Pharrell leads Miami summit for Black, Hispanic entrepreneurs. It’s about access
In 2021, Fort Lauderdale engineer D’Angelo Senat launched his business, AllPeeP, a social community platform. He raised $70,000 from friends and family over seven months before he hit a roadblock — he only had enough money left to run his venture for a month.
The same month, he won a Black Ambition award. That experience changed his career.
“That really prepared me to take my company from an idea to a product that people will respect,” Senat said. “I began consistently going to their events and I felt like I didn’t need to go to another conference.”
The Black Ambition conference was founded by philanthropist and musician Pharrell Williams in 2020 to help connect Black, Hispanic and underresourced founders with top companies, preparing them to build working relationships with those companies.
Best known for his “Happy” song, Pharrell grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and went on to win 11 Grammy Awards for his hits across music genres. Having started from humble beginnings, he saw a need to give back to diverse founders.
The conference will be in Miami for the first time this year. A total of $1 million in funding will be given to 25 award winners. One top winner will receive a $100,000 prize. Winners will be selected from a pool of 25,000 applicants with small businesses.
What are the benefits?
”Not only by providing access to capital, but access to high level mentorship and resources and community,” said Felecia Hatcher, CEO of Black Ambition. “Because you can’t build a business by yourself. We take a holistic approach to help entrepreneurs.”
Since winning a Black Ambition award, Senat has gained lucrative contracts with clients and has been able to focus on AllPeeP full time. AllPeeP allows members of different communities to interact with each other in their own digital spaces.
Hatcher said that the conference is designed for founders like him.
Black Ambition participants have access to mentors, workshops and pitch opportunities.
Rather than focusing on making as many business connections as possible, Black Ambition prefers that entrepreneurs make what Hatcher called “the right type of connections.”
“The assets are here,” Hatcher said. “A lot of them fly under the radar. We’ve never been absent from business. The amount of doors closing are the result of not having the right support.
Hatcher sees South Florida as a source of Black tech talent. In 2016, she helped create Black Tech Week as a way of connecting Black technologists in South Florida. She pivoted into tech after creating Feverish Ice Cream, a nationally recognized food company.
Having a conference in Miami for undersourced founders of diverse backgrounds is important because people can better build trust in person, she said.
“South Florida has a trust issue when it comes to diverse entrepreneurs, specifically Black entrepreneurs,” she said. “When I say people don’t trust, that’s where investor relationships happen.”
Entrepreneurship is also important to Hatcher because she grew up around business people. The experience gave her first-hand experience of the challenges that business owners face.
Navigating tech as a Black man has been a long journey for Senat because he noticed that many people in the industry did not want to share tips for advancement. By comparison, Black Ambition has been a safe space for him, and he’s looking to pay it forward.
“It’s hard for us to get that access because it’s folks gatekeeping,” he said, “but Black Ambition set the expectations that anybody in the room that can help will help.”
If you go
Where: The Sacred Space Miami, 105 NE 24th St, Miami
When: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2 p.m.-8 p.m.
Cost: $125, general admission; $200 VIP
More information: www.blackambitionprize.com/fundable-founders-forum/.
%20Cropped.jpg)