We know many of you are tuned into and apart of the national conversation on racial inequality and the need for more equity. We often recite and are proud of the fact that we are in one of the nation's wealthiest African-American enclaves Prince George's County Maryland. But behind that fact is a tale of two Counties, with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the state of Maryland and pockets of poverty and distressed areas that don’t get the kind of investment and development that more affluent areas attract.
Being an investor and product-based entrepreneur in the County is hard and we attempt to engage in transactions to change that and they often fail. Due to the lack of financial resources in our community, most entrepreneurs don’t have patient investors; the "friends and family round" to prove and build out ideas to scale. Here how it typically goes - Entrepreneurs bootstrap their ideas spend all their cash to build an initial product and company. They see promise enough to go into debt and typically borrow money from higher net worth individuals (c-suite executives, high wage earning professionals, business leaders, etc.) they call it an investment but it really operates as a loan. The entrepreneur starts immediately making the monthly payments on the "investment" that goes on for a few months, things happen, payments are missed, and then the relationship sours. The entrepreneur has to focus on continuing the success of the company and paying the investor. The entrepreneurs often time fail and the investor vows to not do that again.
We believe that our County has several entrepreneurs, c-suite executives, and seasoned business leaders in the community who classify as high net worth individuals that can be certified as accredited angel investors and be activated as a group to provide mentorship, expertise, and early-stage equity-based capital to county-based high growth entrepreneurs.
This session will introduce and give an insider look at the world of Angel investing, as well as Opportunity Zones as a vehicle to foster equity based business investment in the County. We will introduce how to approach investing in entrepreneurs as part of a portfolio; navigating deals; managing involvement with the portfolio companies, a breakdown on various investing platforms and opportunities, perspectives from the legal side of investing, and more.