Who we are
ABOUT BGV
OUR
Mission
Our mission is to empower underrepresented and underfunded small businesses by providing them with access to community, capital, and capacity-building resources. Our goal is to help these businesses achieve key milestones that drive economic advancement through entrepreneurship.
tech-enabled
WE FUND & SCALE
$1million
REVENUE GENERATING BUSINESSES UNDER
We ignite civic engagement and strengthen local infrastructure across the U.S. by offering business support services, leadership development, supplier diversity, and both social and financial capital.
OUR
Purpose
Founded in 2016 by Serial Entrepreneur and Computer Scientist Shelly Bell, The Black Girl Ventures Foundation (BGV) addresses the unique challenges Black/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 underrepresented founders. It uniquely combines the premise of Shark Tank and Kickstarter by activating community participation in donating to support women-owned businesses directly. We have funded 450 companies and held over 75 programs across 15 cities. Our founders raise twice the national average in funding, grow their social capital tenfold, and 51% go on to join accelerators and incubators to further develop their ventures. BGV has impacted over 20,000 people across 64 countries. Our founders collectively represent over $10 million in revenue and have created more than 3,000 jobs for the U.S. economy.. BGV currently has three signature programs (BGV Pitch, BGV NextGen, BGV Emerging Leaders) and is now the largest ecosystem builder for Black/Brown women founders on the East Coast.
To accelerate
100,000 Underrepresented
underfunded
entrepreneurs
by shifting the idea of community building from being viewed solely as a community service to a valid and viable business offering to ensure the development and growth of small businesses.
We believe in a world where all ideas have a chance to succeed.
OUR
Pledge
History
FROM THE “RENT PARTY” TO THE
"GREEN BOOK" FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Black Girl Ventures began by supporting underrepresented women entrepreneurs through our crowdfunded pitch competition program. Modeled after the historic African-American “Rent Party.” In the early 1900s, African Americans migrated to Harlem. White land owners raised the rent. In order to generate enough capital to stay in their homes African Americans created basement parties with admission fees to help them pay the rent.
During a BGV Pitch, each founder has 3 minutes to pitch and a 3 minute Q&A from our Champions Panel. The audience then votes with their dollars via Raisify, our tech platform hints the "Rent Party" aspect. The winners are the top 3 founders who receive the most votes. All participants become part of the BGV Cohort and have the opportunity to gain access to capital, connections, resources and exclusive updates. Through our expansion efforts, we are keeping the rent party going while working to help small business owners navigate the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
We now have three signature programs:
BGV Emerging Leaders Fellowship