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Unlocking success: 4 tips from Black women tech leaders

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Unlocking success: 4 tips from Black women tech leaders

Insightful lessons on financial planning, personal empowerment, purpose-driven leadership and a hustler mindset.


In collaboration with
Black Women Talk Tech, DMZ held an evening designed to highlight the success of Black women in tech by bringing together the ecosystem to spark conversations on how to empower founders best. 

Black Women Talk Tech provides Black women with a platform to voice ideas and access support. Today, it’s become the largest gathering of Black women tech entrepreneurs, inspiring countless others to follow in their footsteps and make their mark in the tech industry. DMZ was thrilled to partner with them for their debut event in Canada.

Here’s a breakdown of the event’s key takeaways for Black women in tech navigating the ecosystem:

  • Plan for financial readiness
  • Harness your personal experiences
  • Identify your north star and go for it
  • Develop a hustler mindset

Our esteemed panel featured a lineup of accomplished individuals:

Here’s what they had to say.

Plan for financial readiness


When it comes to entrepreneurship, financial readiness is everything. Giselle Melo, Founder and General Partner of
MATR Ventures, encourages entrepreneurs to get a head start on financial planning. From understanding your runway to knowing when the optimal time is to seek funding, meticulous planning and financial readiness enabled Melo to launch MATR Ventures in 2021.

By following her lead and having a strong grasp of your finances and where you head as an entrepreneur, you’ll be positioned to turn your dreams into a reality when the timing is right.

Harness your personal experiences


Having established her name in the pharmaceutical industry, Brenda Ahenkorah, the Founder and CEO of
My Well Self, was disappointed to see the lack of support and resources available during her own personal health challenges. After conducting extensive research herself, Brenda realized that she needed to take matters into her own hands and launched My Well Self.

Brenda’s success with My Well Self is a testament to leveraging our personal stories as sources of innovation and motivation to fuel our entrepreneurial pursuits.

Identify your north star and go for it


As the Executive Director and Venture Partner of
League of Innovators and Venture Partner of Capital M Ventures, Melissa Allen’s lesson stems from her own experience that led her to transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship. As a financial advisor, she noticed that her clients — who were women of colour — faced steeper financial challenges than their counterparts. Recognizing that those who thrived often had side hustles, Melissa saw an opportunity for impact, which motivated her to step into entrepreneurship.

For Allen, her driving force comes from a desire to influence positive change and ensure equitable representation at decision-making tables. She emphasized the importance of having a guiding north star to turn to when the journey gets tough, and obstacles are thrown your way. 

Develop a hustler mindset


Ehizogie Agbonlahor, the Founder and CEO of
Anutio, shed light on the importance of developing a hustler mindset. A mindset that can be broken down as unwavering determination and relentless resourcefulness, Ehizogie identified a gap in career guidance tools and decided to develop Anutio. 

Embracing a hustler mindset involves resourcefully leveraging all available means, as demonstrated in her case by tapping into the expertise of her brother’s AI skills to build the platform and by doing everything she possibly could to get her first 500 sign-ups.

Ehizogie teaches us a very important lesson here — avoid waiting around for opportunities; instead, actively seek and create them. 

Feeling inspired? Embark on your entrepreneurial journey with DMZ. Our Black Innovation Programs equip Black founders with the tools, resources and community to succeed. Learn more at dmz.to/BIP and apply today.

 

The biggest wins for Black entrepreneurs in the last year

Black founders who are killing it in the Canadian startup ecosystem


It’s no secret that wins in the startup ecosystem are tough. Whether it’s securing a grant, closing a round of funding or landing your first big sale, making it takes grit and determination. But, do you know what’s even harder? Doing it all as a Black entrepreneur. 

Black founders face systemic barriers in accessing lucrative entrepreneurship opportunities in Canada. Starting and growing a business is hard, and as a result of the added challenges and obstacles Black founders have to deal with, Canada’s startup ecosystem has a massive underrepresentation of Black-led ventures. 

In light of Black History Month, the DMZ wanted to share the biggest wins for Black entrepreneurs in the last year. While the wheels of change are beginning to spin, we recognize much more still needs to be done and are committed to empowering Black founders with the coaching, mentorship and resources needed to take their business to the next level. 

So, let’s dive into some of the biggest wins for Black entrepreneurs from the last year.

Tunde Omotoye won $20,000 at the DMZ’s inaugural Black Innovation Summit

Black Innovation Pre-Incubator Alumni

CEO and Co-Founder of HumanSquad, Tunde Omotoye, came in 1st place winning $20,000 at the DMZ’s inaugural Black Innovation Summit.

HumanSquad helps newcomers navigate immigration and their career paths by connecting them to licensed immigration consultants in Canada.

“Before joining the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator, we didn’t understand concepts like ‘user journey’ or ‘OKRs’. Now, we understand customer profiling and engagement, and key client-related key performance indicators to look out for that can impact our bottom line and boost our top line.” – Tunde Omotoye, CEO and Co-Founder of HumanSquad


Lola Adeyemi secured $180,000 on Dragons’ Den
Biggest wins for Black entrepreneurs from last year: Lola Adeyemi

AMEX Blueprint Alumni

Lola Adeyemi, Founder and CEO of It’s Souper, pitched her hearty and spicy Afro-fusion soup and sauce line on the iconic CBC show Dragons’ Den.

Recognizing the void for ready-to-eat Nigerian packaged foods, Lola was inspired to bring West African herbs and spices to the North-American market.

 

TruLocal acquired for $16.8 million


Biggest wins for Black entrepreneurs from last year: Marc LafleurTruLocal, a market-leading, locally sourced meat subscription service in Canada, was acquired by Canadian e-commerce Emerge Commerce for $16.8 million.

Founder and CEO Marc Lafleur introduced local farmers, producers and suppliers to the power of e-commerce, connecting them with thousands of loyal, health-conscious consumers across the country.

 

 

Tony Colley named a top social impact founder

Biggest wins for Black entrepreneurs from last year: Tony ColleyBlack Innovation Program Social Impact Stream Alumni

The Founder and CEO of Be One to Give, Tony Colley, was recognized as one of Future of Good’s top 21 social impact founders. The list recognizes founders working on a promising solution for a more equitable, sustainable, caring post-pandemic Canada.

Be One to Give is a food redistribution app for businesses that eliminates avoidable food waste in daily operations.

 

The Urban Guide secured a partnership with the City of Toronto

Black Innovation Program Social Impact Stream Alumni

Biggest wins for Black entrepreneurs from last year: Peter OdlePeter Odle, Founder of the Urban Guide, secured a partnership with the City of Toronto, for a special city-based game called ‘ShowLoveTO Urban Game’. The game encouraged players to use their mobile devices to explore Toronto on New Year’s eve and win prizes.

The Urban Guide is a digital solution that uses self-guided city tours to reconnect people to their cities.

 

Adewunmi Akingbola awarded the Diana Award

Black Innovation Pre-Incubator Alumni

The Founder of HealthDrive Nigeria, Adewunmi Akingbola, was awarded the Diana Award, which recognizes inspirational youth from around the world who have demonstrated their ability to inspire new generations to serve their communities.

HealthDrive Nigeria, an initiative in the South West of Nigeria, aims to raise awareness, test and vaccinate people against Hepatitis B.

 

 

SmartTerm expanded its services to Canada and is now serving Canadian clients 

Black Innovation Incubator Company

SmartTerm, an education management platform, officially expanded into Canada.

Their solution digitizes school processes leading to improved efficiencies for governments, school administrators, teachers and students.

 

“Being able to incorporate our business in Canada was one of our biggest achievements with the DMZ so far.” – Jayme Hoyte, Co-Founder of SmartTerm.

Reeddi selected as a finalist for Prince William’s Earthshot Prize

Black Innovation Pre-Incubator Alumni

Launched by Prince William and the Royal Foundation, the Earthshot Prize is the most prestigious global environment prize in history. Further, the prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism, by highlighting the ability of human ingenuity to bring about change.

Founder of Reedi, Olugbenga Olubanjo, was a finalist for the award; his solution provides portable rechargeable battery units to consumers from a vending machine powered by solar panels.

 

Reyts,Welkom-U and Be One to Give secured their chance to pitch at the DMZ’s upcoming Black Innovation Summit

Black Innovation Program Social Impact Stream Alumni

oluwatosin-tosin-ajibola-e in grey blazerAyobami Macaula and Abimbola Adegbite, Co-Founders of Reyts, Oluwatosin Ajibola, Founder of Welkom-U, and Tony Colley, Founder and CEO of Be One to Give, from the DMZ’s Black Innovation Program Social Impact Stream came out on top at their cohort’s demo day.

abimbola in maroon coatWhile all of the startups are working with a social mission and purpose, the three companies are zeroing in on different societal issues. Reyts is a marketplace that allows individuals to swap currencies in a seamless and secure way. Welkom-U focuses on improving the experience of immigrants to Canada so they can become contributing members of society faster, and Be One to Give is a food redistribution app for businesses that eliminates avoidable food waste in daily operations.

The three companies will have the chance to pitch their startup for funding at the DMZ’s annual Black Innovation Summit.

“Trying to launch a payment service with [Black] skin is almost impossible and because of the help of the DMZ we are so close to our goal after one-and-a-half years of trying, trying and trying. It’s hard to [be told] no, and it’s hard [to be told no] because of who you are. We are now 1 email away from everything we have been working towards.” – Ayobami Macaula, Co-Founder and COO of Reyts

The celebration of Black founders in the ecosystem doesn’t end here. On February 24th the DMZ will be hosting its second annual Black Innovation Summit to showcase Black innovation in Canada. Plus, we’ll be giving away $50,000 in total funding to Black-led startups at the DMZ.

 

Want to tune in to see the next generation of Black founders pitch at the DMZ’s Black Innovation Summit? Register here

Learn more about the DMZ’s Black Innovation Programs here.

Get to know the winners of our inaugural Black Innovation Summit

Investing in the growth of rising Black-led tech startups

11 Black-led Pre-Incubator companies, 1 day of pitching, and $49,000 CAD of total funding awarded!

This summer, the DMZ hosted its inaugural Black Innovation Summit, bringing together the next generation of rising tech startups led by Black founders! 

Equitable access to funding has been a longstanding issue in the innovation ecosystem. The Black Innovation Summit was designed to put capital directly into the hands of Black founders to help them take their startups to the next level. 

Not only did the Black Innovation Summit award DMZ Pre-Incubator companies funding, it also put a spotlight on the importance of supporting the Black entrepreneurial community, and investing in the growth of an inclusive tech ecosystem.

So, how did the Black Innovation Summit work?

The DMZ brought together select Black alumni founders from the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator to deliver startup pitches to a panel of esteemed judges. With a grand first place prize of $20,000 CAD at stake, founders laid it all out on the line to wow the panel with their innovative solutions. 

Who came out on top?

Our founders did not make it easy for the judges, as all the startups delivered compelling pitches. From edtech, femtech, real estate, HR, fintech and more, we saw an array of innovative solutions and products that have the potential to make a real impact in their respective industry. Congratulations to all of the participants and winners!

1st place: Tunde Omotoye, Co-Founder of HumanSquad won $20,000 CAD in funding.

2nd place: Eyra Abraham, Founder of Lisnen won $10,000 CAD in funding.

3rd place: Michael Collins, Founder and CEO of Periculum won $5,000 CAD in funding. 

We connected with the top 3 winning founders to learn more about their startup, how the funding will help them, and their experience with the Black Innovation Programs at the DMZ!

HumanSquad – Tunde Omotoye


Tell us about HumanSquad.

HumanSquad helps people navigate their immigration journey and career path by connecting immigrants to licensed immigration consultants in Canada. The current Canadian immigration landscape for prospective immigrants includes traditional players, and complex and overwhelming processes which are expensive. 

At HumanSquad, we digitize the immigration process, making it simple and affordable.

Could you shed some light on your entrepreneurial journey? What brought you to where you are today? 

Our CEO and Co-Founder Tunde Omotoye provides informal immigration and human resource advisory support to over a quarter of a million followers seeking to move, settle, and grow their career in Canada. 

Tunde’s requests to have one-on-one advisory sessions concerning Canadian immigration evolved into HumanSquad. The reputation Tunde has garnered over the years has lent reliability and credibility to the HumanSquad model.

What was going through your mind when you found out you won first place at the DMZ’s inaugural Black Innovation Summit?

A lot, actually. It was unbelievable! We had practiced multiple times before the D-Day, so we were glad that our efforts weren’t wasted.

What impact did the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator have on your startup’s trajectory? 

Coming into the DMZ’s Pre-Incubator, we had launched our prototype and were already seeing traction. So our expectations for the program, beyond validating our solution, were to upskill the team and redefine our go-to market strategy across sales, marketing, and tech to optimize our reach. 

Before joining the Black Innovation Pre-Incubator, we didn’t understand concepts like ‘user journey’ or ‘OKRs’. Now, we understand customer profiling and engagement, and key client-related key performance indicators to look out for that can impact our bottom line and boost our topline.

Do you have plans on how you would like to use the money you’ve won? How will it help support your startup?

Our current tech infrastructure needs to be upgraded, so a significant portion of the grant is going to that. We are currently expanding our distributed tech team to work both on the front-end and back-end of our portal. 

We’re also looking to invest in our marketing efforts, as we haven’t launched any aggressive paid marketing initiatives since we launched over a year ago. We are planning to test run some initiatives in our playbook to grow our customer engagement.

What message do you want to share with fellow Black entrepreneurs who are trying to build their own companies?

It’s important to connect with people already in the entrepreneurship space to understand their journey. We need to debunk the myth that entrepreneurship is a solitary journey. Entrepreneurs offer different services and sell different products, and there’s nothing wrong with learning from one another’s insights. 

Of course – products differ, but entrepreneurship is by and large quite agnostic and there is so much a founder can learn from other founders. Following closely on the heels of that, I’d say to own your journey, take every entrepreneurial adventure as a learning experience, and allow yourself to evolve and learn through it all.

 

Lisnen – Eyra Abraham


Tell us a little bit about Lisnen.

Lisnen focuses on everyday safety and convenience challenges for the Deaf and hard of hearing. Fire alarms, sirens, yells, cries, door knocks, and bells are sounds that expect attention. 

Yet, for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, not knowing can be a risk. Lisnen is solving the lack of access and inequalities of using only sound to communicate critical information for people with hearing loss.

What brought you to where you are today? 

I started Lisnen to address a personal pain point that I was experiencing as someone with hearing loss. I had slept through a fire alarm in my condo after taking off my hearing aids to sleep. I hadn’t realized what had happened until a couple of days later when a notice in my inbox notified tenants of the situation.

It was a wake-up call – people living with disabilities do not have equal access to the same safety standards in establishments and residential areas. After buying and trying different products, I was waiting for someone to create a solution that worked. Finally, it dawned on me that maybe I should be the one.

What was going through your mind when you found out you won second place at DMZ’s inaugural Black Innovation Summit?

After hearing so many great pitches and founders with amazing businesses, I was very surprised, yet incredibly grateful.

I hadn’t pitched in a while, and I wanted to deliver my pitch to improve on it and practise. I was ready to congratulate the winners and head back to work! 

When I won, I realized that we are blessed to be in the company of so many Black founders who are pushing forward to make changes for our community.

What impact did DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator have on your startup’s trajectory? 

The Black Innovation Pre-Incubator allowed me to see the successes and the possibilities within the entrepreneurial community. This was empowering, and gave me an extra bit of confidence with my work.  

Also, the support network of founders has been impactful. There is a lot of diverse expertise that I can tap into to assist my business.  

Do you have plans for how you would like to use the money you’ve won? How will it help support your startup?

The funding will support our app development as we continue to build our machine learning algorithm to support people with hearing loss and our corporate partners.

What message do you want to share with fellow Black entrepreneurs who are trying to build their own companies?

Nothing in our past can prepare us to reach our next level of success. So persevere and stay patient. Continue to grow and learn, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable as you reach new heights!

Lisnen is engaging with people in the hearing loss community and welcomes anyone with hearing loss to join their community of app testers. Head over to their website to sign up and co-create their community!

 

Periculum – Michael Collins


Tell us a little bit about Periculum.

Periculum is a top provider of data analytics and credit assessment services specifically targeted to underserved markets. We work with financial institutions and lenders to digitize their solutions, including credit scoring and loan underwriting. Additionally, we provide data analytic solutions to give them an edge in the crowded marketplace.

Could you shed some light on your entrepreneurial journey? What brought you to where you are today? 

I was born and raised in Nigeria, where I spent the first 18 years of my life. I came to Canada on my 19th birthday to go to school at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, British Columbia. I ended up transferring to Thompson University in Kamloops. 

After school, I worked for BMO and CIBC, where I was first made aware of the problem Periculum is working on now – ‘thin files’.  ‘Thin files’ refer to individuals and businesses that do not have access to loans or other financial services because they have little or no credit history. 

About 1 in 15 people in North America are underserved by the financial services industry, but in the African market it’s 1 in 3 people. This led me to start Periculum to help people and businesses in Africa access financial and lending services. 

What was going through your mind when you found out you won third place at the DMZ’s inaugural Black Innovation Summit? 

At first, I didn’t really register the announcement because I was not expecting it!

There were some fantastic founders building great companies, so I did not expect to make it in the top three. When they announced Periculum as third, I was shocked, excited, and honoured! 

What impact did the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator have on your startup’s trajectory?

Boy, where do I start…the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator is one of the best programs I have ever attended…period! 

The lessons I learned from the great program mentors literally took Periculum to the next level. We didn’t have a very clear business strategy when we started, but the program helped us define our strategy and execute on it. I cannot say enough about this program!

Do you have plans on how you would like to use the money you’ve won? How will it help support your startup? 

The money will help us acquire more server space, which will allow us to onboard more customers and grow our revenue.

What message do you want to share with fellow Black entrepreneurs who are trying to build their own companies? 

Starting a company under normal circumstances is very hard, but doing it as a Black founder is even harder. Programs like the DMZ’s Black Innovation Pre-Incubator makes the black entrepreneurship journey easier.

I am very proud and honoured to be a part of the inaugural Black Innovation Summit, and I hope other institutions follow the DMZ’s lead in establishing programs like this because the more we get our Black community involved in entrepreneurship, the better our communities and world will be. The future is bright!

Periculum just launched a $500K pre-seed round, and have already raised over half of it! The round will help them expand their reach and offerings in the Nigerian and West African markets.

We’re now accepting applications for the DMZ’s Pre-Incubator fall cohort. Make your way to dmz.to/bootcamp to apply today. 


For more information on the DMZ’s Black Innovation Programs, click
here