Women of Color Entrepreneurship Ecosystems

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“It takes a village to raise an entrepreneur,” shares Dr. Dell Gines, certified economic developer who works for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. In today’s episode, host D-Rich sits down with guests Dr. Dell Gines and college professor Dr. Tracy H. Dunn to discuss entrepreneurship ecosystems and how they impact women of color and Black communities as a whole.

Dr. Tracy is a professor at Benedict College, an HBCU that was first created to educate newly freed Black males. She now works with the college to implement entrepreneurial learning opportunities for the students which include both business and small retail incubators for students to practice launching their own businesses while receiving college credit. It is important to keep HBCU’s alive and thriving, because they are statistically responsible for the majority of Black leaders across a wide array of jobs from engineers and lawyers to being elected into political positions. Dr. Dell explains that to build a functioning entrepreneurship ecosystem, communities need to come together rather than focusing on individualism. Historically, the best successes for Black people in America have occurred within the context of community because it takes a village to counteract the exploitative systems that were put in place to keep Black people from gaining and holding power. By ensuring that Black entrepreneurs, and particularly Black women entrepreneurs, are able to access the resources they need to be successful, there will be more businesses that hire Black people and that are sensitive to the needs within the local community.

Join Dr. Tracy H. Dunn, Dr. Dell Gines, and host D-Rich on this week’s episode of Southern Soul Live Stream - Podshow to learn more about entrepreneurship ecosystems, the challenges facing women of color in the context of entrepreneurship, and the importance of helping HBCUs thrive.

Quotes

• “In order for HBCUs to survive, what I think is critical is that we remain relevant.” (17:34-17:40 | Dr. Tracy)

• “Any way that you can think of to contribute to your local HBCU, or your HBCU of choice, I would encourage you to do so. Think about if you have a master's degree, or PhD, think about being an adjunct to another HBCU, or giving back in some way.” (21:01-21:23 | Dr. Tracy)

• “It's not easy being a woman leader, but if you can find people who inspire you and who have lessons from their own walk in leadership, that is very, very helpful.” (30:04-30:20 | Dr. Tracy)

• “Almost one in four HBCUs are responsible for 40% of all Black engineers, 40% of all members of Congress, 50% of Black lawyers and 80% of Black judges.” (32:06-32:23 | Dr. Tracy)

• “It takes a village to raise an entrepreneur.” (36:22-36:24 | Dr. Dell)

• “Bourgeois black people have to understand, you are still black, right? In that you can't escape that essential centeredness of who you are as an individual, based upon the way America sees you. Now, you can see yourself differently, of course, in people, you can see people differently in your circle. But at the end of the day, no matter how we come to this, this is how we are perceived externally. And the forces of the United States have been set up against us, and are set up to exploit us from the beginning.” (42:41-43:08 | Dr. Dell)

• “One of the ways you exclude masses of people out of the process of generating wealth is through the systems, particularly the education system, that really trains us to be employees and not owners.” (49:08-49:19 | Dr. Dell)

• “Black women in particular, have been always been very innovative within our community, and going back to slavery, of trying to navigate hostile environments through creativity, in the creation of opportunity.” (1:11:26-1:11:37 | Dr. Dell)

Links

Connect with Dr. Tracy H. Dunn, Ph.D.:

https://www.benedict.edu/dr-tracy-h-dunn-named-first-female-dean-of-benedict-colleges-tyrone-adam-burroughs-school-of-business-and-entrepreneurship/

Connect withDr. Dell Gines, Ph.D.:

https://www.kansascityfed.org/community-staff/dell-gines/

https://www.iamdellgines.com/

Guides:

https://www.kansascityfed.org/Community/documents/7298/ecosystembuildingincommunitiesofcolor062019.pdf

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Witty, thought-provoking, and uplifting, Southern Soul Livestream - Podshow is the program that you’ll invite friends over to watch every week, where you’ll learn about fascinating speakers and get to share in exciting experiences. Tune in each Thursday at 8 pm eastern at SoulThursdays.com to connect with guests from across the generations and to laugh with our "cast of characters," hosts who are as charming as they are talented!