Benjamin Vann is all about building inclusive communities and accelerating growth within the venture capital space. Vann is the founder of Impact Ventures, a fund that is intended to eliminate social and economic barriers for BIPOC communities to build generational wealth through entrepreneurship, wealth building, and capital.
Why are funders important?
Funders are so important to improving and empowering Black economic power due to the simple fact that most individuals don’t have access to resources. We like to say there are different forms of capital, whether it be social capital, financial capital, or human capital, and specifically with financial capital it’s typically not seen a lot in our communities. When you don’t have that generational wealth that you can pass down or generational wealth you can have access to, it makes it a critical piece to improving economic power within any community.
What are three critical factors to becoming a founder in your business?
It’s important to know that a person has done their homework. If they’re not passionate about what they’re doing, then they’re not going to fully invest themselves, in their industry, and they’re not going to steward your capital the best way possible. If you’re not passionate about it, then you’re going to move on to the next problem. Second, is knowing your numbers. At the end of the day, if you can’t measure it, you can’t move it.
Any business is driven by the cornerstone of finance, so if you don’t understand your numbers, how much you’re spending, what your projections are, and what you’re able to potentially make, at the end of the day, you’re in business to make money, so understanding the financials and understand what the numbers are doing and what they’re saying is important to me. Three is being able to have a vision that other people can see their vision for their life. Have a vision so big, but so clear and grounded, that you can build a team, you can build mentors, you can build advisors, you can build investors, and articulate that vision in a way where other people can envision their life within that vision and where they can clearly see the role that they can play, how you need help, and also a vision big enough that excites people.
