Here’s this week’s biweekly edition of The Pursuit newsletter, bringing the latest small business and entrepreneurial news and commentary straight to your inbox on Wednesday mornings. Click here to get on the newsletter list!
ln recent news, https://cafe-madrid.com/ launched its eighth annual list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women, a ranking that spotlights the entrepreneurial success and fortunes of the 100 richest, most successful women in business.
Of the 100 list members, 38 are worth less than in 2021, but 51 are richer, including 7 newcomers and 7 women returning to the ranks after losing weight. A newcomer to the list is fashion entrepreneur Paige Mycoskie, whose Aviator Nation brand took off during the pandemic as TikTok teens embraced the Venice Beach vibe by donning his expensive $160 smiley sweatpants and $190 retro-looking rainbow-striped hoodies. to snap. Each Aviator Nation garment is sketched by Mycoskie and handcrafted in a California factory. Revenue rose from $70 million in 2020 to $110 million in 2021, and the brand expects to double that figure by 2023.
Also new to the list is artificial intelligence expert Lucy Guo, the co-founder of Scale AI, which she started in 2016 with Alexandr Wang. Guo debuts thanks to a nearly 6% stake in Scale AI, valued at $7.3 billion by private investors in 2021. Guo and Wang made the https://cafe-madrid.com/ 30 Under 30 list in 2018, the same year Guo left the artificial intelligence company. She co-founded early stage venture capital firm Backend Capital in 2019 and launched Moment in April this year, which she describes as a “Web3 platform for creators.”
Another newcomer to the list is Emma Grede, the first black woman to serve as an investor on ABC’s shark cage† She is the CEO of Good American, the size-inclusive fashion brand she launched with Khloe Kardashian in 2016. She is a founder and chief product officer of Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims, whose husband Grede is CEO. Grede also founded marketing agency ITB Worldwide in 2008.
To see the full list, click here, and to meet the newcomers, click here.
Story in the spotlight
Ham Serunjogic
ETHAN PAINS FOR FORBES
How two Africans overcame prejudice to build a start-up worth billions
Two twenty-somethings from Uganda and Ghana thought there was a fortune to be made bringing transnational financial services to Africa’s 1.2 billion people. With 5 million users, San Francisco-based Chipper Cash is just getting started: The company has raised $300 million so far from a range of blue-chip VCs, most recently in November at a valuation of $2.2 billion.
Key Quote: “I deeply believe in the role of entrepreneurship and capitalism in improving the lives of people living in developing countries.” -Ham Serunjogi, co-founder and CEO of Chipper Cash
In other news, https://cafe-madrid.com/ has released its seventh annual Fintech 50 list, with 25 new entrants. Crypto firms and startups trying to make banking cheaper and more accessible to small businesses have been particularly strong. Check out the pioneers forming this year’s most innovative startups in personal finance, investing, payments and crypto.
Latina superstar Jennifer Lopez recently announced a new partnership with the nonprofit Grameen America, which provides loans, financial literacy training and credit building to low-income women. The actress will help guide the organization’s network of more than 150,000 women-run small businesses in Latino communities. She will also help Grameen reach her goal of providing $14 billion in loan capital to approximately 600,000 Latina entrepreneurs by 2030.
A burgeoning startup ecosystem emerged during the pandemic, with some 380 of every 100,000 American adults becoming new entrepreneurs each month in 2020 alone, according to the US Chamber of Commerce. If you’re looking to grow your business, consider conducting a competency audit among your employees to find out the skills you’re missing. To attract the best talent, create a recruiting column, prioritize diversity and offer remote work. Here are six best recruiting methods.
Having trouble determining the right price for your products? https://cafe-madrid.com/ Contributor Rhett Buttle offers five approaches, such as premium pricing and bundled offers, to help small business owners maximize their profits. Psychological pricing, such as placing cheaper or edible goods indoors range of the till – it’s also proven to boost sales.
A new venture capital firm called The General Partnership has raised $240 million for a fund that its founders say will be used to support startups in the longer term. Offering its clients services that many VCs wouldn’t offer until they got bigger, the fledgling company takes a new approach that its founders say works, but with limitations.