Opportunity Hub Announces New Partnerships Across Entertainment, Government and Tech at SXSW and Marks Progress in Inclusive Ecosystem Building Initiatives

Today, Opportunity Hub (OHUB) announced a number of new partnerships and collaborative programs that will create expanded and sustainable multi-generational wealth-creating opportunities for communities that have traditionally been underrepresented and disadvantaged. In a wave of announcements during OHUB’s 4th Annual Innovators and Investors Dinner at the SXSW Conference & Festival (SXSW), the inclusive ecosystem builder announced the appointment of rapper 21 Savage to its Board of Advisors and the agreement to collaborate on a tech and startup anthem designed to inspire and create a new generation of future innovators and entrepreneurs, as well as a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) to increase minority representation in the innovation economy. OHUB will also officially launch its Ecosystem Wealth mobile app during an event featuring Young Guru, best known for his work with Jay-Z.

Opportunity Hub has focused its inclusive ecosystem building platform on partnerships and products that provide minority communities with early exposure, education & training, ecosystem building opportunities and capital formation. The company will continue to scale its model and build on the progress it has made, which includes:

Forming Public and Private Partnerships

Partnerships with major corporations, government agencies and other public and private entities to launch innovative and inclusive ecosystem building programs provides a definitive and sustainable solution to growing, amplifying and evolving the authentic diversity in the innovation economy. Recent partnerships include:

• The Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and OHUB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to launch an inclusive ecosystem building initiative that will increase entrepreneurship-led economic development. Together, the organizations will provide support for networking and strategic partnerships between MBDA stakeholders and OHUB partners in addition to providing an expanded focus on Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in all their endeavors.

• The Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) of Kansas City is partnering with OHUB to create an inclusive ecosystem building guide for municipalities, foundations and funders to understand what inclusive ecosystem building is and the power of funding these efforts in cities across America. The FRB will also convene the nation’s black ecosystem builders in a capacity building summit on October 10th, 2018 in Kansas City, MO.

Increasing the Funnel of Under-Tapped Technologists, Entrepreneurs & Investors

• 21 Savage Joining OHUB’s Board of Advisors. OHUB and 21 Savage  will collaborate to provide technology, startup entrepreneurship and wealth building education to under-tapped communities. Also, as part of the partnership, OHUB Chief Executive Officer, Rodney Sampson, will co-write and produce a tech, entrepreneurship and wealth creation music anthem and video that will be released later this year exclusively in the ecosystem wealth app.
  

• Launching OHUB@Campus across the U.S. Opportunity Hub is partnering with students, alumni, and administrators at more than 60 colleges and universities across America to launch campus chapters of OHUB. Branded OHUB@Campus, each chapter will have a private channel in the ecosystem wealth app offering content, programming, mentorship and connections to advance their career in tech, launch their high growth startups and and build multi-generational wealth. Kent Bazemore, an Atlanta Hawks NBA player, philanthropist and CEO of the ARMS Foundation, is sponsoring chapters at Old Dominion University and Winston Salem State. OHUB plans to launch 1,000 active chapters over the next 5 years.

• Launching CodeStart Bootcamps with CodeFellows and Six Month Startup (6MS). As a follow-up to the launch of the #YesWeCode Fund with Van Jones at the 2017 SXSW, Opportunity Hub is now partnering with CodeFellows and Six Month Startup to launch CodeStart coding and entrepreneurship bootcamps at minority serving institutions, community colleges and technical colleges throughout the country, starting with Historical Black Colleges and Universities.

• Launching Black Ecosystem Network.  Founding members include OHUB (Atlanta, GA), TRIBE & Black Tech Week (Miami, FL), BLKTECH INTERACTIVE (Charlotte, NC ), Inclusive Innovation Incubator (District of Columbia), Innovation Villages (Baltimore, MD); South Box (Philadelphia, PA), Harlem Co-lab & Capital (Harlem, NY), Hillman Accelerator and Capital (Cincinnati, OH), BLUE 1647 (Chicago, IL), PACE (Seattle, WA)

• Educating communities on inclusive innovation, entrepreneurship and investment. OHUB completed the first module of its college-level course on inclusive innovation, entrepreneurship and investment is complete. The instructional design is being  developed by Wisewire in collaboration with Milamber.