Black Tech Entrepreneur Fights to Empower Minorities After Facing Discrimination

Photo: Sarah Khan\The Studio

Black tech entrepreneur Joseph Heller, who faced discrimination, is on a mission to empower minorities in business.

The staggering job losses sparked by the coronavirus pandemic are rippling across lines of gender, class and race. But it is women, people of color and the young who are bearing the brunt of the crisis. Even more disturbing, the damage to women post-pandemic is set to intensify — unless we intervene now.

The reason: Many of the diversity gains over the past few years have been due to the historically tight labor market. With unemployment rates low, companies needed bodies. They invested in broader recruiting efforts and focused resources on retaining, not just hiring, diverse talent.

Joseph Heller, a Black man who has seen setback after setback due to the color of his skin (see TechCrunch article his experience) made it his mission to empower minorities to create small businesses and truly and competitively compete with major retailers by giving them affordable, never-before-granted access to to world-class manufacturers around the globe.

All of those social media ads you see of all types of products - they are likely having those products made extremely cheaply by Joseph's company. At his company Supplied, more minority women are building businesses than any other demographic right now.

For more information on Joseph Heller's Supplied company log on here.