MIAMI – Black tech innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors will converge in Miami Feb. 23-28 for the inaugural Black Tech Week. Miami Dade College’s North Campus will host important sessions on Thursday, Feb. 26 and Friday, Feb. 27, as well as a Youth Hackathon at the North Campus Entrepreneurial Education Center on Saturday, Feb. 28.
Black Tech Week is presented by Miami-based Code Fever, an organization committed to teaching minority youth how to code, create technologies, and become entrepreneurs.
The week-long series of events includes programming that celebrates innovators of color, tech innovation, and diversity throughout the globe. The conference also serves as a platform that supports thought-provoking dialogue about how to move the needle forward to grow Black entrepreneurship and change from being consumers of social media and technology to creators.
“We are delighted to offer our community a platform to host cutting-edge conferences of this nature,” said North Campus President Malou C. Harrison. “Our faculty and students will be able to sit side-by-side with today’s innovators, bringing the energy of these young entrepreneurs to our campus and to our surrounding community. We believe in expanding the conversation to all segments of our community.”
A cadre of investors, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists spanning the globe will lead the discussions and sessions, including the following:
- Chinedu Echeruo – Noted developer who founded and sold his company, HopStop, to Apple for $1 billion
- Eric Osiakwan – Angel Africa advisor, TED fellow, and investor
- Brian Brackeen – Founder of facial recognition software, Kairos, with $1.2 million secured in funding and recognized as one of the Wall Street Journal’s top startup of 2013
- Ingrid Riley – Founder, KingstonBeta and Startup Weekend Jamaica
- Stonly Baptiste – Founder, Urban.us
- Pandwe Gibson – Founder, EcoTech Visions, a Miami-based incubator supporting green businesses
- Jon Gosier – Founder of Appfrica, Apps4Africa, and co-founder of big data company, MetaLayer. Also named by CNN as one of 10 African Tech Voices to Follow on Twitter, one of the 25 most influential African-Americans in Technology by Business Insider, one of three Innovators of the Year by Black Enterprise Magazine, and one of The New Faces of Black Leadership by TIME Magazine.
Additional details about Black Tech Week, including the schedule of events, confirmed speakers and participants, and registration information can be found at www.blacktechweek.com.
