This past weekend, rapper and activist Lupe Fiasco announced that he is the co-founder of a new non-profit corporation whose main focus will be to “turn ideas into start ups” among the youth in the inner cities of the United States.
The company is called Neighborhood Start Fund6 and along with co-founder Di-Ann Esinor, Fiasco plans to create ‘a neighborhood-specific fund to support entrepreneurs and start-ups from underserved areas”. He believes that some of the “best new ideas” reside in the inner city and has started this non-profit to ensure that they “won’t go wasted”. The company plans to provide “access, network, workshops, mentoring, and or course funding” to all prospects. This truly seems to be a blessing to many great minds that flourish in the inner city but would have no other option to make it out. He announced the launch via Twitter stating that the first endeavor of the company will be a live pitch event in the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York on Nov.13, 2015. The company will be housed at the Dream Big Foundation’s new entrepreneurship center and café which opens Jan. 2016, according to Esinor.
Hopefully this company does not turn out to be a flash in the pan. The world needs more and more entrepreneurs and innovators everyday and this could help level the playing field of exposure for those whose parents weren’t able to fund their dreams or send them off to a university to open doors for their creativity and potential. Hopefully, Fiasco and Esinor will be able to turn a few roses that grew out of the concrete into a garden of prosperity.
-Kiah Fields (@2COASTSHAWTY)
