Oakland Black Business Fund (OBBF) has launched a new Black-led investment platform to provide capital and technical assistance to Black-owned businesses.
The platform includes a $10M relief fund focused on helping local Bay Area businesses impacted by COVID-19 and a $1B investment fund to support Black entrepreneurs across the country.
Founded in June 2020 by Oakland community leaders Elisse Douglass and Trevor Parham, the OBBF has raised over $150,000 of seed funding from individuals and corporations to pilot their model.
OBBF is working to deploy $10M in relief funds and technical assistance grants to stabilize 500 Black businesses in Oakland. The relief fund also prepares Black entrepreneurs for more substantial capital investments to scale their businesses and acquire real estate.
In addition to the $10M in relief funds, the OBBF aims to raise $1B by the end of 2022 to invest in Black-owned businesses and real estate. These funds will be invested in Black businesses and entrepreneurs across the U.S. to address systemic bias from traditional financial organizations that perpetuate the funding gap for Black businesses.
Current capital partners and technical assistance providers include Alliance for Community Development, The Clorox Company, and Okta.
OBBF supports a broad array of businesses and nonprofits with a focus on scaling its city-specific model to other municipalities across the country. The fund is seeking investors and corporate partners to bridge the gap to their next milestone of $1M by the end of 2020.
Businesses interested in receiving capital or technical support can apply directly at www.oaklandblackbusinessfund.org/apply. Investors or organizations interested in contributing to OBBF can contact [email protected] for more information on partnership opportunities.
FinSMEs
01/09/2020