During the pandemic, the U.S. rate of new business owners declined by 22% or 3.3 million business owners. Black and Latinx businesses rates were most impacted with a 41 percent overall decline in black business owners and 32 percent for Latinx business owners. This exacerbated an already wide gap in the number of black and brown business owners who were struggling to get their businesses off the ground even before the pandemic.

Three bay area entrepreneurs, Benjamin Wanzo, Martha Hernández, and Alfredo Mathew III, decided to join together to create ESO Ventures Inc., an entrepreneurial support organization focused on providing the confidence, competence, and capital for any Black and Brown person to become an entrepreneur. 

“As we are on this journey to elevate our communities through business development, we want to create a space that builds a culture of support for people that are betting on themselves…” ESO Founders 

The East Oakland based organization aims to close racial and gender gaps by building a network of municipalities, education institutions, capital providers, and catalytic philanthropic partners who can support black and brown entrepreneurs on their journey to success. 

ESO Ventures serves entrepreneurs in East Oakland who typically fall into investor blind spots. Their standard cohort member is a local business that generates less than $50,000 annually; their alumni range from baby fashion lines to restaurants to pet supply stores. 

ESO recently announced they are accepting applications for their next entrepreneurial incubator cohort which starts on March 30. To learn more and apply, go to: https://www.eso-ventures.com/apply