A part of me thought about closing EnrichHER and returning to a 9-to-5 life. It took more than a year to get my startup through regulatory compliance before we could even start helping people. At the time of the nationwide shutdown, the EnrichHER Funding platform had only been up and running for a year. During that year, I learned that many people who said they supported women-led businesses or Black-owned businesses wouldn’t put any actual dollars behind their public proclamations. It’s a reality that continues to frustrate me. 

Not gonna lie, going back to the easy life of a regular paycheck, especially during a pandemic, sounded amazing. I’m qualified to do a range of roles—COO, program manager, engineer, developer, accountant, consultant—so I wasn’t worried about finding a job. In fact, I kind of mentioned during a Zoom call that I might look for a job and immediately received two offers. Regardless, I’ve known for more than a decade that my motivation was helping people find their economic power. If not me, then who? Deep down, I knew that I couldn’t give up on EnrichHER.

Instead, I asked myself how EnrichHER could continue to support businesses with women in leadership positions. How could we support all kinds of businesses, not just startups and not just tech companies? Did our existing funding model need tweaking? After months of work, I am ready to unveil EnrichHER Accelerator + Funder Matching Program, our new program for funders who want to support vetted New Majority founders whose businesses are underinvested. 

EnrichHER Accelerator + Funder Matching Program companies have been in business for at least a year. EnrichHER, in general, does not currently accept early-stage startups. Who knows, I may choose to create a specific program for that kind of company at a future date, perhaps for founders who are college students and recent graduates, but for now, I am focused primarily on businesses that already have at least $150K in yearly revenue. Our first cohort of EnrichHER Accelerator + Funder Matching Program companies grossed between $75K and $4M in 2019. I focus on founders who belong to underrepresented and underinvested groups in their respective industries. 

For example, a study revealed that Black women received .0006% of venture capital investment between 2009 and 2017. Despite Black women being the most educated people in the country and starting businesses in greater numbers than any other racial demographic, Silicon Valley doesn’t trust the entrepreneurial skills of women like me, apparently, who have two bachelor’s degrees, a master’s degree in information technology, and a Ph.D. in systems engineering. Which is exactly why I founded in EnrichHER in 2018 and launched it in 2019. My vision is to use EnrichHER to support 100,000 businesses with women founders, women CEOs, and women in leadership positions. And to make funding those businesses accessible for all kinds of investors, not just the wealthy.