESOSA IGHODARO👇

Instagram: @anythingbutsoso

Twitter: @Sosaspeaks

👇 FOLLOW BLACK WOMEN TALK TECH👇

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Twitter: @BWTalkTech

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