10 Black tech founders launch this week in Baltimore
My heart is full this week…… ten tech founders. Ten black tech founders just graduated this week! These brilliant founders are embarking on unbelievable journeys and who they are, what they do, and what they represent matters. It’s never been about just the business and making money for these folks, they often speak about the impact they want to make on this world and their communities and I’m inspired by that!
It means the world to see these black founders launching companies that are striving to make such an impact on their communities. It’s powerful to see this network of CEOs coming together that can support one another as they grow. The tech community is typically such an offender within the diversity and inclusion space and its through powerful diverse founders like this that the scales starts to shift.
Accelerate Baltimore
Five founders just graduated out of the ETC (Emerging Technology Centers) Accelerate Baltimore 13-week accelerator. I had the honor of spending time with all of these amazing CEO’s. They were selected out of a pool of over 85 applicants for this amazing journey. Though I have only known some of them for a short few months, I am blown away by their businesses and growth this year. I am honored that the Hack Baltimore team, Dionne, and I were able to support them in a small way in their journey. Kudos to John W. Davis II, JD along with Deborah Tillett for running an amazing program focused on Civic Tech.
Meet the Accelerate Baltimore cohort:
The Black Brain Trust, CEO Angel St. Jean — A Justice/ Equity/ Diversity/ Inclusion (JEDI) scoring system created as a standard for companies to measure how equity is centered in their business practices.
FullBlast S.T.E.A.M., CEO Muhummad Najee Ullah — An entertainment/ed-tech company bridging the digital divide by engaging youth in robotics, drones, 3D printing, AR/VR.
Fight Blight Bmore, CEO Nneka N’namdi — An economic, environmental, and social justice initiative addressing the issue of BLIGHT, lead by the village and informed by the data.
Supir, CEO Patrick Parents — A marketplace platform for CDL drivers and transit, delivery, sanitation and other companies to fill short-term personnel gaps with the real-time deployment of ‘contract’ drivers.
DIPS Technologies d/b/a Sankofa Community Network, CEO Nancy Goldring — A public wifi mesh network connecting a network of telehealth kiosks for disease monitoring and doctor/patient visits located in faith based, senior and public housing facilities in urban and underserved communities
You can watch the full Accelerate Baltimore Closing Ceremony here below
Hutch
If that wasn’t enough, five more companies also graduated from Hutch, the Digital Services Startup Studio today. Hutch is a very intense 24 month program that helps new digital services companies enter the marketplace. We’ve laughed and cried together over these past two years and I couldn’t be more proud of all of our founders. Running this program for the past 2 years has been one of the greatest joys of my life and you’ve all inspired and challenged me more than you know. Thank you to the entire Hutch and Fearless staff for supporting Hutch. I’d also like to offer a huge thanks to our supporting cast — all of our coaches, partners, mentors, and speakers. You all are the best!!!!
Meet the Hutch Class of 2020 Cohort:
INSHIFT, CEO Shanda Wilson — INSHIFT aligns technology with vision to provide greater, transformative solutions that help our customers, employees, & community achieve their goals. INSHIFT believes that promoting continuous learning, developing innovative technical solutions, exercising integrity, and civic mindfulness will empower positive changes in our communities, our country, and our world.
UpLight, CEO Koffi Harrison — UpLight sparks greatness in programs by powering successful delivery through management services. Sometimes, all a program needs is a little more power. UpLight believes every idea, every initiative, every project deserves consistent and quality service built upon understanding and integrity to be great.
XCell, CEO Felix Gilbert — XCell is a digital agency that creates platforms for government and nonprofits. XCell bridges the gap between human centered design and engineering. XCell believes in digital media’s power to transform the world, and we create beautiful, seamless experiences that improve users’ lives and leave a lasting legacy.
EY3 Technologies, CEO Summer Bazemore, COO Terry Bazemore — The company provides technical assistance in systems engineering and cybersecurity services. EY3 builds innovative and intelligent solutions delivered with integrity. EY3 believes that while talent opens the door, character is what sustains them.
MASTERMND, CEO Aaron Brooks — MASTERMND was created to created to focus on community engagement, cultivating skills and working with companies. MASTERMND is a technical talent pipeline company aimed at filling the widening technical skills gap by attacking it from every angle
Here is the teaser recap graduation video and you can watch the full graduation here:
Please join me in honoring and celebrating these founders!!!!! We’re so proud of you! Now, go change the world!
