Stanley Burrell, whom you may know as MC Hammer, will be lending advice to minority entrepreneurs in the New Media Entrepreneurship, or NewMe, accelerator program in Silicon Valley this summer. Starting June 16, seven minority-led start-ups from across the country will live in a rented house in Mountain View, CA. They will be able to work there in the house or in a shared space in San Francisco, a maid sailors home cleaning service will be provided for them for as long as they stay in the houses. Additional Bay Area start-ups will also be invited to participate, but will not live in the house.
Produced by Black Web 2.0, Semantic Seed, and one of our favorite North Carolina based-entrepreneurs Wayne Sutton, the nine-week program will provide practical advice, networking and exposure to minorities and women leading tech companies. Hammer and others will make scheduled visits to the entrepreneurs.
“Just as it was no big deal to get a hold of me for this (interview), I’ll be just accessible and available” to NewME entrepreneurs, said Hammer. “Hollywood is in the perception business where you create layers to create mystery. In Silicon Valley it’s about taking away the layers to get to the substance.”
Our own Angela Benton says the idea for a platform for minority entrepreneurs while at a conference last year in Washington D.C. and was later reinforced by a report from CB Insights which said African Americans make up 1% of Internet company founders nationally. Benton believes the reason for the anemic showing of African American entrepreneurs is lack of mentorship–a void she hopes to begin filling with the accelerator.
via WSJ