Startup Founders From HBCUs Overcome Funding Challenges With Grit, Determination

Goodr founder Jasmine Crowe was pitching her startup, which works to end food waste, to an investor when she mentioned that she attended an HBCU, or a historically black college and university. There are more than 100 educational institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as HBCUs, including Howard University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Florida A&M University, to name a few. But instead of asking which HBCU, the investor didn’t seem to understand what an HBCU was. “They said, ‘Oh where is that at?’ Not even understanding that HBCUs were a lot of schools,” said Crowe, who graduated from North Carolina Central University. “I think that alone is one of the issues right there—a lot of times there’s just no understanding of what an HBCU is.” Crunchbase News