Mecca Tartt
Hello and welcome back to the Atlanta Startup Podcast. My name is Mecca Tartt and I am your host. I am the Executive Director of Startup Runway, the leading organization connecting underrepresented founders to nondilutive capital and investors. I am beyond excited about our guest today. Our guest has over 10 years of extensive experience in marketing, branding, project management, and most notably, economic development. Our guest has been the Director of Business Development for the Henry County Development Authority where he was successful in attracting 500 million in investments and over 2000 jobs. He also served as a project manager on the Corporate Solutions and Cybersecurity Team at the Georgia Department of Economic Development. He also is a proud graduate of Kennesaw State University and currently leads as the Economic Opportunity Manager for the Partnership For Inclusive Innovation. I would like to welcome our guest, Jamal Lewis. Welcome, Jamal.
Jamal Lewis
Hey, Mecca. Thank you for having me.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. We’re excited to have you, Jamal. You have an extensive background. I know you have a true desire to improve access to resources for those that are underserved. Can you tell the listeners a little bit about your role at the Partnership For Inclusive Innovation?
Jamal Lewis
Thank you. My title is Economic Opportunity Manager but essentially, what I’m doing is convening and connecting people, resources, opportunities, and access for all of Georgia to be able to participate in the innovation and technology-enabled economic prosperity that’s taking place. What we know is that economic opportunities and economic success aren’t equally shared, or even equitably shared across the state and specifically, even in the Metro Atlanta area, as well. We focus on the inclusive piece, which is in our name, to make sure that everyone has access but we really like to see projects, and initiatives, and really be in the conversation of those that really are focusing on the communities and populations of people that really have less access and opportunity than the norm.
Mecca Tartt
I love that. What is the key focus for PIN this year? I saw an article recently that came out and this was this week, where it talks about how Tyler Perry was donating $2.7 million to the community that surrounds a studio because he knew that one day, the taxes would become high and it would essentially push the elderly and underserved out of their homes. He committed those dollars to ensure that they can actually keep their houses. Now, that’s obviously his focus and his initiative. But what would you say when you talk about the underserved and when you talk about convening and connecting, what are the key focuses for PIN this year?
Jamal Lewis
I want to start by setting the base for our definition of underserved. The typical communities that you think about when you think about communities of color, communities of women, as well as rural communities, and all things in between. When we say underserved, it’s geographical, gender, race, or belief. When we say inclusive, we really mean everyone. We don’t look to create barriers to access for any community. I think the way to look at what we’re doing is to improve access for communities that don’t have that access. I wanted to make sure I centered the conversation there. But essentially, what we’re looking to do this year is to continue to build great momentum throughout the state because we are a statewide public-private partnership. Our reach goes a little further than the Metro Atlanta area. We know that there are hubs in places across the state, but also as well as in Metro Atlanta that just don’t have the access and opportunities that others have. One way that I go about it through my economic opportunity pillar is by working with projects. When I say projects, this could be a project that was submitted from a nonprofit or a startup company, or for-profit startup, or social impact or social enterprise companies. We really take the mindset that anyone can be an innovator and an entrepreneur. but what we try to do through our programming and through our convening and connecting is to provide opportunities for people to take risks, fail, and succeed through the work that we’re doing. I think that is probably one of the most pivotal, overlooked pieces into success. Everyone can’t take that risk and can’t afford to fail because financially, maybe this is a lot to require them to raise the capital if they can raise the capital or even just the resources available to them outside of such as the social capital piece. So to answer your question, I think this year, we’re gonna focus on continuing to deepen our statewide impact, getting into communities that we haven’t reached yet. There are regions across the state that don’t know us yet or haven’t experienced our programming, but another focus will be the social capital piece. How can we create more events, more meetings, and more conversations that are connecting the spectrum of innovation? This is someone who’s interested in learning about innovation or someone who’s really advanced as a researcher or someone that that’s really working at some of these innovation centers that we have across the state. How do we connect them with those individuals to allow them to start collaborating and participating in innovation? And then the final thing is, we want to scale outside of the state. I think the southeast region is very ripe for support. We want to look for hubs in the southeast that might be great to collaborate with and partner with and understand, like how we can share resources to create a better collaborative ecosystem for the southeast region.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you for giving us that background, Jamal. One of the things I want to add wanted to ask because you mentioned that not everyone can afford to fail, there were some recent statistics that came out, one of which came out of the US Chamber of Commerce, and it talks about how the pandemic has disproportionately impacted the health of women-owned businesses. If we specifically look at the startup ecosystem and female founders, Pitchbook reported that the average size of female-led teams was 6.8 million in 2020 the first year of the pandemic compared to 18.7 million for all male teams. What has been PIN’s focus throughout the state of Georgia to make a more equitable environment for women business owners?
Jamal Lewis
That’s a great question. From an organizational standpoint, we have to be inclusive to all. What we’ve done is we’ve looked at the projects that we find. A great example would be the partnership that we have with Startup Runway, which really allows us to take the leaders in the movement to increase financial and social capital to women, entrepreneurs, and founders in a way that is equitable, fair, and gets the amount of attention and awareness that it deserves. And so again, I think the partnership that we have with Startup Runway has been exceptionally successful. We’ve seen the two events that we’ve been able to partner with to contribute to the ecosystem have great outcomes. We’re just really looking forward to finding additional organizations that we can support and that can bring more attention and awareness to women founders.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you so much for that, Jamal. I’ve also wanted to ask, if mk<you’ve been quoted as saying that partnerships and equitable access are crucial. When you think about Georgia, what opportunities do you believe exist to improve access for underserved communities?
Jamal Lewis
It’s true. One thing that is very, very, I would say, advantageous, is collaboration. I think the old mindset is that its competition and everyone’s competing for a piece of the pie but really, from an innovative standpoint and from a success, economic prosperity standpoint, you have to share information and you have to communicate with each other. I think this is again, across the region and across the state, but just really focusing on rural communities is that there are communities that are working on similar things. They have similar challenges. I don’t mean it in a way that all rural communities or urban disadvantaged communities are the same because some were previously industrial communities, could be filmed as Georgia has a big film industry, could be tourism, or it could be ag. I think we talked about the manufacturing piece, it could be healthcare, the thing is, there are multiple hubs that maybe are working on things, or maybe they’ve achieved a level of success, or they try things that work or don’t work, but being able to share that information with other communities so they can begin to adopt these practices are really important. I’d say the one thing that we’re looking to do or hoping to do is do our mission. We are technology, innovation focus so we believe that technology and innovation can be the great equalizer when used correctly. How do we get more communities to embrace technology and innovation to build ecosystems that can support not only the corporate innovation centers and corporate businesses that are innovating and technology focus, but what about the startup businesses that will also do business with those large corporations, higher education institutions, as well as municipalities and into our public organizations like nonprofits? When you have a great mix of that, I think that’s when you really start to see these really great, inclusive innovation hubs. I think that the word inclusive is a great piece just within the framework of what we’re looking to develop across the state in the southeast, making sure that the access is there keeping that centered. It’s like, are these technologies that we’re activating, funding, and creating, are they being able to be accessed by all communities? Or is this continuing to further the digital technology, social, and financial device that we see in many underserved and underrepresented communities?
Mecca Tartt
You talked about the importance of collaboration and said that collaboration is really key. What have you found, though, to be the key driver in changing the mindset because I know sometimes when you just like if you go into someone’s home, and it’s like, they know where everything is, and that’s how they like things to be. When we talk about creating more synergy and collaboration, whether it’s in Macon or Athens, or Dahlonega, what specific goals around that does PIN have in order to ensure or to help really facilitate those relationships maybe through your projects?
Jamal Lewis
Our goal is to listen to the communities. Where you have an approach where we’re not a solutions provider, we’re a resource provider. What we love to see is for communities to tell us what the challenges are and we can help identify resources such as a Startup Runway, or we previously funded an additional inclusive entrepreneurship project called the Georgia Mesh Network. Some of our healthcare, we’ve done a healthcare project and some of our ag projects are like again, going back to the specific fabric of the community. I’m an outsider, in every community that I go in, except for the one that I live in. For me to come up with an idea for some solutions without fully understanding, number one, like the cultural barriers, the geographical barriers, the systemic issues that have historically plagued or prevented collaboration it’s not really well received, but additionally, when you’re meeting with the stakeholders, gatekeepers leaders of these communities, and they’re able to talk about their vision for the community, and then I’m able to offer resources to projects with through connections that could potentially help and land and facilitate collaboration. I think that’s the best best place for the partnership to live with them.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. I also want to give just a little background for our listeners, because I know, not only do we have listeners that are in Georgia, we have a lot of listeners outside of Georgia and outside of the city of Atlanta. Over the past five years, Atlanta has seen 15% growth in tech jobs as major corporations moved their headquarters and tech divisions to Atlanta, and we saw a lot of that over the past five years. Today, according to the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the city is home to more than 13,000 tech companies, and more than a dozen companies that started or are based in Atlanta have grown to valuations above 1 billion. How is PIN focused on spreading wealth outside of the city of Atlanta?
Jamal Lewis
I think it’s everything we’ve spoken about today, the economic prosperity, there is obviously there’s a blueprint here in Atlanta. Atlanta is one of the best blueprints, I would say, in the country that I’ve seen as far as the diversity and inclusiveness of the ecosystem. And again, we’re not perfect, but I think there’s a roadmap for other cities that have a similar makeup to be able to follow where you see you have so many leading higher education institutions, either in the metro or just outside of the metro, even across the state that is doing great work. There’s a great mix of the university systems of Georgia institutions, as well as the HBCUs and independent colleges, private colleges, as well as those technical colleges. When you’re here, what you see is you have an economic driver, like Georgia Tech, Emory University, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Morehouse, and the entire Spelman and the entire AU center. But you also have, as you talked about these large corporate entities, these Fortune 500 companies, you also have large public entities such as the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, and the Chamber associated with the communities that surround Atlanta. They’re all focusing on doing business together and working together. One of the things that don’t typically exist in most places is the innovation piece that we see. That collaboration in those public-private partnerships that are being formed to further facilitate that, that’s key. We want to work with communities to understand like, what is your economic driver. How can we get universities, private industries, and the startups that are here so that they can all do business together, and how they could potentially support municipalities through contracting and other governmental services? Those are like key makeups too, I would say, those inclusive innovation ecosystems that we’d like to see.
Mecca Tartt
I’ve read recently that Atlanta houses more than over 40 corporate innovation centers and it actually makes Atlanta the highest concentrated city of startups in the southeast which has the most innovation centers in one city. I know that there’s a lot of opportunity for just growth and expansion outside of the city, getting funds, support, and resources allocated outside of the actual Atlanta Metro area, what have been some of the conversations that you’ve had at PIN around that or some of the partnerships that you’ve had?
Jamal Lewis
I’ll be honest, when we talk about the corporate innovation pieces, that’s not really an area that we focus around. I think they are other players in the ecosystem, such as the Georgia Department of Economic Development and some of the chambers that really facilitate those conversations. But what we try to do is work with the communities to be in place to receive something like that. So if you think about it, there’s a roadmap to get there, and in many communities across the state, you may have maybe broadband deserts, they may be banking deserts, they may be healthcare deserts, they should be a multitude of different assets that are readily available. What makes it challenging is if you’re trying to get a corporate innovation center and the education that’s available in K through 12 school systems, or the ability to attract and retain talent, and the community isn’t there, or the healthcare opportunities, it’s going to be really hard to get someone to move anything corporate or regional to a place where there issues with health care and housing access, right? That’s really where the economic opportunity piece comes in, we’re not just focusing on the economic piece, but what are the components of a community that needs to be strong in order to become a valuable, investable asset to a potential large or even small employer? That is where I think the work really lies with us, working with the communities to help them create the solutions. Again, there are larger players such as chambers and development authorities who are working on the actual corporate innovation pieces.
Mecca Tartt
Janal, what do you forecast is the biggest opportunity when we think about the tech ecosystem or even the entrepreneurship landscape here in Georgia, whether it’s in Atlanta or whether it’s outside of the city? Where do you just personally foresee the biggest opportunity for growth?
Jamal Lewis
I think there are a lot of different opportunities within the university systems, the technical colleges, and the independent colleges. I think there’s a great opportunity because I truly believe that Georgia has one of the greatest educational operational systems at that higher ed level. So if you think about university systems, which includes all of your public universities, if you think about the technical colleges, I believe there are 25+ technical colleges throughout the state and 26 University System of Georgia institutions and not to even mention your private universities, like the HBCUs across the state that is working on health care, technology advancements, or ag tech advancements or logistics and supply chain advancement. There are a lot of different players. I think the greatest opportunity is the collaboration between those institutions because I believe that together, I think a great example if you look at the University of Georgia, the imposition is it is an ag-tech leader, right? I think that they have a very strong agricultural program and a lot of the work that they’re doing, but you also have universities like Fort Valley State and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, who also can help in similar ways to work with corporations that are looking to move to Georgia and have innovation centers focused around ag. I would say Savannah has a great logistics infrastructure through Savannah State University, Georgia Southern, it’s not too far away, Statesboro, and there are opportunities for collaboration across the state. I think it’s really just again, about committing additional resources, which we are looking to do, to make those things happen.
Mecca Tartt
That’s one thing I will say because I’m a proud graduate of Clark Atlanta University, I know you went to Kennesaw State, and that’s something that I thought was so unique and special to the city of Atlanta, especially with me attending Clark is that where else can I attend where you have all of these colleges like right in one place and you have so much access to different opportunities? Even though I was at Clark, I could go to Spelman or Morehouse, and go after different job opportunities or different resources that were available. You really see that truly throughout the state. I think that something that makes Atlanta very unique is having so many colleges right here, whether it’s Metro Atlanta or right outside the city. There is definitely an opportunity for young students to get involved with getting the training, getting the resources, learning about entrepreneurship, and becoming a founder that takes place right on campus.
Jamal Lewis
Absolutely. That was a great segue into some of our other pillars and programming at the Partnership. So economic opportunity is a piece of what we do, but we also have community research which has The Georgia Smart Communities Challenge. This is where we’re helping communities become more innovation-focused and tech-enabled. This is a great example of the conversation I’ve just had with you about getting multiple universities to collaborate. One of the requirements to participate in The Georgia Smart Communities Challenge program is that it has to be multi-university, multidisciplinary research that’s happening. You’re taking researchers from at least two universities or colleges, and sometimes it’s more institutions involved. They are actually working with the community on an issue that the community submitted as a problem or as an opportunity to solve. We bring in a private industry partner, which typically might be the technology provider or could be like the software-hardware that’s needed to conduct the research. What you’re doing is that’s a public-private partnership that we’re facilitating and Partnership pays the researchers, the community gets data or they get technology activated, some of our communities have been recognized in global awards and have won global awards from this. When I say communities, not just Atlanta, but like Valdosta, which is down in the southwest, or South Georgia, has been recognized as a world smart city. We’ve had Sandy Springs and just activated sites across the state that has done this, but what you’re saying is that universities typically would not reach out or collaborate because it’s a great thing, and trying to get funding, we’re facilitating those opportunities. But also we have workforce development, we have the student engagement pillars that are working to your point to create that next generation of innovators. If you come into our student engagement program, you’re doing research projects at project sites that our innovation or tech enable focused. But then you also have a career path choice, you can continue to go into the workforce piece where you’re positioned as a leader in that space, or you have the opportunity to come over to the entrepreneurship side if you feel led to be a founder or an innovator. And so again, it’s a retention play where we’re giving people the opportunity to experience research and interact with technology at an earlier stage in hopes that more opportunities are created in these communities.
Mecca Tartt
Well, Jamal, I will have to tell you that for someone who went to high school in Powder Springs, also known as P town, it has been amazing to see the growth that has happened in Georgia, and really, truly Atlanta becoming a tech hub, and not just everything being in Silicon Valley. Everyone feels like they had to go out to the West Coast in order to get opportunities because it’s happening right here in the city. What are some lasting thoughts that you want to leave with our listeners today?
Jamal Lewis
I would just say that the mindset that anyone can be an innovator is important because it really frames how you look at people and communities and how you interact with those communities. To your point, a decade ago, everything was about Silicon Valley, right? Everyone wanted to be there. If you wanted to be in tech innovation, you have to have a presence there. Since there have been some other hubs across the country that popped up, but I think the importance of diversification, Atlanta is going to be a behemoth. It’s going to be what it is. And I don’t think that’s ever going to change as far as the concentration that’s here, but what I think we should really focus on is the opportunities for other communities across the state to play a role that if something were to ever happen, I think COVID is a really great example of having an economic disruption that really shakes up things. When you have things to centralize, as we saw with maybe some of the supply chain pieces, it really caused a disruption, but when you’re able to actually spread out some of that, I just want to compare that, again, to the innovation ecosystem. We’re able to get hubs to start to pop up in Macon and Savannah, and some others like Augusta, Columbus, and I don’t want to leave anyone out, but those cities, and then you start thinking about the impact on those surrounding communities, like some communities that maybe we don’t know about, there are some really great communities like Moultrie, Fitzgerald, or just other communities that are small rural communities that are doing really great work that could benefit from just having closer access to innovation hub, what could that potentially be? What could that do for just the rural population and access and opportunity for rural communities? And again, that same thing transitions over to our urban cores that also experienced the same type of lack of opportunity and access.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. It drives opportunity. And so a lot of times, people just need access to resources. I thank you so much, Jamal, for joining us on this episode of the Atlanta Startup podcast. I thank you so much for the work that you are doing at Partnership For Inclusive Innovation. We look forward to having you back again. Listeners, thank you so much for joining us for another episode of the Atlanta Startup Podcast. We look forward to seeing you soon and we have some upcoming events that you should know about; February 23rd is the Startup Runway showcase. And then on March 9, we have the Startup Runway Georgia Athens event in partnership with a Partnership For Inclusive Innovation. That’s going to be right in Athens, Georgia. We’re excited about it. It’ll be our first Startup Runway GA event there. We look forward to seeing you in person and live for that event. Have a wonderful day.
Lisa Calhoun
We’re thrilled to have you as an Atlanta Startup Podcast listener to help you get the most out of the experience. Let me invite you to three insider opportunities from our host Valor Ventures. First, want to be a guest on this amazing show. Reach out to our booking team at atlantastartuppodcast.com. Click on booking, It’s a no-brainer from there. Are you raising a seed round? Valor definitely wants to hear from you. Share your startup story at valor.vc/pitch. Are you a woman or minority-led startup valor sister program? The Startup Runway Foundation gives away grants to promising startups led by underrepresented founders. The mission of the Startup Runway Foundation is connecting underrepresented founders to their first investors. Startup runway finalists have raised over $40 million. See if you qualify for one of these amazing grants at startuprunway.org. You can also sign up for our next showcase for free there. Let me let you go today with a shout-out to Startup Runway presenting sponsor Cox Enterprises and to our founding partners, American Family Institute, Truist, Georgia Power, Avanta Ventures, and Innovators Legal. These great organizations make Startup Runway possible. Thanks for listening today and see you back next week.
