Lessons of the Past — Black Girls Code

• What’s the origin story?

o Kimberly Bryant was shocked when her daughter, Kai, told her that there were only a few colored kids in the computer camp and especially not much of girls with color.
o Bryant realized that the digital divide is indeed present in our society hindering underprivileged to overcome their poverty.
o So, Bryant founded the company to create more digital creatives instead of consumers among girls with colors.

• How are they doing now (according to the pundits)?

o Now they have 7 branches not only in U.S. cities but also in Johannesburg, South Africa. Their goal aims to provide African American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020 and to train 1 million girls by 2040.

• What is their current “molecule”? (maybe more than one, depending on the company, but you only need to have one of them as a molecule.)

o People: Women of color
o Problem: Digital divide
o Solution: Providing classes and courses at a minimal cost.

• How did they fund themselves in the early days?

o BGC primarily relies on donations to fund its activities. They charge a small amount for classes, with 75% of students receiving scholarships. They also rely on mentors who work in tech and currently has 600 volunteers.

• Who were key early investors, and why?

o Google-funded BGC through Google Rise since Google needs more students from diverse backgrounds to have access to computer science (CS) education so that they can be creators, not just consumers, of tomorrow’s technology.
o ThoughtWorks saw the potential in the work and have offered their resources and facilities to help BGC grow.

• How and with what and who did they achieve product/market fit? (what was the product, who were the customers)

o BGC offered computer/coding classes for the underprivileged girls with color.

• What were their biggest crises? If they failed, why? If they beat it, why?

o Since BGC is a grassroots organization, they struggle to secure the funding they need.

• What was their exit?

o High demand was their exit to their problem. Several people and companies such as Google, ThoughtWorks, Verizon, Adobe, etc. supported them if not financially through mentorships.

• Sources

• https://blog.sfgate.com/lshumaker/2014/11/17/oprah-gives-san-franciscos-kimberly-bryant-a-standing-o-vation/

• http://www.blackgirlscode.com/what-we-do.html

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Girls_Code#cite_note-Frank-10

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2013/08/30/black-girls-code-tackles-tech-inclusion/#1d1441aa5299

• https://www.geekwire.com/2014/black-girls-code-code-org-among-named-azuredev-grant-winners/

• https://worldscholarshipforum.com/google-rise-award/#23--how-much-is-google-rise-award-

• Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash