Omi Bell says entrepreneurship was her way out of poverty.
While on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast hosted by AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucas, Bell shared how selling t-shirts changed her circumstances for the better. She was a computer scientist who had great jobs and grew up mainly in the middle class. However, she had her first child at 17 and her second child at 21, which led her to live in Section 8 housing and accept government assistance. She was working as a teacher and was supporting her children through school.
“America’s not built for a person, a single person with children. That’s just the reality,” she said on the podcast.
“But I had good jobs. I was a K-12 educator. I worked at a patent and trademark office … but I still couldn’t afford to live. Entrepreneurship was really my way out. I had gotten laid off twice. Me and my fiancé broke up. I realized I’m not going to get married. Now I have three children, and I’m not going to go back to anywhere where anybody can ever come to me and say ‘I’m laying you off,” Bell continued.
Bell said she built a teepee in her living room and rented it on Airbnb. She also learned how to print T-shirts and launched a line, which led her to secure deals with Google and Amazon. Forbes reports she launched two apparel printing businesses, MsPrint USA and Made By A Black Woman.
“I worked myself off of poverty, paid for my kids to go to school, all those kinds of things,” Bell said.
Bell had changed her own circumstances and also knew the challenges of what it took to start a business. In 2016, she became the founder of Black Girl Ventures. This social enterprise provides capital to under-resourced businesses — particularly those led by Black woman founders — making less than $1 million, its website mentions. Its resources include crowdfunded pitch competitions, 1:1 funding assessments, and consultations, according to information on LinkedIn.
Over 20,000 entrepreneurs have benefitted from Black Girl Ventures’ resources and over 550 under-resourced companies have secured funding.
Next in the pipeline for Black Girl Ventures is a live 60-second pitch competition featuring three judges called “Pull Up and Pitch.” Entrepreneurs are judged using a thumbs-up system, with awards scaling from $200 for one thumbs-up to $500 for three thumbs-up. Founders who make it to the next round, depending on the partner onboarded, have a chance to compete for $10,000, Bell mentioned.
She states the next competition will be held on Nov. 18 and will air on TikTok.
“We’ll work with them to help get some amplification on a platform so the live goes bigger and we’re going to see what does it look like to live stream and give out capital,” Bell said.
“If we could make this work, I could see the partnership evolving into matching dollars, evolving into what could happen with TikTok Shop, shop the competition kind of stuff is what we’re looking forward to,” she added.
Watch The Full Episode
Check out the full conversation with Bell on “Black Tech Green Money.”
