The Carolina Small Business Development Fund and Shaw University are hosting their third annual Black Entrepreneurship Week in downtown Raleigh September 16-20, 2919. Editor’s note: Three significant conferences focusing on black entrepreneurs are taking place in the Triangle this week and next. And each includes startups bidding for success as well as a variety of speakers and programs offering advice on how to succeed. WRAL TechWire assigned writer Chantal Allam the task of putting together an overview concerning the state of entrepreneurship in the minority community. Here is the first of two stories. RALEIGH – Jalen Hatton knows first-hand the challenges facing African-American entrepreneurs today. Back in 2016, fresh out of college, he founded a fintech startup in Raleigh called Grouptrade, an online platform for people learning how to invest in stocks and public equities. “It was designed to help people traditionally underserved by the financial service industry, or just getting into the world of investing,” explains the 25-year-old, who used his personal savings — around $10,000 at the time – to bankroll the company. By March 2018, however, his funds had dried up. Attempts at raising capital from outside investors proved futile, so he had to put his […]
Click here to view original web page at www.wraltechwire.com