Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco and Google executive Di-Ann Eisnor have jointly founded a new organization dubbed as Neighborhood Start Fund to fund entrepreneurs in Chicago neighbourhoods to find ideas capable of generating revenue of $100 million, encourage diversity among entrepreneurs and also to spur neighborhood development.
Eisnor said, “From an innovation standpoint, we’re missing out on great ideas and opportunities for problems to be solved.”
Eisnor is currently the head of growth for Google’s Waze traffic and navigation app.
At the Englewood Accelerator the Chicago-native Fiasco jointly with venture capitalists and startup professionals are learned to be presenting an hour-long workshop on ideas and pitching on August 13, Saturday.
Fiasco’s real name is Wasalu Muhammad Jaco.
However, through Sept. 2 the participants can submit online entries to avail the funding which could be between $25,000 and $100,000 by the Neighborhood Start Fund.
The Ideas can by anything. It can be next-gen indispensable gadget, a slamming mac-and-cheese recipe, and simply anything that has the potentiality of generate revenue.
Eisnor added, “We’re looking for very big good ideas. We want companies that can generate at least $100 million… We want to create a real change, and to do that, we need some super-successful companies.”
The fund started its journey last year in October with the Brownsville neighborhood in New York and later with New York’s Jamaica neighborhood, Miami’s Overtown/Wymwood/Allapattah community, South Central Los Angeles, Roxbury in Boston and Anacostia in Washington, D.C.
