Venture Capitalism Is a Major Cultural Part of Black American History

Despite what several people around the globe may think, African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans and Black Americans, became venture capitalists, and it was that venture capitalism that catapulted this ethnic group to where it is to day in such a sort amount of time. Historically, Black Americans were kept out of white owned banks for the most part, and that left Black Americans to either open their own banking institutions or utilize what is known as venture capitalists.

Venture Capitalists in short are individuals who have already successfully become businessmen or women, establishing themselves financially as wealthy and wise in economics and business to whereas they can provide capital for other people to launch start-ups without a bank loan. This is called venture capitalism, and there is higher risk but great reward being that many times, venture capitalists own a small percentage of the business start up because they are funding it.

There have been several Black American venture capitalists in the history of the United States of America and today, and some of the major ones include:

• Ottawa (Ottowa) Gurley who was not only the founder of Black Wall Street, but he was a venture capitalist, providing the capital for others to launch their businesses in the city.
• Clara Brown, known as Angel of the Rockies, who not only owned her own businesses, but she provided the funds and supplies for mining prospectors, called grub-staking.
• John “Don Juan” Knight, known as the Black Vanderbilt and Financial Ruler of Central American States, was known for loaning entire the country of Guatemala from his own finances to which they used to launch what was needed.
• Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures – this Black American world renown tennis star invests in several startups
• Daymond John – a well known venture capitalist who invested in the highly successful Scrub Daddy

There are several more, and the one thing to keep in mind is that these Black American entrepreneurs brought forth amazing talent and assisted in the launch of businesses and livelihoods. That is is a history that needs to never be overlooked. Whenever Black Americans could not gain assistance from banks, they would turn to each other and get the job done. This is a major part of African American culture that tends to be understated.