At BIA, we imagine a world where emerging entrepreneurs have access to everything they need to build profitable, viable and sustainable ventures.
They are not confined to their network, but instead plugged into a cross-national community of providers and funders working synchronously to solve wealth inequity through the fastest growing and rising entrepreneurial demographics
We know there are enough resources for all entrepreneurs to have a fighting chance—despite whatever challenges they and their communities have had to face. A coordinated, well-supported ecosystem of networks, markets and capital increases the likelihood of today’s entrepreneur achieving not only success, but generational wealth.
Our evolving theory of change includes three action areas necessary for fostering an inclusive economy:
Build
Everyone has a dream, but every dream doesn’t have a runway. While talent and creativity exists everywhere, the tools to actualize innovation often depend on resources rising entrepreneurs do not have. BIA is building that runway.
Proposed and existing projects within this action area include:
The Infrastructure Laboratory will pilot a variety of innovations designed to build and strengthen the structures needed for an efficient and high-performing ecosystem. Strategies would merge technology, community building and communications.
The Pathways Project will give shape to the entrepreneur’s journey outlining key milestones and resources at various stages along the way, according to industry (i.e., tech, healthcare, retail) and/or business type (i.e., service v product).
The Shared Services Model will allows us to procure high-capacity black-led agencies and firms to provide operational support (administrative, accounting, digital marketing, etc.) to our members at little-to-no cost.
The Learning Agenda allows us to provide curated traning to support the professional development of our members and the organizational development of their nonprofits and social enterprises.
The Grants Pool allows us to source and direct resources to our member organizations in ways that create efficiencies for our partners and promote sustainability among our membership
Imagine
The space between a problem and a solution is called imagination—and every innovation starts as an idea. BIA is cultivating spaces to ideate, dream and imagine an inclusive economy because innovation shouldn’t be a luxury, but a right!
Proposed and existing projects within this action area include:
The Innovative Leaders Fellowship is a cohort-based opportunity that allows fellows to focus on developing their leadership skills and visioning their career, while strengthening their organization. The opportunity would provide participants with one-year’s salary.
The Black Creative Residency Program will give Black entrepreneurs and creative technologists up to 8 weeks in Atlanta, connect them to key business, cultural, and tech stakeholders, and give them access to equipment and workspace.
The Decade of Black Innovation Campaign is a ten-year movement designed to make noise, raise money and build power through a multi-faceted digital campaign that centers Black innovation.
The Black Innovation CensUs is a national inventory of Black innovator support organizations (BISOs) dedicated to ensuring fair access to the innovation economy.
Content Sponsorship supports content strategies to come out of our membership such as podcasts, blogs, live streams, digital shows, etc.
Amplify
Affecting widescale impact requires scale. By fusing technology with smart community organizing and communications, we’ll be able to achieve unparalleled reach and transformative change.
Proposed and existing projects within this action area include:
The Corporate Accountability Campaign will track how companies are following through on their financial commitments to economic equality and social justice and develop strategies to ensure accountability and the effective deployment of resources.
The Corporate Accountability Campaign will track how companies are following through on their financial commitments to economic equality and social justice and develop strategies to ensure accountability and the effective deployment of resources.
Our Sector Building strategy will convene stakeholders across and within stakeholder types (i.e. foundations, local governments, economic development arms, corporations, universities, etc.) to begin to foster the sort of creative idea generation necessary to tackle the range of challenges facing the Black innovation economy.
The Future of Black Innovation Summit and Black Innovation Week will be national gatherings which focus on building the future of Black innovation, today.