Camelback Venters is a left-of-center nonprofit organization that provides capital and other resources to start-ups run by women and ethnic minorities, specifically in education. ¹ The nonprofit provides capital, business coaching, and access to networking for female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color. ²

In June of 2020, Camelback Ventures founder and CEO Aaron Walker published an open letter to white philanthropists claiming that philanthropy overlooks and ignores organizations led by people of color. In the same letter, Walker went so far as to compare the situation of companies led by people of color seeking funding to that of the police-custody death of George Floyd while in police custody, alleging that white philanthropy has “its knee on many of [their] organizations’ necks.” ³

Background

Camelback Ventures is a nonprofit focused on promoting entrepreneurship among women and people of color. The organization has argued that funding and mentorship opportunities are inaccessible for women and people of color trying to start businesses, especially in entrepreneurship and social impact work. ⁴ To counteract this, Camelback Ventures provides one-on-one coaching for business startups, business loans of up to $40,000, and access to investors and networking opportunities to women and people of color. ⁵

Aaron Walker founded Camelback Ventures in 2015. Walker raised $30,000 in initial funding that year, organizing the initial sessions using Google Hangouts and other virtual networking tools. ⁶ Later that year, Walker held the inaugural Camelback Summit at the IBM Innovation Center in San Francisco, California. ⁷ As of 2020, the organization says it has supported more than 75 female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color across the country. ⁸

Camelback Ventures is named for the style of homes which African Americans built in New Orleans during the late 1800s. Because New Orleans taxed homes based on property frontage, African-American families added a second story to their homes in order to avoid additional taxes, making the houses look like camels’ backs. ⁹

In July of 2019, Camelback Ventures received its largest donation ever from billionaire and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott. ¹⁰ The exact dollar amount of the donation is unknown but somewhere in the millions. ¹¹ The donation came in a $1.7 billion package of donations to 116 organizations made by Scott. ¹²

Programs

Camelback supports cohorts of “fellows” who predominately work on education or social impact projects. Recent fellows have created a charter school network in New Orleans, STEM-based mobile phone games, and an app to promote strong academic performance. ¹³

In June 2020, Camelback Ventures founder and CEO Aaron Walker published an “Open Letter on Racism in Philanthropy,” alleging that he had been denied opportunities in philanthropy because he had not “figured out” the language of white people in the philanthropic space. ¹⁴ In the same letter, Walker claimed he had “killed parts of [himself]” to be successful due to his race. ¹⁵ Walker concluded the letter by comparing the condition of entrepreneurs seeking funding to the 2020 death of George Floyd while in police custody, claiming that “philanthropy has its knee on many of [organizations run by African-Americans’] necks – and the question is will you wait ‘nine minutes’ until we’re dead or get up.” ¹⁶

Leadership

Aaron Walker is the founder and CEO of Camelback Ventures. Walker previously taught ninth grade in West Philadelphia. After teaching, Walker became a corporate attorney before joining the New York City Fund for Public Schools. Walker graduated from the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. ¹⁷

Riyaz Gayasaddin is the vice president of program and talent at Camelback Ventures. ¹⁸

Elizabeth Bates is the senior director of capital collaborative at Camelback Ventures Inc. Bates has a background in marketing and previously owned a residential services company, which she sold. Bates has also owned two e-commerce businesses. ¹⁹

Tania Dall is the Camelback Ventures senior marketing director. Dall spent more than a decade working as a broadcast journalist. Dall also worked as director of communications for both the Youth Empowerment Project and New Orleans Public Schools. Prior to her work in the United States, Dall was a volunteer educator in Zambia providing health education on HIV and AIDS to middle and high school students. ²⁰

Charles Corprew is a program director at Camelback Ventures. Corprew worked as a middle school and high school teacher for two decades after getting his doctorate in psychology from Tulane University. ²¹

Nadiyah Morris is another program director at Camelback. Morris was previously the director of workforce development at Ochsner Hospital, director of workforce development for the City of New Orleans, and former manager for the Louisiana Office of Social Entrepreneurship. ²²

Kelli Saulny is the director of strategic partnerships of Camelback Ventures. Saulny previously worked for Carol’s Daughter, a natural hair care brand specifically for African-American women. ²³

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