After graduating from Harvard, receiving recognition from the likes of President Barack Obama and amassing $50 million in venture capital throughout his career, Ollie Howie is now looking to transform the Grand Rapids, Michigan, community. In 2021, he become the first managing director of the New Community Transformation Fund created specifically for the Michigan city.
The fund invests between $250,000 and $500,000 in second-stage, Brown and Black-owned businesses in advanced manufacturing, food, agriculture, e-commerce, information technology. As of June, the fund has invested in BAMF Health Inc., Zil Money Inc. and Grain Technologies Inc.
Recently, rolling out spoke to Howie about the fund and his career.
How did you become the managing director of the New Community Transformation Fund?
I started in venture like five years ago at Greensboro Associates. It’s now [been] acquired by Stepstone Group, but at the time, they had around $9 billion of venture-only assets. I was an analyst and then a senior analyst, just focused on early-stage funds, and then the growth rounds of direct investments.
Then 2020 happened. I focused more on the impact I could make in addition to investing, and Softbank was thinking similarly. They created a $100 million fund for Black and Latino entrepreneurs exclusively, on the heels of George Floyd and I was the first early-stage investment team member to help invest that vehicle. We invested in around 40 startups in the early-stage side, great investments, anywhere from $100k to $10 million. Those companies saw a lot of appreciation and a lot of markups. One company is like 40 [times] the value today than it was when we invested. All diverse entrepreneurs proved the thesis that investing in folks of color is a great financial return.
Then, I learned about the New Community Preservation Fund, which in my mind took it a step further by impacting specific communities and creating wealth within a specific community. I joined as managing director in 2021, we made our first investment, BAMF Health Inc., and we’ve made three investments since. We’ve already realized the investment and produced distributions for our LPs. We’re still out here looking for new investments, but I started my career from the analyst level and kept going up, and then also found more purpose in my work and tried to impact my community by doing well for myself.
What did attending Harvard do for your mindset in leadership and decision-making?
Harvard was a great credential, a great stamp, especially for folks of color because there’s a lot of mistrust [there, and] it’s harder for us to establish relationships with folks with wealth. A lot of times, we don’t come from families that can provide that access, so Harvard was a way for me to get access, by going to school with folks that have billions of dollars. … Having that network out of school was a big leg up. There’s a saying, “It’s better to be from Harvard than to go to Harvard,” because it’s hard to do the coursework. You’re probably not having as much fun at parties, but once you’re from there, it gives you a big leg up or just being able to say that and, like I said, it helps with the trust building.
