Creating a Non-profit That Isn't a Charity with Shelly Omilâdè Bell, Founder of Black Girl Ventures Foundation
Dear FoundHer...Real Founder Stories for Women Small Business Owners
Lindsay Pinchuk
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2022
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today’s episode, host Lindsay Pinchuk is joined in conversation with Shelly Omilâdè Bell, Founder of Black Girl Ventures Foundation to discuss how she has transformed entrepreneurship by reimagining the way Black and Brown women founders get access to financial and social capital.
Founded in 2016 by Serial Entrepreneur and Computer Scientist Shelly Omilâdè Bell, Black Girl Ventures Foundation (BGV) addresses the unique challenges Black and Brown women face in accessing social and financial capital to grow their businesses. The BGV Style pitch competition is the largest pitch competition globally for Black and Brown women founders. It uniquely combines the premise of Shark Tank and Kickstarter by activating community participation in donating to support women-owned businesses directly. To date, BGV has funded 264 women of color, held over 30 BGV Pitch Programs across 12 cities, and served over 2,000 participants. Together, BGV pitch participants are collectively generating over $10M in revenue and supporting 3,000 jobs making it the largest ecosystem builder for Black/Brown women founders on the East Coast.
Tune into this week’s episode of Dear FoundHer… to learn more about how leadership, cultural competency, and teamwork have played an essential role in building and strengthening communities across America by making entrepreneurship equitable for Black and Brown women.
Quotes:
• “Black women have started businesses at six times the national average, yet are receiving less than 1% of venture capital.” (12:24-12:33)
• “To date, we have funded over 270 women, have efforts across about 15 cities, and our founders represent about 10 million in revenue and about 3000 jobs.” (23:28-23:39)
• “We need more people to have cultural competency in order to be able to really create an ecosystem.” (24:51-21:56)
• “I don't refer to businesses as a baby because hopefully one day you sell your business but you never sell your baby. So I tell people that your business is not a baby, but your business does have a soul.” (28:23-28:34)
• “Everything we’re doing is dictated by need. A lot of the things you do as entrepreneurs are dictated by need.” (29:12-29:20)
• “Our main core values are hustle, expand, commit, and harmonize.” (35:49-35:54)
• “A lot of times, entrepreneurs want approval from investors or people they think know better. But ultimately, revenue is your validator.” (38:06-38:16)
Connect with Shelly Omilâdè Bell:
http://www.instagram.com/iamshellybell
http://www.instagram.com/blackgirlventures
Please don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe. Want even more resources for growing your business? Join the Dear FoundHer Facebook Community for more discussion with other female founders, business owners, and entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dearfoundher
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For more from Lindsay Pinchuk:
• Visit her website to grab one of her FREE quick guides: https://www.lindsaypinchuk.com/
• Or follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaypinchuk/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Dear Founder, as you know, there's no blueprint for entrepreneurship. You wear so many hats, |
| 0:09.7 | you burn the minite oil, you pour your heart and soul into everything that you do. But without a |
| 0:14.8 | doubt, the journey is worth every single second that you put into it. I'm Lindsay Pinchuk, |
| 0:20.5 | host of the Dear Founder podcast. |
| 0:22.7 | I say this because I've lived it for over a decade. |
| 0:25.8 | I started my first company with $500 in my pocket and a baby in my belly. |
| 0:30.5 | I grew it and I sold it all. |
| 0:32.7 | This podcast is my weekly letter to you. |
| 0:35.5 | We'll talk all things starting, growing, nurturing, |
| 0:39.1 | and in some cases even selling a business. Together with some of my closest contacts, I'm here to |
| 0:44.5 | help you find your own success, whatever that means to you. The ride as a founder is the ride |
| 0:49.8 | of your life. So come on and join me for another episode that will get you one step closer to |
| 0:55.0 | reaching your own founder goals. Welcome back to another episode of Dear Founder. I'm really excited |
| 1:02.2 | for you to meet today's guest, Shelly Omelotti Bell, founder of Black Girl Ventures. She's doing |
| 1:07.4 | amazing things for Black and Brown female founders. But before I bring Ommi on, I want to remind you about the dear founder Facebook community. |
| 1:15.5 | It's a place for founders to connect, offer advice, and ask for support. |
| 1:19.5 | Make sure to click the link in the show notes and request to join. |
| 1:22.3 | It's free. |
| 1:23.2 | If you want a little more for me, I invite you to join me once a month in my new exclusive group, Found Her Confidential. This is a once a month Zoom lesson plus Q&A that will cover |
| 1:33.1 | various topics on founding, growing, and selling a business. From time to time, I'll even |
| 1:37.8 | bring on special guests and more. Click the link in my show notes. We're kicking off in April. |
| 1:43.7 | She's a system systems disruptor. |
... |
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