Organizers behind Black Tech Week want to create a citywide campus when the annual conference converges on Cincinnati for the first time this summer, and have debuted their initial slate of high-profile founders that will serve as keynotes for the event.
Candice Matthews Brackeen, founder and CEO of Lightship Foundation, a local economic development group that acquired Black Tech Week earlier this year, will host the conference at multiple locations between the downtown business district and Over-the-Rhine from July 18-22.
Events will be hosted at Music Hall, Memorial Hall and Union Hall. A fourth location is also in the works.
This will be the first time the 7-year-old event, considered one of the nation’s premier conferences for founders and tech professionals of color, will be held in Cincinnati. Black Tech Weeks was founded in Miami but acquired by Lightship Foundation in March, a high-profile win for both the organization and city.
Black Tech Week is projecting between 1,000-2,000 attendees, a rough estimate, Matthews Brackeen said, including founders of color, tech professionals and enthusiasts, funders, allies and all members of the global Black tech community.
The plan is to capitalize on the momentum leading into the Cincinnati Music Festival, one of the oldest and largest in the country. The music festival, scheduled July 21-23, hosts more than 70,000 visitors and generates $107 million in economic impact.
“For the last seven years, Black Tech Week has been hard at work — ecosystem-building for Black tech communities. Relocating means expanding our national network of founders, talent and investors,” Matthews Brackeen said in a release. “We’re proud of our 2022 conference calendar and the opportunity to bring this lineup to our community.”
So far, more than 60 sessions are planned with 50-plus tech influencers and minority innovators as featured speakers.
Those include:
- Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code, an Oakland, Calif., nonprofit that works to get more girls and women of color in tech.
- Arlan Hamilton, founder of Hire Runner, a software as a service startup that connects operations talent with inclusive companies; and Backstage Capital, a Los Angeles-based venture fund dedicated to high-potential tech founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT.
- Felicia Hatcher, CEO of Black Ambition, a nonprofit founded by Grammy Award-winning singer Pharrell Williams that funds projects spearheaded by Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs in tech, design, health care and consumer products. Hatcher and husband Derick Pearson are the original founders of Black Tech Week.
- Detavio Samuels, CEO of Revolt, a fast-growing Black-owned media company owned by hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Keynotes, panels and sessions will tap into topics like exits, IPOs and the current startup lifecycle, fundraising and navigating the venture landscape as well as hiring for innovation amid the Great Resignation.
Registrants can also sign up for “VC office hours” with venture firms in attendance or participate in a pop-up career fair.
Matthews Brackeen said Black Tech Week aims to serve as a real-time resource for organizations seeking to diversify their teams and for investors interested in cultivating more inclusive portfolios.
Lightship Foundation said it plans to leverage local corporate partners and community networks including the Cincinnati Innovation District, an ecosystem anchored by University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, to bring business leaders and creatives to town. Lightship Foundation will establish its headquarters in the CID at “The Beacon,” located at 121 E. McMillan. The foundation’s office is expected to open in the third quarter of 2022.
Current events sponsors include: Amazon Web Services; the city of Cincinnati; Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana; Ohio Third Frontier; and Lincoln & Gilbert, a new local initiative that will provide $1 million in grants this year to minority-owned companies.
“The city of Cincinnati is committed to becoming a place where Black entrepreneurs feel supported and seen,” Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in the release.
