Black Business Ventures Association, 10060 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB (2026)

03/11/2026

Happy Birthday to our Executive Director, Dipo Alli 🎉

At the Black Business Ventures Association, we truly appreciate your dedication to seeing Black founders succeed. Your leadership continues to create pathways, opportunities, and support for entrepreneurs building the next generation of innovation.

Thank you for the energy, vision, and commitment you bring to this mission every day.

Wishing you a fantastic birthday and many more years to come! 🎂

03/10/2026

On February 26, we also co-hosted a special Tech Thursday in Winnipeg alongside Social Entrepreneurship Enclave (SEE) and Manitoba Innovates, and it was more than just a panel; it was an honest look at what it really takes to build your own start-up.

We brought together existing founders who are now building their second venture with Eniola Osabiya building ICSF.ai, David Alao building Road Ally Corporation, and Radz 🚀🇿🇼🇿🇲🇿🇦✊🏿 building LawyerPod to share practical insights from their journeys.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Your team is your ceiling.
Vision gets you started. The right operators determine how far you go.

• Clarity is power.
Not just “we’re innovative,” but who are we for? Why us? Why now? That’s what unlocks momentum.

• Hype fades. Product Adoption compounds.
Are you signing up customers steadily alongside the hype? Sustainable growth comes from consistency, not noise.

• This is a long game.
Some journeys shared were years in the making. Endurance is part of the strategy.

The biggest takeaway? Community is infrastructure. When founders share openly, it expands what feels possible for the future tech founders in the room.

Thank you to everyone who attended, asked questions, and leaned into the conversation. The energy in the room was phenomenal; you could honestly hear a pin drop.

Huge shoutout to Tomi Oyende, Adam Kelly, Shiela R. and Shaelynn Stimpson for bringing this all together, and to our existing Founders for being so open, transparent, and willing to share their hard-won lessons with us.

03/09/2026

Thank you to our incredible speakers at the final Black History Month event, co-hosted with Co.Labs in Saskatoon!

On February 26, we wrapped up our Black History Month event in Saskatoon with a powerful conversation featuring Victor Sada, CFA from BKR Capital and Teslim Ogundiran from BDC.

The discussion covered ground that every founder and investor in the ecosystem should be paying attention to:

We explored what constitutes an unfair advantage in 2026, particularly as AI models are developing at an unprecedented pace, aggressively disrupting the industries and the enterprise space, and what it really means to build in a moment like this.

Victor and Teslim shared how they source their best deals, and the answer kept coming back to relationships. Real connections made at events and activations.

We dug into founder traits and signals, the patterns and characteristics that have proven to be strong predictors of portfolio outcomes across their investments.

And we had an honest conversation about common founder mistakes and failure modes, the challenges that persist even when capital is secured, and how investors can help founders navigate those moments.

A huge thank you to Victor and Teslim for bringing their insights, candour, and generosity to this conversation. Events like these are what make our community stronger.

Until next time, Saskatchewan. 🙏🏾

03/06/2026

We are thrilled to share that the Black Business Ventures Association (BBVA) has received $1.5 million in renewed funding through the Black Entrepreneurship Program (BEP) Ecosystem Fund, delivered by Prairies Economic Development Canada I Développement économique Canada pour les Prairies (PrairiesCan).

Black entrepreneurs across Alberta are building, innovating, and growing, contributing to our Canadian economy every single day. Yet too many continue to face nuanced and structural barriers to accessing capital, networks, and the resources they need to scale.

This renewed investment through the BEP recognizes that reality and takes meaningful action to address it. With this funding, BBVA will deliver personalized coaching, strengthen collaboration within the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and increase visibility for Black-led, technology-driven businesses in Alberta.

As the Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), said: “To build the strongest economy in the G7, we need the full and equal participation of everyone. Black entrepreneurs are driving innovation, creating jobs and strengthening communities across Alberta and Canada.”

We are deeply grateful to the entire PrairiesCan team, led by ADM Michele Evans, for their partnership, guidance, and commitment to this work. Thank you also to Minister Eleanor K.C., P.C., M.P., K.C., P.C., M.P., and Minister Rechie Valdez, and to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, for continuing to invest in a more inclusive economy, one where Black tech entrepreneurs have the support they need to start, scale, and succeed.

When Black entrepreneurs thrive, our communities thrive. When our communities thrive, Canada thrives.

Thank you. We are ready to deliver.

CanadianEconomy Innovation BuildingCanadaStrong

Address

10060 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, AB
T5J3R8

Website

http://blackventures.org/

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