Whether or not someone politically disagrees/agrees with the entire Black Lives Matter movement, no one can argue that Marceau Michel’s entrepreneurial idea was ahead of the events surrounding this summer and one worth acknowledging.
Michel’s original business plan was to develop a new on-demand staffing company called Werkhouse that had won a start-up pitch competition in Portland, Oregon, two years prior. Unfortunately, what Michel argued was racial discrimination from investors eventually led to an idea with little to no funding. After months of time spent on finding investors, Michel launched a t-shirt company that featured the phrase “Black Founders Matter” and an upraised fist, which he sold online through Shopify in order to automate his sales. What Michel didn’t realize while his business was active, was that his shirts became a “catalyst for a new investment fund dedicated to Black-owned businesses that the accidental venture capitalist sees as entwined with racial justice.” After the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis this summer, Michel raised $1 million in a month for the fund with his t-shirts. What Michel plans and hopes to do with the funds he’s raised is no longer put them towards his Werkhouse, but instead help others in his position as a black entrepreneur overcome the obstacles white founders don’t necessarily face when pursuing a start-up.
Michel came from failure and turned it into a way to help others in similar situations of his own. Michel knew that the average of investors funding for white start-ups versus black founders was significant – 17% versus 1.5% to be exact – but his outlook on the statistics against him only gave him a greater sense of how to create change for the diagnosed problem. Michel knows all too well the problem he’d love to fix and has been recognized on many different occasions for his efforts to do so. His entrepreneurial story only begins here and he’s gone on to create relationships that have excelled him in the world of business and social change, which he only continues to expand in the future.
To read more of his story, visit here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/business/black-venture-capital.html
Wow, I had no idea how significant an issue this was/is and how detrimental it can be for the success of deserving African American entrepreneurs. It seems like the Lord planned to use the situation of this terrible racial unrest to allow him to succeed and then use that success to help others and try to help bridge the gap. The timing of the movement was perfect for this, firing people up to support him and hopefully to begin to recognize the need here for greater equality. I also wonder how successful his original business idea would have been if he was a white man, and would it have positively impacted as many people as his secondary idea? It seems to me a situation where what man intended for evil, God meant for good. (Genesis 50:20)
I followed a lot of the things surrounding this movement as it became more prominent in the past several months. However, I have not heard of this man and what he has done involving the movement and his business. I love that he was able to innovate an amazing idea that stemmed from the circumstances our country was in at the time and even to now. It shows he is able to adapt and act quickly to current events and situations, which is a crucial trait in successful entrepreneurs. I also love how driven he is to stand up for such an important cause and for his fellow people of color. This shows how motivated he is to make a difference in how our society is operating and is extremely inspirational to me. I wholeheartedly support everything he is doing and am very moved by his dedication to what he is doing.