As of 2022, Black and Latino founders received just 1% and 1.5% respectively of total U.S. venture capital funding. Even as the broader CPG industry looks to support and build BIPOC-founded brands, the road to equity and equality in business remains long.
“Why do we need to agree that BIPOC founders can build successful and sustainable businesses?” said Equitea co-founder and CEO Quentin Vennie during the panel. “I think the reality is that there should have never been a narrative that we couldn’t.”
In this video from BevNET Live Summer 2024, three beverage founders – Vennie, Mocktail Club CEO Pauline Idogho and Uncle Waithley’s CEO Karl Williams – sat down with BevNET editor-in-chief Jeff Klineman to discuss how minority-owned businesses can best tackle the institutional barriers to success, from rewriting the cultural narrative on race and leadership to the financial and brand building strategies that minority founders need to consider in their own entrepreneurial journeys.