My Experience
Jalia Ventures provides expansion venture capital to for-profit, minority owned enterprises that have a social or environmental mission. As Jalia’s first “Entrepreneur in Residence,” I performed due diligence on potential investments in companies operating in the biofuels, public health, organic food, and clean tech sectors. We examined each company for profitability and social and/or environmental impact. I also provided strategic advice on core strategy to existing Jalia portfolio companies.
I had to employ all of the core skills that I was loath to learn in the CBS core curriculum, particularly corporate finance, modeling and accounting. I analyzed financial statements and developed scenario financial projections. In addition, we searched for evidence that social or environmental impact was central to an enterprise’s operations.
For me, the greatest challenge was that the financial modeling skills necessary in the private sector are advanced beyond what one might learn in the CBS core. More broadly, the additional costs of mentorship and support of early stage minority owned companies is difficult to “carry” in a for-profit venture model.
My experience at Jalia clearly outlined the challenges that exist for entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs of color, who seek to create not only social and environmental impact but also profits for their organizations by raising capital, managing efficient business models, and attracting talented staff. Scaling these ventures is not just incredibly important to the health of underserved domestic and emerging markets—it is a complicated and unique process that requires a broad range of technical investment skills, appetite and instinct for risk, capacity and knowledge of mentorship. It is exceedingly difficult to launch a successful, profitable enterprise with social and environmental outcomes.
This Entrepreneurship in Residence gave me the clarity of purpose, experience, language, and network to understand the specific challenge of launching a successful social enterprise. My ability to develop the potential of my startup, BlocPower, was dramatically enhanced by my summer experience and the exceptional mentorship and deep investment of time by my managers at Jalia. I would not have been able to undertake this internship without the Social Enterprise Fellowship Program.
