Musical icon Pharrell Williams recently announced the third edition of the prize competition held by his non-profit initiative, Black Ambition.
Known as “The Black Ambition Prize,” the competition helps Black and Hispanic applicants get their start in the business world by offering services such as mentoring, resources and other forms of help.
As part of their prize, the Black Ambition Prize helps young entrepreneurs network and learn from people in high positions in established companies. As partners of the prize, Netflix, Adidas and Snapchat, amongst others, will take part in holding “office hours” with prize winners to help give lessons on PR, marketing and other business aspects. Along with the monetary $1 million dollar prize, the winners will also get the chance to take part in meetings with Pharrell as both part of a group and individually for life coaching sessions.
The Black Ambition Prize will be supplemented by special opportunities for HBCU students. As part of a smaller prize, the nonprofit will offer $200,000 in monetary to HBCU attendees and alums.
“We’ve accomplished so much in such a short time, and it’s been amazing to see our impact so far,” said business mogul Pharell Williams in a statement. “It’s not just about creating space for our Black, Hispanic and HBCU entrepreneurs, it’s about equity, it’s about giving them the tools, resources and hands-on mentorship to excel uninterrupted.”
“I am constantly blown away by the ideas and businesses that our applicants have developed and created,” he added.
With increased opportunities such as the one given by the Black Ambition, the amount of Black-owned businesses has been on the rise in recent years.
According to a report published in 2022 by the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2019, there were roughly about 134,500 Black-owned businesses in the U.S. This was an eight percent increase from the 124,500 Black-owned businesses that existed in 2018. During the pandemic, there was an even greater increase. According to a report by the Pew Research Center, the number increased to roughly about 140,900 in February 2020- up by about four percent since 2019.
Black women, in particular, have been leading the race in starting new business operations. According to a report released by JP Morgan, the amount of Black Women in the business industry increased by 50% throughout a five-year span from 2014 to 2019, totaling up to 42% of all women in all demographics who opened up a business. Of all demographics in the Black community, Black women made up 36% of all business owners.
