On their travels to the US for business events, it always occurred to Amoye Henry and Adeela Carter that the US had many networking opportunities for women of color. In addition, they found incubators that supported entrepreneurs in launching and growing their businesses. But such an environment was lacking in the Canadian scenario for women of color.
The realization motivated Amoye and Adeela to conduct research. They discovered that in a government fund granted to entrepreneurs, only two Black women out of the 300-plus applicants received funding.
They quickly recognized the problem. Where Black women in North America were the fastest-growing category of entrepreneurs, only 0.6 percent of Black women entrepreneurs in North America successfully raised funds.
Black women entrepreneurs were unaware of their eligibility to apply for numerous funding sources that weren’t advertised to their networks and communities, and the stressful application processes made it all the more challenging.
Recognizing the funding challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs in the private, federal, and city equity spaces, Amoye and Adeela launched Pitch Better.
Committed to the Community
Pitch Better makes it easier for Canadian entrepreneurs from underrepresented populations to capitalize on development prospects in Canada and worldwide. They provide businesses with resources and tools to help them expand.
Through their market research work, programs, and services, Pitch Better ensures that entrepreneurs use research-based insights to make data-informed business decisions
They are committed to gathering the data required to understand and meet women-led enterprises’ economic demands. They strive to discover answers and close the gap for female entrepreneurs across the country through rigorous research and analysis.
Pitch Better envisions creating a collaborative space where Black and equity-seeking female entrepreneurs may dare to dream and gain access to the tools they need to put their ideas into action and effectively engage in the social economy.
As a responsible corporate steward and ethical citizen, Pitch Better focuses on the health and reputation of their company. It prioritizes trust, integrity, openness, and fairness at all levels of the organization.
They prioritize their client’s interests and requirements, establishing long-term partnerships that enrich, improve, and deepen mutual trust, respect, value, and success.
Their entire team is dedicated to attaining, recognizing, and celebrating achievement, and they have complete authority and accountability for doing the right thing the right way every time.
As a socially responsible brand, they protect everyone involved in or affected by their operations’ health, safety, welfare, and sustainability. This is central to how they perform their work and conduct themselves worldwide.
By influencing systems, facilitating connections and access, and building capacity, Black and equity-seeking women can build thriving companies.
Resolving The Problem
Amoye Henry is the Co-Founder and board member of Pitch Better. She is an investment management specialist passionate about capacity building and strategic fundraising. In her eight year journey in the industry, she has been helping expand growth-based firms run by distinctive founders.
In 2021, the United Nations General Assembly designated her one of the World’s Most Influential People of African Descent. She was also named one of Canada’s top 100 Accomplished Black Women in 2018. In addition, she has generated and managed $15 million in fundraising for start-ups and impact groups.
She co-founded Pitch Better as a market research firm that conducted Canada’s first and largest open market study on Black women entrepreneurs, resulting in North America’s first interactive and dynamic dashboard listing 1500+ Black women enterprises across the country.
Adeela Carter co-founded Pitch Better with Amoye Henry and serves on the firm’s board of directors.
Adeela took a leap of faith when she left her 9-5 job and a decade-long career in criminal law with the Ministry of the Attorney General at the Ontario Court of Justice to pursue her passion for business and entrepreneurship. She founded The Carter Strategy Group, a global consulting organization focusing on strategic planning and business development for entrepreneurs, small enterprises, and corporate clients.
Based On Research
Pitch Better is involved in research and innovation. They fill information gaps in the social economy by performing nationwide market evaluations of BIPOC-owned firms and producing research that aims to provide insights to assist good policy and practice improvements.
They ensure education and capacity building by providing culturally competent workshops and coaching that provide market-ready methods and solutions for female entrepreneurs to develop computational thinking and scale business innovation and sustainability.
Pitch Better connects founders directly to private, frequently gated investment and financing options through membership circles and funding streams in which enterprises are financially backed by industry experts, mentors, and peers.
Pitch Better supports Black entrepreneurs in Canada through innovation and research. To learn more about their programs, visit the website at https://pitchbetter.ca/.
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