It all begins with an idea…
Introducing A 5K Fund:
Last year, I announced the first-ever 5k fund to support innovation and entrepreneurship within the Black tech community. The pandemic year, coupled with the social justice uprising, impacted Black people and People of Color significantly.
Taking a peer-to-peer approach, I awarded three grants to Black entrepreneurs with a predominantly Black founding team and students within the technical and business fields. While all applicants were impressive, selecting the winners was a tough call to make.
So I am excited to announce the winners of the grant, My Wig Wear, and Loft & Main. There is also a young student in Miami that won a grant, who prefers to keep their privacy. All of the winners missions aligned with the grant’s vision of championing innovation and upliftment of their communities.
And the winners are….
Loft & Main REI
Loft & Main is a platform driving real estate investment solutions for targeted communities, in addition to providing financial services and consulting expertise in Philadelphia.
How has winning a funding award impacted your business?
The funding award has positively impacted our business progress to date. The funding was critical for us to meet our funding goal for our first property purchase. Now that we've met our goal, we are diligently working to find our first deal in the Philadelphia market
How did you feel winning a funding award?
Upon being notified of winning the award, we were ecstatic! We've applied to several funding opportunities over the year and we were determined to not give up. We are grateful that Tosin saw something in Loft & Main Real Estate Investments and the work that we are doing to better our community.
As we continue to be in a global pandemic, what is next for your business? -
As previously mentioned, we are still on course to purchase our first property. The pandemic has caused the real estate market to be a bit more unstable, but we are still hopeful that we will find a deal that works for our business.
My Wig Wear
@MyWigWear is a hair accessory company that specializes in creating solutions for wigs and other hair extensions.
How has winning a funding award impacted your business?
Winning a funding award allowed us to focus on branding and our product imagery. This has always been on our radar but we always decided to allocate funds elsewhere. With the reward we were able to hire a product photographer to highlight the Strand Stand in ways we could not do ourselves.
How did you feel winning a funding award?
Winning a funding award felt amazing. The Strand Stand started off as random idea born out of frustration, so winning an award felt like validation/confirmation that we’re actually solving a problem within our niche.
As we continue to be in a global pandemic, what is next for your business?
We continue to pivot. The Strand Stand was initially created as a mobile wig stand for people on the go, and with the pandemic travel has come to a screeching halt. We quickly pivoted to highlight the other great benefits of the Strand Stand. While it is mobile and compact solution for traveling, its also an attractive wig stand and a styling tool. In 2021, we hope to keep gaining traction and visibility within the wig community and begin selling in new markets such as the UK and France.
How to apply
Look out for the next $5k fund opening. Subscribe to the newsletter below to keep posted with the latest