MACKINAC ISLAND — Raising awareness on the need for access to capital for black entrepreneurs is the reason Dwan Dandridge, co-founder and CEO of Black Leaders Detroit Fund (BLDF), took the 370-mile bike ride to Mackinac Island for the annual Mackinac Policy Conference.
“For far too long black entrepreneurs have not being able to gain access to capital. They’ve been very creative in finding different ways to start, launch, stay afloat, and whether different storms,” said Dandridge. “We want to remove the need to be so creative. We just want them to be able to do the same things that entrepreneurs from other communities are able to do.”
http://https://vimeo.com/612847583
Dandridge noted BLDF has funding for the black businessperson in the form of grants for non-profits. In January, the organization plans to launch a no-interest loan product for the for-profit sector. Dandridge says his organizations work has been on the ground helping entrepreneurs well before the social justice efforts following George Floyd’s murder and the COVID-19 pandemic with highlighted economic disparities for the black businessperson, the reason he launched BLDF in 2019.
So far, BLDF has deployed $320,000 in grants to black business and non-profits in Detroit since April 2020. It’s goal is to continue to grow the number of people who have made donating commitments as it seeks to grow the pot and raise $1 million a week to help support black businesses.
As Dandrige raises money, he raised and peaked the attention many people in the political, businesses and financial class on how he arrived to the very same conference they were attending. Dandridge says he bike wasn’t easy, but it had to be done.
“The journey was as challenging as anyone could imagine …we faced some adversity on the way here. We had eight miles of rain that we had to ride through on one occasion, we had power go out at one of the hotels we stayed in, but we just used it as motivation in realizing that there are adversities the black entrepreneurs we are looking to support go through on a daily basis.”
