5 Things Women of Color Should Do to Improve Their Access to Capital with Adeola Adejobi S6 Ep. 3

As women, we know its true. Women more broadly, women of color in particular and Black women especially have less access to capital and face compounded intersectional challenges in business.. One of the many hurdles is capital access for women of color and Black women in particular. My guest started the Women of Color and Capital Conference, one of the largest convenings of women of color in the US to address access to business capital, finance, and growing wealth for women of color.

My guest is Adeola Adejobi, the Founder and CEO of the Avant-Garde Network (AGN), a leading social impact company that creates social and economic impact through a collaborative ecosystem of industry professionals, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. Through AGN she created the Women of Color and Capital Conference, the only conference of its kind where diverse women entrepreneurs & professionals come together to learn about money, finance, capital, and investing from a 360-degree lens.

In this episode youll learn:

• The major access barriers to capital for women of color


• What must happen to reduce the barriers to capital for women of color


• 5 things women of color can do to improve their access to capital; and

Key takeaways:

• 
  Networking is investing in a relationship: Networking is establishing genuine connections over time. People often think that networking is about meeting people and thinking about what you can get from them. Networking is not that! Networking is investing in a relationship so that if and when over time if you need something you have a pool of people that you can call on as a resource to be able to do some of the things you want to do or get the help that you need to get.

• 
  Women of color grow slower: Due to access barriers WOC grow slower because they spend many productive hours doing all the things themselves that they could outsource to increase productivity and profit. But, due to lack of capital, they are stuck doing all of the work in their business, some of which could be best done by others.

• 
  Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) are good capital sources for early-stage women of color in lieu of big banks. CDFIs have a mission and mandate to CDFIs are mission-driven financial institutions that create economic opportunity for individuals and small businesses.

• 
  Women of Color Must Increase Their Prices: WOC often charge too little, which impedes profitability, and in turn makes it difficult to get a bank loan or attract angel investors in the early stages.

• 
  The hardest task is to get to the 6-figure mark for women of color and then to scale to a million. Over 90% of Black women work their day job while running a business. That means that in addition to lack of financial capital they also lack time and currency as well.

• 5 key things that women of color can do to improve their access to capital:


• Figure out how you can make more money!


• Have your financial house in order


• Work on your pitch


• Lean in on your community - build your personal board


• Just keep going!

• Do the following to ensure your business is structured for growth:


• Have your financial house in order


• Do you tax return and maintain proper bookkeeping


• Document your business mission statement


• Have a business plan with projections


• Generate revenue (this is key!)

Learn more about Women of Color and Capital here: https://www.womenofcolorandcapital.com/

Learn more about Avant-Garde Network here: https://www.avantgnetwork.com/

Learn about Adeola here: http://www.adeolaadejobi.com/about-1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aadejobiesq/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adeolaadejobi/

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Join me next Friday for another episode.