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Racism and the Economy: Focus on Entrepreneurship

June 2, 2021
12:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET | 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. CT
Virtual video event presented by all 12 District Banks of the Federal Reserve System

Racism and the Economy: Focus on Entrepreneurship

The sixth installment of our virtual event series focuses on the impact of racism on entrepreneurs of color. The session will examine solutions that challenge persistent disparities and explore the potential for entrepreneurship to serve as one pathway to transform economic outcomes for communities of color and the broader economy.

Keynote speakers

  • Robert E. Weems Jr., Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History, Wichita State University

Additional speakers

  • Raphael Bostic, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
  • Kelly Burton, Executive Director, Black Innovation Alliance
  • Nicole Childers, Executive Producer, Marketplace Morning Report (moderator)
  • Charles Evans, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
  • Patrick Harker, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
  • Victor Hwang, Founder and CEO, Right to Start
  • Robert Kaplan, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
  • Neel Kashkari, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
  • Monika Mantilla, President and CEO, Altura Capital, and Managing Partner, Small Business Community Capital
  • Sanjay Singh, Advisor, Pack Health, and Co-founder, Alabama Capital Network
  • Carmen Tapio, Founder and CEO, North End Teleservices, LLC

Event Details

12:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET | 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. CT
Virtual video event presented by all 12 District Banks of the Federal Reserve System


Additional Resources

We have curated a collection of additional resources that focus on the topics of racism and its effects on entrepreneurship.

Small Businesses of Color Recovery Guide: For City Leaders and Community Groups

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Small Business Credit Survey Report on Firms Owned by People of Color

Federal Reserve Banks

Explore the full resource list ›



About the series

Understanding the implications of structural racism in America’s economy and advancing actions to improve economic outcomes for all.

Racism forms the foundation of inequality in our society. It limits opportunity for people of color and threatens the health of our economy. While the global pandemic has intensified racial and economic disparities, the killing of George Floyd has galvanized people from all walks of life to address the systems and structures that enable and perpetuate these outcomes.

Hosted by all 12 District Banks of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, “Racism and the Economy” is a virtual series that brings together community, business, and academic leaders to examine the economic impact of racism and advance bold ideas and concrete actions to achieve an economy that makes opportunity available to everyone.


Event Agenda

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

12:00 p.m. – 12:05 p.m. ET Welcome

Nicole Childers, Marketplace

12:05 p.m. – 12:15 p.m. ET Opening Remarks

Patrick Harker, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

12:15 p.m. – 12:40 p.m. ET Keynote Conversation

Robert E. Weems Jr., Wichita State University

Moderator:
Neel Kashkari, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

12:40 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET Entrepreneur Panel

Carmen Tapio, North End Teleservices LLC
Sanjay Singh, Pack Health and Alabama Capital Network

Moderator:
Nicole Childers, Marketplace

1:00 p.m. – 1:35 p.m. ET Disruptor Panel – Proposal Presentations

The “Right to Start” Can Expand Entrepreneurial Opportunity in Communities of Color and Beyond
Victor Hwang, Right to Start

Reimagining Supplier Diversity
Kelly Burton, Black Innovation Alliance

The UMCP: Underserved Markets Capital Program
Monika Mantilla, Altura Capital and Small Business Community Capital

Moderator:
Nicole Childers, Marketplace

1:35 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. ET Entrepreneur Panel Responses

Moderator:
Nicole Childers, Marketplace

1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET Disruptor & Entrepreneur Panel Discussion

Moderator:
Nicole Childers, Marketplace

2:00 p.m. – 2:25 p.m. ET Reflections on the Event & Role of the Fed

Raphael Bostic, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Charles Evans, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Robert Kaplan, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Moderator:
Nicole Childers, Marketplace

2:25 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET Closing Remarks

Raphael Bostic, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta


Presenter Information

Kelly Burton

Kelly Burton Executive Director, Black Innovation Alliance

Kelly Burton is a political scientist, serial entrepreneur, change agent, and social critic. She is a modern-day renaissance woman who leads with passion, purpose, and vision. Burton is founder of Nexus Research Group, a social impact firm that works with foundations and large-scale nonprofits to help them catalyze change in local communities. She also created Founders of Color, a digital platform committed to helping minority entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses.

Today, Burton is the executive director of the Black Innovation Alliance, a national coalition of ecosystem leaders committed to ensuring inclusion in the innovation economy.

Burton serves on several boards, including the board of directors at the Center for Action and Contemplation. She was recently added to the executive board of Fast Company magazine, where she is a regular contributor.

Burton has a bachelor’s from Clark Atlanta University and a Ph.D. from Emory University, both in political science.

Nicole Childers

Nicole Childers (moderator) Executive Producer, Marketplace Morning Report

Nicole A. Childers is an executive producer at American Public Media and oversees the production of Marketplace Morning Report, which reaches more than 8.5 million people nationwide. Before joining APM, she managed the launch of Fusion, the ABC News/Univision cable TV network venture.

Childers attended the University of Pennsylvania and began her journalism career at ABC News as an intern for Diane Sawyer. In 2004, Childers helped launch ABC News Now as a producer for the ABC News digital channel. Childers later became the chief content officer for LA Public Media and led the development of a multimedia service geared toward underserved communities in Los Angeles.

Childers spent part of her childhood in foster care and has worked to shed light on the plight of children within the system. She is also a judge for Fostering Media Connections, a yearly writing competition for youth in foster care.

Victor Hwang

Victor Hwang Founder and CEO, Right to Start

Victor Hwang is an economic growth expert whose ideas have shaped the economic lives of millions of people worldwide. He is founder and CEO of Right to Start, a campaign fighting to make entrepreneurial opportunity available to everyone. Previously, Hwang was vice president of entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, the world’s leading philanthropy supporting entrepreneurs, where he led initiatives that impacted more 200,000 entrepreneurs. His projects included efforts in catalyzing capital formation, transforming economic development practices, launching a national policy roadmap, and breaking barriers for underserved entrepreneurs. He is a serial entrepreneur and investor who has started and helped grow multiple companies, and he is an author whose book The Rainforest was named Book of the Year by Foreword Reviews. Hwang is a columnist for Inc., Bloomberg, The Hill, Make, and other media, and he is a former corporate lawyer. He has testified in Congress and state legislatures. He graduated from Harvard and the University of Chicago Law School.

Monika Mantilla

Monika Mantilla President and CEO, Altura Capital, and Managing Partner, Small Business Community Capital

Monika Mantilla has dedicated the last 20 years to pursuing societal transformation through entrepreneurial success. She provides capital and networks to promising entrepreneurs and financial and social impact returns to investors.

Mantilla founded Altura Capital, which offers institutional investors and strategic partners the opportunity to invest in and scale high-performing small and diverse businesses. She also co-founded Small Business Community Capital, which provides debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies. The fund focuses on diverse-owned firms and low- and moderate-income communities.

Mantilla has been recognized in multiple years by Latino Leaders magazine as one of the 101 Most Influential Leaders in Hispanic U.S.A. and one of the Top 15 Latinos in Finance.

Mantilla is capital adviser to the Billion Dollar Roundtable, which promotes supplier diversity. She sits on several boards, including the boards of Pasteleria Cidrines, Coastal Painting, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, and the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Sanjay Singh

Sanjay Singh Advisor, Pack Health, and Co-founder, Alabama Capital Network

Sanjay Singh is an academic, entrepreneur, and investor. He has a Ph.D. in technology and strategic management from the University of Georgia, and he was a faculty member at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for 20 years.

Singh was a partner at CTS, a regional software company that merged in 2017 with CGI, a global software engineering firm.

He is a member of the executive committee for the Birmingham Business Alliance, the lead economic development organization for the seven-county region surrounding Birmingham, Alabama.

Singh serves on numerous company and civic boards, including at Pack Health, Oakworth Capital Bank, Prosper Birmingham, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the Rotary Club of Birmingham (where he is past president), and the Birmingham Museum of Art.

Carmen Tapio

Carmen Tapio Founder and CEO, North End Teleservices, LLC

Carmen Tapio is founder and CEO of North End Teleservices LLC, the largest African American owned business in Nebraska. In 2020, North End Teleservice was number 677 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing privately owned companies.

Tapio is a servant-leader who focuses on creating pathways for others to fully participate in the economy. Tapio believes that individuals, families, and communities win through the economic development and the upward mobility of all people.

She has received numerous awards, including the 2020 Urban League of Nebraska African American Leadership Award for Business. Tapio serves on several boards and committees, and she is the 2023 incoming chair of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, where she will be the first African American woman to serve in that capacity.

Tapio is also a member of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s Get Nebraska Growing Taskforce and a director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Omaha Branch.

Robert E. Weems Jr. Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History, Wichita State University

Robert E. Weems Jr. has been the Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History at Wichita State University since fall 2011. He previously taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Iowa and received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Weems, a Chicago native, has written four books on African American business history, including the recently published The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago: Anthony Overton and the Building of a Financial Empire.

Weems is a member and past president of the board of directors of the Kansas African American Museum in Wichita. He also served on the board at the Heartland Wichita Black Chamber of Commerce, where he established and coordinates its Wichita Black Business Hall of Fame.

Weems has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2017 “H.N. Sims Excellence in Education Award,” given by the Wichita branch of the NAACP.


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