We recently wrapped up our 8th year of running the Majira Project accelerator program. Over these past eight years, we’ve provided over 8,000 hours of pro bono consulting and coaching to 158 companies, 96% of which are led by Black & Brown founders and 59% of which are led by women. Our data shows that 91% of our companies are still in business post-program, and on average, companies increased their revenue by at least $500K a year after the cohort. Collectively, the companies in our portfolio have created over 3,000 jobs, generated more than $440M in annual recurring revenue last year, and have raised more than $1.4B in funding. We know that these numbers rival most other accelerator programs in the space, especially when you normalize for Black and Brown founders. Thus, we are punching above our weight with a skeleton crew and are excited about the added impact we can have with more resources to add capacity and drive momentum as we approach facilitating our 10th cohort next year.
Malaika Ventures General Partner and Browning the Green Space (BGS) Co-Founder, President, and Executive Director Kerry Bowie has 25 years of experience in private, public, and nonprofit management. Kerry previously served as Associate Commissioner and Director of Brownfields & Environmental Justice at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) in both the Patrick and Baker Administrations; worked as a manager in Facilities, Environmental, Safety, and Health at Texas Instruments’ (TI’s) Research & Development Fab in Texas (Dallas); and grew up in a fenceline community in Alabama (Anniston). In addition to Malaika and BGS, Kerry serves as a partner at Msaada Partners, a Boston-based consultancy he launched to provide technical assistance and promote social impact in communities of color. Kerry also co-founded the Majira Project to address the lack of diversity in the traditional entrepreneurial ecosystem and the disparity in resources available that he observed while working in various entrepreneurship programs across Boston. Kerry holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management as well as an MSE in environmental engineering from University of Michigan and an SB in environmental engineering science from MIT.