5 Top Pitch Competition For Black Founders

Without a doubt, there are amazing Black start-up founders with innovative business ideas in the US. However, most of these start-ups are unable to get the required capital needed to scale their businesses. According to a report, your chances of accessing venture capital are exceedingly low if you are not white. Hence, the disparity in funding opportunities for black and white founders has contributed to fewer disruptive start-ups by black founders, as has the current funding options available to black founders. Accordingly, this article’s list of pitch competitions will help emerging black founders narrow down the competitions they can prepare for and how to win funding from such competitions.

The Emerging Reality

Although funding for black entrepreneurs remains relatively small compared to white entrepreneurs in the United States, there has been a surge in financing for black entrepreneurs in recent years, coinciding with racial justice movements that have been reignited across the country.

In the first half of 2021, funding for Black entrepreneurs in the United States reached nearly $1.8 billion, a fourfold increase over the $1.4 billion made available to Black start-ups in 2020.

To close the disparity, black start-ups are elevating themselves to the competition stage by any means possible; they are also sourcing funds to provide capital breathing space to a more diverse group of black entrepreneurs. Consequently, more prominent organizations and Black-led companies are clearing the path for more start-ups. In spite of that, there is still a lot of work to be done

Top Pitch Competition For Black Founders

The Black community is on its feet to shatter the barriers that had once served in the disenfranchisement of Black business owners to create opportunities to amplify Black business in the venture capitalist market. Some of the top pitch competitions for Black founders include:

National Black Business Pitch (NBBP)

This competition is open to black-owned and black-founded businesses within and across the United States of America. It is designed to establish a nexus between black-owned businesses and corporations seeking to expand and diversify their supply chain with novel products and services. The competition has two phases.

Companies interested in the competition can apply and submit their capability statement and attach a three-minute video about their company. The submissions will be received by a panel of corporate community judges, who will select thirty companies to proceed to phase two. 

The thirty companies will pitch live in the second phase before a virtual audience of corporate procurement and supplier diversity professionals. After that, three companies will be selected for cash prizes worth $10,000.

Africon

This competition exists solely for early-stage business founders of African descent who build products or solutions in the beauty-tech industry. The competition is sponsored by Pull Up for Change or UOMA Beauty to relate capital and mentorship to Black founders. 

Individuals participating in the competitor must be 18 or older, and early-stage founders must focus on problem-solving for Black communities worldwide. The revenue of the company’s start-up interested in the competition must not exceed $300,000, and its product must be in the beauty-tech space.

Pitch Black

The PitchBlack pitch competition offers Black and Latino start-up entrepreneurs an opportunity to connect with a larger entrepreneurial ecosystem and, at the same time, award cash prizes. The national PitchBlack pitch competitions are organized by economist and entrepreneur Stephen Green, the Community Director for WeWork, and a Black and Brown speaker, mentor, and advisor.

FeverPitch

This initiative of Black Connect provides a stage for Black entrepreneurs and business owners to gain insight from exposure to venture capitalists, potential investors, and customers. FeverPitch aims to build and boost Black Connect’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by bringing together corporates, investors, and the public. 

The winner of the FeverPitch will be awarded a $10,000 business grant cash prize.

1871 Black Founders Pitch Competition

This is aimed at black founders who seek an opportunity to get the funding and support required to drive their businesses forward. In addition to building valuable competition for renowned business leaders, entrepreneurs, and tech investors, participants also stand a chance to win $50,000 in VC investments, which will be assigned by the panel of judges, up to $10,000 cash prize to the 1st place winner, and the top five finalists will be admitted into six months of free virtual membership to 1871.

How To Create A Successful Pitch

Creating a successful pitch that resonates with your audience requires preparation and time, and both are extraordinarily essential. Below include some step-by-step tips that will strengthen one’s performance for the realization of a successful pitch:

• Research: Pitch competitions have their distinct guidelines. They are not all the same. Participating in a pitch competition requires thorough research and doubly ensuring that one’s ideal company missions or market are in alignment with the contest.
  
• Create a Pitch Deck: Pitch decks are a story about your business. They provide proper imagery of why you seek the opportunity. Your pitch deck must not necessarily encompass your entire presentation but can help supplement ideas using creative visuals to demonstrate your points.
  
• Practicing your Pitch: Despite having only minutes to present your pitch and capture the attention of your audience and judges, it is essential to spend time practicing your pitch, seeking and closing loopholes, and dealing with imagined questions. It is important to note that human attention is short, so you must always aim at using the best possible means and words to hook your judges and audience.
  
• Learn and Revise: After practicing your pitch, revising it as many times as possible is essential. Sometimes, rejection can be part of the learning process; all founders agree that the more you pitch, the better, more creative, competent, and perfect you become. Pitches are not synonymous with fixed monologues, where one speaks as if he is soliloquizing. One must never forget that the sole objective of any start-up in a pitch competition is to impress the audience and the judges.
• For more information about tips for creating a pitch deck, kindly click here.

Conclusion

Over the years, black communities have faced widespread disenfranchisement of various kinds, particularly in business ventures and funding. Consequently, this has resulted in the black community promoting pitch competitions in order to attract the brightest, most innovative, and technologically savvy blacks to participate in the overall business environment. These pitch competitions and funding, along with the exposure gained by pitch competitors, have resulted in more black entrepreneurs and the development of the entire Black community.

Nonetheless, Blacks must do more to achieve a recognizable balance, as the percentage (1.2%) of Black entrepreneurs and funding is still very low compared to the over 13 percent of the Black community in the United States.