We were lucky to catch up with Kiante Bush recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kiante, thanks for joining us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

I come from a family of entrepreneurs – my mother has a business selling beautiful custom gift baskets, and my uncles have had clothing lines, transportation services, pressure washing services, and many other innovative ways to support the family. As the cost of living increased in our nation’s capital in the 90’s, especially for African-American families – it was almost a requirement to have a full-time job AND a side hustle. As poverty began to surround my environment, I knew that going to college would help put me in a better position to support not only myself but also my family back home – so I studied Engineering at The National Treasure – Morgan State University, and then returned a few years later for my MBA.

While studying for my MBA, my team and I launched Venture for T.H.E.M. to address the following disparities in Access, Allocation, and Authority for undeserved entrepreneurs – starting with those from HBCUs as our beachhead market:

1) Access: Only 6% of HBCUs have programs to directly provide seed funding for startups (Third Way, 2022)
2) Allocation: Black founders raised less than 0.5% out of a total of $136B in VC funds as of March 2024 (Tech Crunch, 2024)
3) Authority: About HALF of ALL VCs attended either Harvard or Stanford (Forbes, 2021)
Half of an entire industry that thrives off of individual network and warm introductions derives from two schools out of 4,000+ in the US alone. Imagine the gatekeeping and biases that run rampant in such an influential space.

Our entire team is composed of HBCU graduates who feel passionate about bridging the gap in funding, exposure, and opportunity for HBCU founders, and also Black and Brown founders as a whole. This support is more critical than ever – especially with recent attacks on DEI initiatives and funds to support founders of color.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have had the pleasure of working for some of the top companies in the world – from Accenture, to Deloitte, and Booz Allen Hamilton, to JPMorgan, and Northrop Grumman. The core of my career has been in Technology Consulting – supporting these large brands in optimizing technical acumen and tools for their federal clients. Nonetheless, as years passed, I began to feel empty in the work that I did. I found much more purpose in coaching my friends who were working on their startups, as opposed to the multi-billion dollar agencies that I consulted for.

While pursuing my MBA at Morgan State University, I was also enrolled in a dual program where I took some of my last MBA classes at Johns Hopkins University. I was able to see through the lens of two universities in the same city – yet very different resources for students. I admired how JHU was able to provide student entrepreneurs with thousands of dollars in funding through accelerators and pitch competitions. I knew that my peer at MSU had brilliant ideas that deserved those same resources, but unfortunately there was no on-campus structure to support that. So I went and created it myself.

Through a fellowship program supported by Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Moet Hennessy (Hennessy Fellows Program), I was awarded an $8,000 grant as a launchpad to support the start of my company – Venture for THEM (Tech High-Performers & Entrepreneurial Masterminds).

Since our launch in 2022, Venture for THEM has:
1) invested $30,000+ in HBCU entrepreneurs, through our 4-month HBCU Startup Accelerator, On-Campus Pitch Competitions, and HBCU Summits
2)toured to various HBCUs across the Mid-Atlantic, such as Morgan State and Howard University, providing student entrepreneurs with $3,000+ in prizes for their businesses at each stop. We provide VC/C-Suite judges to give the students real-time feedback/questions to further their business expertise.
3) provided 15+ free weekly workshops, called “Founder Fridays” on various topics to support HBCU founders, and Black and Brown founders as a whole. Our Founder Fridays workshops include guest speakers that are industry experts and provide guidance on topics such as early-stage fundraising, brand awareness, the art of storytelling, managing your mental health as an entrepreneur, and much more.
4) been invited to share our mission and vision with The White House, JPMorgan in NYC, the 56th Grand Boule in The Bahamas, DC Startup Week, Techsgiving Summit, and various other platforms
5) received investments from notable figures such as Pharrell Williams and Black Ambition Prize, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, LVMH, and much more.

Each of these moments aids to our mission/vision because HBCU founders receive direct access to knowledge, network, and capital through our endeavors. Moreover, Venture for THEM champions as a movement to bring awareness to the disparity of opportunities for HBCU founders, while also being able to showcase their excellence and innovation through our pitch competitions, summits, and various other activations.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Although I’m an introvert, I’ve learned how to work a room since a young teen growing up in the church. I come from a small church where everyone played a role – and I’ve had the opportunity to give sermonettes since a young age. I feel like this molded me in a way to become a better public speaker as well. So when fundraising for my business, once I learned more about pitch competitions, this became one of my favorite routes toward initial capital. It was almost natural to engage the audience and connect them with the vision of Venture for THEM.

I’ve won various pitch competitions through Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Black Girl Ventures, Base 11, and more recently – Black Ambition by Pharrell Williams. This has allowed our team to maintain the core of our equity, while also connecting with phenomenal mentors and peers at these events. Now our team travels to HBCUs across the Mid-Atlantic (and soon nationally) hosting pitch competitions for student entrepreneurs. Our team is also creating an app when you’ll be able to easily find local pitch competitions, networking events, and various other resources to support underserved entrepreneurs.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Our team is a firm believer in “if you build it, they will come”. One of our greatest advantages has been building our products and services around a community that we had been cultivating for years prior. We had been hosting a series of mixers and workshops for local entrepreneurs before we even had a true product or service. Before we even thought about transactions and monetization, we simply wanted to create spaces where local founders could connect in a hair-down, tie-off, environment. We built spaces for genuine connection, intentional networking, and an all-around good time. Once we began to refine our business model, our community had already been built to support us on this journey. This “pull vs push” methodology became a secret sauce for our endeavors to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://venture4them.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venture4them/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/venture-for-them
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/venture4them?lang=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiKEt-yYA3P95qxUoiCZhRA

Image Credits

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