Black women entrepreneurs need support, not attacks

Sonja Ebron

Black women in the U.S. have to continuously navigate systems that, at best, aren’t designed with us in mind and, at worst, are biased against us.

As the founder of Courtroom5, where we provide automated legal support to people representing themselves in civil court, I work to address the inequities faced by Black and brown women within the civil court system. And as a Black female entrepreneur, I see the inequities in the startup ecosystem every day. I constantly have to build new pathways — for funding, for support — just to secure a fraction of the opportunities that seem effortlessly available to white founders.

Year after year, the disheartening statistics persist; Black women receive less than 1% of venture capital funds each year. We receive fewer government contracts, are less likely to be approved for loans, and when we are, we receive higher interest rates. And needlessly high thresholds to become an accredited investor mean that there aren’t many people that look like me that can invest in me. In the face of all of that, we carry on — Black women owned businesses grew 50% between 2014 and 2019.

Some have stepped up — especially within the Black startup and investor community — to create the funding pathways and resources for us that are readily available to other founders. Grants tailored for Black women, set asides for socially disadvantaged businesses, venture funds for Black founders — all crafted with the intention of aiding marginalized communities in innovating, launching and growing businesses.

Groups like Fearless Fund exist because they, as women of color, saw the shortcomings in venture capital for women business owners of color and wanted to be the solution themselves.

That’s why the onslaught of attacks against programs and resources for underrepresented entrepreneurs is such a threat to founders of color and diversity in the innovation ecosystem. The recent challenge to the Fearless Fund’s Fearless Strivers Grant Contest, alleging that the $20,000 grants to Black women business owners violate civil rights — is outrageous. As of this month, Fearless Fund has been blocked from issuing the grants while the lawsuit unfolds. If the inaptly named American Alliance for Equal Rights is successful, Black founders, especially Black women founders, will lose some of the few lifelines we have in the startup ecosystem.

We’ve witnessed similar challenges to programs supporting Black founders, ranging from the Small Business Administration’s programs that support socially disadvantaged businesses, to a class action lawsuit against Hello Alice for grants they give to Black-owned businesses.

Groups like Fearless Fund aren’t violating civil rights laws, which were enacted in part to shield against economic inequities for Black Americans in contracting following the Civil War. Instead, Fearless Fund is working tirelessly to ensure that Black women can compete on something closer to an even playing field with all business owners. And it’s bigger than just supporting Black women founders as individuals; groups like Fearless Fund are supporting the unique work Black women founders do in building our communities.

These challenges, even if they aren’t successful, will have lasting, chilling effects in the funding landscape for Black and brown founders. The threat alone is enough for groups to pull back on initiatives for founders of color. While this gets hashed out in court, all Americans, including policymakers and investors need to step up and use their voices in support of founders of color. Without clear initiatives and dedicated resources to support our founder communities, the vibrancy of our innovation ecosystem — which comes from the diversity of ideas put forth by the diversity of our communities — is at risk.

Sonja Ebron is CEO at Courtroom5, a startup dedicated to  empowering people to represent themselves effectively in court. She also serves on the Leaders Council of the Legal Services Corporation, the nation's primary funding source for legal aid programs.

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