The effort to diversify the St. Louis region’s emerging tech start-up sector just got a $420,000 boost from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
BioSTL will serve provide the organizing infrastructure for the St. Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective, which was one of 12 recipients of the Kauffman Inclusion Challenge grant nationwide out of 376 applications. The collective consists of 12 St. Louis-area nonprofit and governmental organizations that will work together to help develop female and historically underrepresented entrepreneurs of color in high-growth sectors.
“Together, we want to help ensure there is gender and racial equity in the start-up community, which means an entrepreneur’s success cannot be predicted based on their identity,” said Cheryl Watkins-Moore, head of the Inclusion Initiative for BioSTL.
BioSTL – a local nonprofit that focuses on transforming St. Louis’ regional economy by building on local strengths in the medical and plant sciences – conceptualized and submitted the grant application on behalf of the collective.
Other collective members include Arch Grants, Center for Emerging Technologies, Cortex, Entrepreneurship Network, Missouri Small Business Development Center, Prosper Women Entrepreneurs, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, St. Louis Makes, St. Louis Regional Chamber, T-Rex and Venture Café.
People interested in getting involved with the St. Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective may contact Natalie Clay at BioSTL at nclay@biostl.org.
