The HBCU Founders Initiative Selects 5 Additional Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to Its Pre-Accelerator Program Designed to Scale Entrepreneurial Education


The HBCU Founders Initiative Selects 5 Additional Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to Its Pre-Accelerator Program Designed to Scale Entrepreneurial Education

SAN FRANCISCO, PRNewswire -- The HBCU Founders Initiative (HBCUFI), a nonprofit organization that supports HBCU students and alumni along their entrepreneurial journey, has announced that it has selected five additional HBCUs to join its Pre-Accelerator program, which is in place to provide specialized support to students and alumni exploring entrepreneurship and the launch of tech-fueled ventures across HBCU campuses.

Over 750 students and alumni from 80+ HBCUs have benefitted from HBCUFI's programming with participants raising over $2M for their startups.

The five new HBCUs on-boarding into HBCUFI's Pre-Accelerator program include Hampton University, Morehouse College, Texas Southern University, Benedict College, and Bethune-Cookman University.

These institutions will join HBCUFI's Fall 2022 inaugural cohort of seven partner HBCUs that include Bowie State University, Elizabeth City State University, Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T University, Oakwood University, Prairie View A&M University, and Spelman College.

This brings HBCUFI's total number of HBCU campus-based cohorts to 12 institutions, with a growing waitlist of schools ready to partner. Prior to launching its inaugural cohort of 7 partner HBCUs in 2022, HBCUFI worked with HBCU students and alumni interested in entrepreneurship through its virtual programming offerings.

"HBCUFI is the missing piece of our entrepreneurial community-building package at Benedict College," Dr. Tracy Harrell Dunn, Dean of Benedict College's Burroughs School of Business and Entrepreneurship, and Aaron Taylor, Program Coordinator of Benedict's B.E.S.T. Innovation Lab said. "Despite the B.E.S.T Lab's remarkable progress, we were missing a Pre-Accelerator experience for our student entrepreneurs that would enable our potential student founders to launch ventures in this competitive market confidentially. With HBCUFI, we have that now."
While HBCUFI programming is open to students and alumni from the nation's 100+ HBCUs, the decision to develop direct partnerships with HBCUs allows HBCUFI to further connect with the on-campus ecosystem at HBCUs and host in-person entrepreneurship programs with partnered institutions.

"We are pleased to have 5 additional HBCUs join us in fulfilling our mission to ensure that innovative ideas don't die on the vine because there is no one available to cultivate them," said HBCUFI President, Marlon Evans. "By providing a structured program that connects our participants with executives and entrepreneurs with deep experience building companies, coupled with providing access to pre-seed funding, HBCUFI is helping to build an unprecedented innovation ecosystem on HBCU campuses."

Support from organizations committed to diversity and inclusion has been core to HBCUFI's success. Organizations supporting HBCUFI for its third year include UNCF, AARP, Principal Foundation, Blackstone LaunchPad, UNC Eshelman Institute for Innovation, Costco, Chase for Business, Vistra Corp., Cooley, and the Techstars Foundation.

"Working with HBCUFI has proven to be highly advantageous for our organization," Martin Booker, Program Manager, Financial Resilience Programming at AARP said. "It has provided us with a valuable opportunity to bring our staff together, fostering connections with HBCU student founders and enabling us to offer mentorship opportunities. The program not only brings enjoyment but also serves as a source of inspiration, witnessing numerous motivated college students who are actively establishing their own businesses."

For the program, each of the 12 partner HBCUs will host two, eight-week Pre-Accelerators (one in the fall and one in the spring) in support of up to eight startups per cohort; all of which are comprised of early-stage founders who are past the ideation stage and ready to validate a problem and build an MVP.

Each Pre-Accelerator program will cover topics such as validating the idea, building a prototype, customer discovery, marketing and branding, legal operations, and fundraising and will be presented in weekly virtual cohort sessions with on-campus activities also planned. The program will culminate in a pitch competition where participants will be eligible to receive non-dilutive program awards in support of MVP development.
Applications for the Fall 2023 Pre-Accelerator program will open on July 1st and will close on August 6th.

To learn more and to apply, visit: https://www.hbcufi.org/pre-accelerator

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