KENZIE BIGGINS
Worxbee
It feels like a lot of the promises made three years ago cycled back to the same response: “We’re going to invest in business programs for minorities, because there’s no way they know what a P&L is.” By the end of 2021, most Black founders I was talking to, we were like, “I don’t want to take another program for a while.”
Programs have been shoved down our throats, based on this assumption that because we’re not taking on major investments and don’t have the access other people have, we don’t know how to run a business. But in a lot of ways, Black and Brown founders are more innovative, because of how we have to walk through life. We just need access to the contracts— what keeps our doors open, what gives us the ability to hire people, what gives us the ability to grow.
Kenzie Biggins is the founder and CEO of Worxbee, a Greenville, South Carolina-based firm that provides virtual executive assistants. It has grown to more than $1 million in annual revenue.
All of the numbers—and, quite frankly, all of our hearts— show the difference between the six to 12 months after the murder of George Floyd and today. The efforts are certainly waning. And a lot of opportunities are starting to be taken by non-Black firms, in the name of Black founders. You’ll have White venture capitalists or White organizations see that there’s money and suddenly say they’re going to do a ton of diversity work—but they don’t have the network, training, background, or even intention to serve those founders well. So, what are already dwindling dollars are now being siphoned off by what I would consider bad-faith actors.
Ultimately, I think if you want to invest in Black businesses, you have to invest in Black VC funds. Even those who are well-intentioned may not see themselves in a Black founder. Imagine meeting an entrepreneur like Steve Jobs and knowing they’ll never have the dollars necessary to change the world, independent of their talents.
—Brian Brackeen is the founder of facial recognition software company Kairos and general partner at Cincinnati-based venture capital fund Lightship Capital, which invests in companies led by founders of color, women, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.