Sara Cullen, who graduated in VFA's inaugural class of 2012, is the founder of GEM. As a result, the organization has already seen exciting success stories for women and people of color. Since 2015, VFA has made recruitment of women and people from underrepresented groups a priority. By moving VFA Fellows through the pipeline and supporting them at each step, VFA is one of the only organizations that are actually able to influence who becomes an entrepreneur. Many organizations focus on training talent at the top of the funnel or investing in new businesses at the end of the pipeline. VFA occupies a unique position in bridging the gap between skill training, job placement and investing in early-stage founders. We're incredibly excited to partner with high-powered and influential brands like Uber and UBS to directly invest in women and people of color in our program." - Amy Nelson, CEO of Venture For America Early stage support can be a game-changing catalyst for a young person starting a company. To help someone start a business you have to invest in their idea and validate them early.
"There are too many barriers to entrepreneurship and not enough incentives. This partnership will allow VFA to provide tailored trainings, support, and investment to those who have been historically marginalized in the industry. VFA is excited to announce that Uber has joined longtime partner UBS in taking a stance towards diversifying the field of entrepreneurship. After establishing this goal and designing the program, they set out to find strategic partners to achieve their mission. VFA Fellows work for two years in a startup and have access to ongoing mentorship, training, and investments, including a Seed Fund and an Accelerator program. VFA's two-year Fellowship program, which places post-grads in startups in 14 cities, is directly influencing who can become an entrepreneur in this country by lowering the barriers to entry. Venture For America, Uber and UBS are changing this. The lack of diversity among startup employees today means that the entrepreneurs of the future will continue to be largely white and male.
Startups are the best breeding grounds for entrepreneurs. Only 1% percent of VC goes to black founders and only 10% of tech workers are Black or LatinX and 26% are women.
Data from 2010 revealed that 91% of employees in Silicon Valley tech firms were white or Asian. Racial diversity statistics have been even bleaker. As of 2016, according to the Harvard Business Review, only 9% of venture-backed firms have female CEOs. Nationally, startups and the technology sector are dominated by males and skew heavily in favor of white and Asian employees. Uber and UBS have both signed on as sponsors of the initiative and have committed $1M to the effort. NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / J/ Venture For America (VFA), a two-year fellowship program for recent college graduates interested in entrepreneurship and working in a fast-paced, innovative startup environment, announced that it has launched a new initiative called Operation 3 to 300 that will help 300 women and people of color to launch businesses through their Fellowship by 2021. Partnering Together to Change the Face of Entrepreneurship
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