{"id":53684,"date":"2017-03-07T10:18:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T16:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=53684"},"modified":"2017-03-07T10:18:31","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T16:18:31","slug":"chicago-startup-showcase-highlights-african-american-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-startup-showcase-highlights-african-american-entrepreneurs\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago startup showcase highlights African-American entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Kara Voght<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">When Chicago startup showcase Technori invites entrepreneurs to present at its monthly showcase, the demographics of that group roughly match the demographics of Chicago: half men, half women, and a third minority. Technori\u2019s February showcase, however, featured a different composition of founders: they were all African-American entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>On February 28, Technori hosted five African-American entrepreneurs in the Chase Bank Auditorium at 10 South Dearborn St. in Chicago. The founders pitched their business to a 300-person audience. The evening\u2014which also featured a keynote address from Emile Cambry Jr., founder of tech innovation center Blue 1647, and an introduction to Shamari Walker, a high schooler from Hammond, Indiana, who developed his own software company\u2014celebrated minority entrepreneurship on the last day of Black History Month.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Technori Showcase\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/207302825?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>February\u2019s themed event owed its origin to the culmination of a number of diversity and inclusion developments across Chicago\u2019s tech scene. Blue 1647, which connects Chicago\u2019s underrepresented populations with tech opportunities, will soon expand its offerings into a new arts-and-tech space in Pilsen. Chicago City Treasurer Kurt Summers, who oversaw the development of a $100 million fund aimed at local and minority entrepreneurs late last year, recently came on Technori\u2019s radio show to talk about the fund\u2019s continued development.<\/p>\n<p>While Technori CEO Scott Kitun had first thought to draw attention to the city\u2019s vibrant African-American tech community back in July, Black History Month, in February, offered the right moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got everyone\u2019s attention,\u201d Kitun said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The evening\u2019s audience, composed of roughly half regular attendees and half predominantly African-American first-timers, offered an opportunity to intermingle tech communities who may not usually encounter one another.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s an opportunity for a conversation to take place that\u2019s never happened before,&#8221; Kitun said.<\/p>\n<p>For the entrepreneurs pitching their businesses, the evening offered a chance to challenge stereotypes. Shaniqua Davis, founder of Noirefy, an app that connects minority job seekers with a network of mentors, said people are often surprised to learn she spent her entire career working in technology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be able to get in front of a huge audience and say,\u201d Davis said, \u201c&#8217;This is my company, this is what I&#8217;ve developed,\u2019 starts to reshape what technology looks like.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Donna Beasley, founder of KaZoom, an online platform that publishes multicultural children\u2019s books, said she\u2019s excited to serve as a role model for aspiring entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it&#8217;s really important for younger people who come to see that we do have a presence in tech,\u201d Beasley said, \u201cand that it&#8217;s possible for them to get involved and to consider tech as a career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Kitun said he\u2019s excited to draw attention to the African-American tech community, he imagines a future in which they\u2019re no longer necessary.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s great that we can do dedicated events, but I don&#8217;t want to be doing that long-term,\u201d Kitun said. \u201cI think a good community should be able to represent itself equally.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Davis echoed Kitun\u2019s aspiration, noting what a community that can independently celebrate diverse founders means for her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen, you get to the point where that whole \u2018wow\u2019 factor is gone,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Emile Cambry Jr., Founder and CEO of Blue 1647, delivers keynote address at Technori&#8217;s February 2017 showcase. (Kara Voght\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kara Voght When Chicago startup showcase Technori invites entrepreneurs to present at its monthly showcase, the demographics of that group roughly match the demographics of Chicago: half men, half women, and a third minority. Technori\u2019s February showcase, however, featured a different composition of founders: they were all African-American entrepreneurs. On February 28, Technori hosted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":369,"featured_media":53717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3516],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2017"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chicago startup showcase highlights African-American entrepreneurs - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-startup-showcase-highlights-african-american-entrepreneurs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago startup showcase highlights African-American entrepreneurs - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kara Voght When Chicago startup showcase Technori invites entrepreneurs to present at its monthly showcase, the demographics of that group roughly match the demographics of Chicago: half men, half women, and a third minority. 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