To kick off Women's History Month, Mastercard and the Fearless Fund are helping to boost Black women-owned businesses through the Strivers Initiative. The campaign, according to Cheryl Guerin, Mastercard's North American EVP of marketing and communications, aims to give one of the most vulnerable segments of business owners a chance at continuing down the path of entrepreneurship.
"We launched the Strivers Initiative, and this focuses on both elevating the visibility of Black women business owners that are overcoming these obstacles and it encourages those to share what's going on, to shop their businesses, and certainly support them like we are," Guerin told Cheddar.
As part of the campaign, award-winning singer and actress Jennifer Hudson was tapped to come onboard to perform Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's Ain't No Mountain High Enough which Guerin said: "is an absolute anthem for what these women are going through and what they're overcoming."
Since the onset of the pandemic, 41 percent of Black-owned businesses were forced to close, at least temporarily, between February and April 2020, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. A Canadian study also found all women-owned businesses took twice as long to reopen when compared to those owned by men.
As part of the Strivers Initiative Mastercard and the Fearless Fund — an organization that invests in businesses led by women of color — will host a grant program that not only provides monetary support but also helps boost digital visibility.
"Women only receive about 3 percent of all VC funding, and when you look at Black women entrepreneurs, it's a fraction. It's like 2.27 percent of all VC funding, so we partnered with the Fearless Fund to ensure we get money into the hands of these businesses," Guerin said.
Mastercard and the Fearless Fund are also hosting an educational roadshow with initial stops in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, and New Orleans. Attendees will be able to acquire tools and resources to help their businesses thrive.
For Mastercard this initiative is part of its long-term goal of helping at least 50 million small- or medium-sized businesses, Guerin noted.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
