Pharrell Williams Launches Initiative For Black, Latin Start-Ups

Pharrell Williams (Photo: DFree / Shutterstock.com)

GRAMMY winner PHARRELL WILLIAMS just announced an initiative to help BLACK and LATINO start-up founders achieve their dreams, according to CNN.com. Back in AUGUST, he and JAY-Z released the song "Entrepreneur," which offered a lyrical harbinger for his new nonprofit, BLACK AMBITION

"Our goal is to close the opportunity and wealth gap through entrepreneurship... investing capital and resources in high-growth startups founded by Black and Latinx HBCU students and entrepreneurs," he TWEETED earlier this week.

In an accompanying statement, WILLIAMS said, "Recent events and tragedies have illustrated the always existent stark divisions in the AMERICAN experience, and while entrepreneurship has long been a tenet of the AMERICAN dream, marginalized people have faced long-standing barriers to success. With BLACK AMBITION, the goal is to help strengthen the pipeline of talented entrepreneurs and close the opportunity and wealth gaps derived from limited access to capital and resources."

The nonprofit has created two prize competitions, the BLACK AMBITION PRIZE and a second award, the BLACK AMBITION HBCU PRIZE, which is targeted towards current and former students of HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, with grand prize winners receiving up to $250,000 in funding.

Applicants for both prizes must be BLACK or LATINO with a focus on tech, design, healthcare and consumer products and services. The grand prize winner for the BLACK AMBITION PRIZE will receive up to a $1 million in funding with at least nine additional teams receiving smaller prizes. The nonprofit says its long-term vision is "for inclusive entrepreneurship to be the new normal," and has already received almost $2 billion from corporate AMERICA to fight institutional racism.

Added WILLIAMS, "We want to lift our HBCUs because they lift so many of us. So, if we are going to do this, we need to do this together."

The deadline for pitch submissions is FEBRUARY 18th. Grand prize winners will be announced on DEMO DAY in JULY 2021 To learn more about the application process, visit here.

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