GEW - Opportunity and Possibility - The Pathway to Success

The Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship is excited to partner with the National Black Entrepreneurship Project in celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week Sacramento powered by Western Health Advantage! We are excited to elevate the story and impact of one of our Advisory Board Members, Kwame Anku. This keynote will be an inspirational talk exploring the concept of opportunity and possibility as a mindset to creating success.

Kwame Anku is the CEO and Chairman of the Black Star Fund, an early stage innovation fund. Prior to the Black Star Fund, Kwame co-founded and served as Principal of the Black Angel Tech Fund, a pioneering fund that focused on capitalizing Black technology entrepreneurs.

He was named “One of the Top 25 Black Venture Capitalists to Watch in 2018” by Pitchbook. Kwame has worked extensively in business development and media marketing for over two decades. In September 2018, Kwame was selected to be one of only twenty-one recipients of the prestigious Aspen Ascend Fellowship from The Aspen Institute.

An honors graduate of Stanford University, Kwame has delivered powerful keynote addresses and been a featured speaker at the Google For Entrepreneurs’ Black Wall Street Conference in Durham, The Essence Festival in New Orleans, Culture Shifting Weekend in New York City, The National Black Chamber of Commerce in Washington. D.C., The Ford Freedom Awards in Detroit, the Association of Black Foundation Executives Conference in Napa Valley, and recently at the First Annual Ghana Tech Summit in West Africa.

Kwame has appeared on numerous national television and radio programs including CNN, MSNBC, BBC Worldwide, SiriusXM, & National Public Radio. He has spoken extensively around the United States encouraging diverse audiences to think differently about social inclusion and technology. His work garnered two invitations to the Obama White House to share ideas and best practices with leaders from around the United States. He is a mentor for both the AT&T Aspire Accelerator and Founder Institute Sacramento.

Kwame entered into the tech industry after being personally recruited by the late legendary rock star, Prince to develop his mobile app, overseeing business and development teams on Africa, Asia, and the US. He later went on to serve as the National Director of Strategic Development for the Prince-inspired #YesWeCode initiative, where he developed corporate and media partnerships with NBC Universal, Comcast, Ford Motor Company Fund, ESSENCE magazine, Alabama Power, The City of Oakland, The City of Detroit, The City of Birmingham and Google.

Kwame serves on the Board of Regents for North Central University, the board of directors for Operation iDream in Zambia, the startup tech firm, Bandwagon, and the Advisory Board for the Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Sacramento State University.