Black Men Ventures launches in Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. rapper and entrepreneur Alfred Duncan recently launched the Black Men Ventures (BMV) to support black men entrepreneurs and close up the racial wealth gap.

“When you invest into Black entrepreneurs, then that brings the money to the community or to the people, and then they are able to do different things for their community,” Duncan said. “I think that’s where we lack – is that there’s not enough entrepreneurs that can pour into their individual communities, and then share their stories and their experiences, and people that look like them in their community can see that they can do it too.”

Duncan was inspired to launch BMV to raise more financial and human capital, according to Washington Business Journal. The new all-black-men organization was created after Shelly Bell’s Black Girl Ventures (BGV), an initiative created to help Black women founders in the US secure venture capital investments.

BGV is mostly known for its pitch competition which brings in a pool of young black women entrepreneurs together. It allows the crowd to vote for their favorite investing funds via a digital platform.

Duncan said he reached out to Bell last June to team up and create the BMV, a month later, the new organization was up and running. It is set to host its first pitch competition even in April 2021. The event will have eight black men entrepreneurs compete in the pitch competition. The first-place winner will receive $10,000, the second place will receive $5,000, and the third place will receive $2,500. All participants will also receive investments made by the audience members.

“The inaugural Black Founders Pitch Competition is an opportunity for black male business owners, who are navigating the startup phase of their business endeavors, to receive funding. If you are an early-stage company seeking market exposure, investment, and strategic partnerships, apply for the pitch competition below,” the organization wrote on its website.

BMV officially launched in January, and it managed to raise $25,000 ahead of the launch from personal investments of the team, family, friends, and community members. This is only a fraction of the organization’s goal to raise $500,000 this year.

Going further, Duncan is strongly considering registering BMV as a nonprofit.

To qualify for the pitch competition your business must:

• Be at least 51% owned by someone who identifies as a black male

• Have a public-facing website

• Be in the early-stage and generating revenue (less than $1 million)

• Be a registered United States business

The process involves:

• The qualification stage

• The application stage

• The selection stage

• The verification stage

• The practice stage

• The pitch

You can register for the BMV pitch competition here.