Black Panther – a film about a man’s rise to kingship in a technologically-advanced Africa and his struggles with his position and contribution to the world – continues to break box office records around the globe. **Spoiler Alert** By the end of the film, “T’Challa” -aka- the Black Panther realizes that it’s time for him to do more outside of the Kingdom of Wakanda. He decides to start by going back to the community where a chain of events began that later impacted his life in a major way. The film ends with his sister “Shuri” - a techie who showed her passion for technology and education - explaining to a group of youth who were admiring the Wakandan aircraft that technology was used to create it.
With the ongoing excitement about the film and as Black History Month draws to a close, I would like to introduce you to a real superhero of sorts who is using her tech and startup experience to help the next generation of innovators who attend historically black colleges or universities (HBCUs). Her name is Hadiyah Mujhid and she is the founder HBCU.vc.
HBCU.vc is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to connect and equip the next generation of black and brown tech innovators and investors. With its focus on venture capital, one could assume that Mujhid is a venture capitalist (VC) herself but she is not. She is a technologist who understands the power that comes with financial backing for minority entrepreneurs.
Mujhid’s path as a technologist-turned-founder isn’t typical and it’s clear that she was being prepared to do very specific work for her community while she figured out her life. In 2001, Mujhid graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore – a historically black college - with a degree in Computer Science. She was able to obtain a STEM degree while being surrounded by people of color. After graduation, she had what she describes as the "rare experience" of being hired by an African American manager at a major defense company, Lockheed Martin. Her time at the company spanned 11 years, and she held multiple positions including software engineer, systems engineer and program manager. One of her last positions with the company led her to the San Francisco Bay Area where she would later realize that it was time for her to step out on her own.
She went on to cofound Picturely – an image processing company that helped brands retrieve analytics from images on the web. She began networking at events and quickly learned that up until that point she didn’t have a clear picture of the full landscape of the tech industry. She didn't know what it really looked like or what it lacked because she had engaged with people of color for most of her college and professional life. The startup wasn’t successful but through that experience, she realized two things: as an engineer, she needed to understand customer acquisition and as a founder, she needed to secure funding to sustain her business.
As a result of the relationships that she established while running her first startup, she joined with other black tech entrepreneurs in the Bay area and cofounded Black Founders because they saw a need to create a supportive community for black tech entrepreneurs. One thing that continued to come up as a barrier to the sustainability of tech businesses was the lack of funding available for people of color. Mujhid had an “Aha!” moment and realized that she could help.
Her research revealed that only 1% of VC-backed entrepreneurs were black and only 1% of venture capitalist were black. She also recalled from her work experience that companies had trouble recruiting diverse staff. Additionally, a man named Richard Kirby, who would later become one of her program mentors, wrote a post on TechCrunch about the path to a venture capital career. She realized that if she could increase the number of VCs that were making the determination of which startups get funded, it could increase the number of black and brown entrepreneurs who receive funding for their companies. And if more minority entrepreneurs would receive funding, they could run sustainable businesses and create more jobs in their communities. Her solution was HBCU.vc.
Founded in 2017, HBCU.vc is almost at the completion of its inaugural Student Investor Fellowship cohort which began in October. She received the majority of the funding for the first year of the program from a Kauffman grant and backing from individual donors. She secured an impressive roster of venture capitalists to serve as mentors for the first year. Next, she made an open call (via social media) to students attending HBCUs asking that they apply for the inaugural cohort. According to Mujhid, “...the response was amazing. Students were allowed to apply as individuals or teams to represent a school and we received 165 applications across 30 schools nationwide." She continued, "Roughly, 99% of applicants had no background or understanding of venture capital. About 27% of the students that applied were young women. In the end, the makeup of the initial makeup of the inaugural class was 50% women and 50% men as a result of the combination of individuals and teams that were selected.” She provides more statistics on the makeup of the participants in this post.
Through the fellowship, Mujhid exposes black and brown entrepreneurs to the tech and venture capital ecosystem to ensure that they have the knowledge, network, support and confidence to be successful entrepreneurs who invest back into their communities. Every month, mentees schedule virtual meetings with their VC mentors to review assignments. Some of the deliverables that mentees are responsible for include researching startups, submitting reports and taking their knowledge of venture capital back to their peers by hosting techpreneur education events on their college campuses.
Mujhid shared, “the primary role of the mentors is to create opportunities for students to talk to someone that looks like them about their career paths in hopes that it will give them the students confidence to know that they can do the same thing. Secondly, I want to ensure that the students develop an external network in the industry because the relationships that you develop are important.” The first cohort will be coming to an end in a few months but Mujhid already has venture capitalists that will be available to participate in the next cohort which begins this October. One of the changes that she will make to the investor program is extending it to a two-year program. Additionally, she is working on establishing formal relationships with the universities. Applications for the new cohort open in April 2018.
The work that Mujhid is doing through HBCU.vc is proof that we have real-life superheroes among us. She understands that in order to make a significant contribution to the world she must share her experiences, bring others alongside her to do the same and empower the next generation to pay [the knowledge] forward. Like the Black Panther’s character Shuri, Mujhid is excited by tech, her community and the potential that exists when people band together to do good. When asked why she is passionate about her work, she said, “When we talk about wealth creation in our communities as a goal of our mission, it goes beyond just having money in the bank. I want healthy, happy and prosperous outcomes for members of our communities.”
Mujhid answered her call because she saw a problem and implemented a solution. As African Americans (and others) inspired by the Black Panther film continue to chant “Wakanda Forever” in passing, it serves as the reminder of what’s possible when people rise up, take their position and do what it takes to ensure that those coming behind them are able to thrive in their community and beyond.
