Issa Rae will be in Cincinnati this week to serve as the keynote speaker for the ninth annual Black Tech Week.
The conference takes place from July 18-20 and will see upwards of 3,000 entrepreneurs and investors come together with a mission to increase the number of Black professionals in the tech industry, WVXU reported. Black Tech Week has 120 speakers confirmed, including actress, producer, and tech investor Issa Rae and REVOLT CEO, Detavio Samuels.
It’s the second year the conference will take place in Cincinnati since being acquired by Lightship Foundation CEO Candice Matthews Brackeen in 2022. The tech entrepreneur has been a strong advocate for Black tech professionals and continues to urge private fund managers and the government to invest in minority-led startups.
“We’re seeing more and more Black women, Black men coming into venture funds as analysts, associates and growing into partners,” she said.
“I would say the numbers are getting better in that space and as that happens, I think we’ll see more folks getting funded.”
While the number might be improving, there’s still a long way to go. Recent studies show Black tech founders in the U.S. raised an estimated $2.254 billion out of the $215.9 billion in U.S. venture capital allocated in 2022, according to Tech Crunch. It’s a 1%, drop from the 1.3% raised in 2021.
Michael Moore, founder of Black Achievers and former IT project manager for Fifth Third Bank, believes the issue lies in the lack of relationships Black founders have with investors.
“If you’re a VC (venture capital) funder and you just don’t have African Americans as part of your network,” he said, adding his company’s mission.
“To get more African Americans with their white colleagues together in the same room to have those conversations, then what starts to happen is people begin to understand they have shared interests,” he said.
Black Tech Week will be hosting events at a variety of Cincinnati venues, including Music Hall, Memorial Hall, Washington Park, and the Transept.
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