Elevate Black Entrepreneurs Scholarship
Talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not.
Although African-Americans comprise 13.4% of the US population, just 1% of start-ups receiving venture funding have Black founders.
While entrepreneurship is one of the most impactful ways to move communities and the country forward, the pipeline of funded entrepreneurs does not reflect the diversity of our country.
And since the focus of funded start-ups tends to reflect the experience of their founders, lack of representation means blindspots in innovation. Critical, solvable problems go unaddressed. Concurrently, funding often flows in favor of ideas for businesses in saturated markets with less potential for impact and scale.
Solving this problem will take deep dedication across the start-up, tech, and venture capital world.
As one small part of this, the Elevate Black Entrepreneurs Scholarship will be awarded to a Black undergraduate or graduate school entrepreneur who is currently building or who aspires to build a new business.
Current or aspiring Black entrepreneurs across any field or business stage will be considered.
Winners will be selected on the merit of their business idea, and on the impact that additional support would have for them.
Please tell us about your story, your business (or business idea), and your goals. How did you become interested in entrepreneurship? What inspired you to pursue your business idea? What do you hope to achieve?
Winners and Finalists
July 2021
Winning Application
Explore All Kinds of Scholarships for All Kinds of Students
FAQ
The application deadline is Mar 30, 2025. Winners will be announced on Apr 30, 2025.
Your privacy is a top priority on the Bold.org platform, and you can find our privacy policy in full here. You may opt out of communications from Bold.org at any time, and unless we’ve first notified you and gotten your consent, you’ll never receive communication from any third parties related to personal information you give us.
Award amounts per winner are designated by the donor. Check the award amount for a detailed breakdown.
The winner will be publicly announced on Apr 30, 2025. Prior to the announcement date, we may contact finalists with additional questions about their application. We will work with donors to review all applications according to the scholarship criteria. Winners will be chosen based on the merit of their application.
Award checks will be sent to the financial aid office of the winner's academic institution in their name to be applied to their tuition, and in the name of their institution (depending on the school's requirements). If the award is for a qualified educational non-tuition expense, we will work with the winner directly to distribute the award and make sure it goes towards qualified expenses.
Before we award the scholarship, the winner will be required to confirm their academic enrollment status. Depending on the circumstances, verification of Student ID and/or their most recent transcript will be required.
If you have any questions about this scholarship or the Bold.org platform, just email contact@bold.org and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.
Yes. The terms and conditions for this scholarship can be found here.