Video Game Pioneer Encourages The Next Generation To Explore Opportunities
CEO & Founder,
Official Black Wall Street
Leaning on the community, leaning on your network— those things are really helpful when it comes to gaining funding.”
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Mandy Bowman
Venture capital funding for Black-owned startups quadrupled in the year following the death of George Floyd in 2020. In 2022, funding dropped significantly. Mandy Bowman, CEO and founder of Official Black Wall Street, the largest app connecting consumers with Black-owned businesses, was not surprised.
“We have this massive buying power,” Bowman said of the Black community. “But trying to convince the ones with the power and the funds to invest and see all the opportunities in Black businesses, that’s been the biggest challenge.”
Bowman financed the 2017 launch of the OBWS app through crowdfunding, networking and a small business loan. She expanded her business to provide resources for Black entrepreneurs, and in June, the app relaunched with the goal of tapping into e-commerce and making the company a global brand. Bowman is leaning into her community for support. She encouraged other entrepreneurs to do the same.
Networking Is A Vital Source Of Funding
Sponsorships and advertising in Esports are set to reach more than $1 billion by 2025, according to SafeBettingSites.com. It’s time to get serious about video games.
Hector Navarro, CEO and cofounder of the Brass City Gamers Tournament, a nonprofit STEM and gaming organization, said it's time to incorporate esports into education. And, as a new school board member in Waterbury, Connecticut, Navarro has a plan to make that happen.
“We need to combat this on a local and state level, and educate administrators and educators on the value that esports brings to the educational progress for students,” Navarro said. “Esports has a direct correlation to technology and, as technology increases, so does the esports industry.”
Far from a distraction, video games improved his grades, said Navarro, who had a below-average reading level in school. “I read the dialogue on Final Fantasy 7 on PlayStation, and that, in turn, increased my reading level in school.”
Esports Belong In Education
There are 2.6 million women of color in the U.S. working in low-wage jobs using tech skills that could translate into higher-paying jobs, according to
research backed by Command Shift, a coalition of companies and nonprofits building opportunities in the tech industry for women of color.
“Non-tech sector jobs like data entry clerks, customer service representatives and electronic medical record specialists all have skills that can map into tech,” said Candice Dixon, development director of Command Shift, an offshoot of national tech training nonprofit NPower.
Diverse teams are better for both innovation and revenue, research shows. But it's not enough to hire women of color, Dixon said. Tech employers that support training, retention and advancement are building their bottom line.
Service Job Skills Can Be The First Step In A Tech Career
Development Director,
Command Shift
All we need to activate these individuals is a little bit of a bridge and last-mile training to get them up and running in the tech sector.”
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Candice Dixon
Ed Smith didn’t set out to become one of the first Black engineers to build video game hardware in the 1970s. A key developer behind the Imagination Machine, a personal computer and gaming console, the tech pioneer built his 40-plus career by keeping an eye out for opportunities. He advised aspiring Black technologists to do the same.
Growing up in Brooklyn with a gift for electronics repair, Smith was told by his father and friends that a career in tech wasn’t in his cards. Undeterred, Smith honed his microprocessing skills and landed a position at APF Electronics, where he was instrumental in building the company’s core technology. Building and promoting new technology came in handy in his later work as a strategic technology alliance manager, facilitating partnerships between companies.
“You gain a ton of experience with just this one role,” said Smith, who notes there are often similar positions within corporations. “Take a good look at what’s available.”