The Black Opportunity Fund 2023 Annual Report has been prepared to present and account for our fiscal responsibilities, operating activities, and achievements, to community, stakeholders, and funders for the fiscal year ended March 31st, 2023. The report is available for viewing.
Author: Cindy-Ann Williams
Black Opportunity Fund (BOF), is starting the year with an impactful partnership with Amazon Prime Video’s ‘Watch To Give Back’ initiative.
Beginning January 3rd, continuing through Black History Month until February 28th, Amazon Prime Video Canada will donate 100% of proceeds from the rental or purchase of over 20 featured titles to Black Opportunity Fund to help support our mandate of improving socio-economic outcomes for Black Canadians.
The curated titles, highlighting Black talent and Black stories, include: Big George Foreman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Boomerang, Brother, Coach Carter, Creed, Fences, Judas and the Black Messiah, Just Mercy, King Richard, Love & Basketball, Malcolm X, Moonlight, NOPE, Remember the Titans, Selma, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Stomp The Yard, The Blackening, The Color Purple, The Equalizer, Think Like a Man, and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.
This innovative partnership is an amazing opportunity for everyone to be a part of our mission, while showcasing cinema that celebrates the richness of Black stories and talent.
Let’s watch, and give back together! Help make a difference.
For more details about the initiative, visit https://www.primevideo.com/giveback
#WatchToGiveBack #BlackHistoryMonth #WeBackBlack #AmazonPrimeVideo #Donate
The Black Opportunity Fund, in partnership with BLCK VC, came together in September to celebrate the launch of BLCK VC Canada! An exciting milestone for Canada’s growing Black venture community and BLCK VC’s first non-US chapter! Kudos to the many partners who came together to make this happen, including BOF’s Executive Director, Craig Wellington who was a panelist at the event. The establishment of BLCK VC Canada formalizes a community that has been flourishing for several years and will continue to serve as a central hub for even more Black-led and Black-focused venture funds, accelerators, players, founders, and more.
Visit the link to learn more https://www.blckvc.org/
Featured Panelists and attendees
- Frederik Groce, Co-Founder, BLCK VC and Deal Lead, Wellington Management
- Isaac Olowolafe, Managing Partner, BKR Capital
- Kim Furlong, CEO of CVCA
- Sunil Sharma, Managing Partner, techstarts Toronto Accelerator
- Upkar Arora, CEO of Rally Assets
- Craig Wellington, Executive Director of the Black Opportunity Fund
- Abdullah Snobar, CEO of DMZ Ventures
- Wils Theagene, Head of CDPQ’s $250M Diverse Founders Fund
BLCK VC Canada Co-Founders
- Ahmed Ismail, Wellington Management
- Josh Olowafe, CIBC Innovation Banking
- Abdel Ali, Founder of Kiwi Charge (EV Charging Start-up)
- Derrick Raphael, Co-Founder and CEO of ICON Talent Partners
We invite you to view our BOF Year 3 Highlights Video
Three years ago, BOF was born out of a collective vision of dismantling longstanding systemic inequities in access to capital. Since then, we’ve achieved remarkable milestones and catalyzed positive ripples of change.
BOF has created a disruptive new Black-community-led philanthropic approach, that supports social, cultural, and economic empowerment of Black communities across Canada. BOF prioritizes initiatives around education & youth, healthcare, women+ gender, criminal justice, entrepreneurship, arts & culture, and affordable housing.
We recognize that a systemic problem cannot have a single answer. So BOF is part of an ecosystem that, together, is committed to interrupting systemic racism. As we celebrate this milestone, we’re not just looking back at our accomplishments, but forward to the future we’re shaping together.
To learn more about BOF’s accomplishments and the work ahead:
BOF is very pleased to announce the kickoff of the artistic process for the creation of a bust of the Hon. Lincoln M. Alexander, that will be placed on permanent display inside the Queen’s Park Legislative Building in January of 2024, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of January 21st being declared annually as Lincoln Alexander Day in Ontario.
Black Opportunity Fund is proud to be supporting this important legacy project and funding the work of award-winning artist Quentin VerCetty. Thanks to the leadership for this project by the #LincBustCommittee led by Rosemary Sadlier OOnt – Champion of Black History Month and @License2Learn with Zeib Jeeva, O.Ont. .
This will be the first statue of a Black person ever displayed at Queen’s Park, and it will be part of the Queen’s Park educational tours. Visibility is Possibility. An interview with me and artist Quentin from his studio, will air this evening on CTV News. September 20th is the date in 1968 when Linc was sworn in as Canada’s first Black member of Parliament. September 20th was also the date in 1985 when Lincoln Alexander was sworn in as Canada’s first Black Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
Black Opportunity Fund is proud to announce that Executive Director, Craig Wellington has been selected as one of Canada’s Top 100 Canadian Professionals for 2023.
Craig Wellington is a strong believer in the Swahili principle of Ubuntu— ‘I am because we are’ — that when all communities are allowed to achieve their potential, everyone is uplifted. That’s why, as executive director of the Black Opportunity Fund (BOF), he’s working to establish equitable, sustainable funding for the social and economic empowerment of Black communities across Canada. He uses his considerable expertise in not-for-profit and community leadership to develop and execute innovative strategies to secure and deploy capital for community good, while always maintaining an anti-oppression lens with a focus on community engagement and partnerships. Prioritizing initiatives around youth and education, women and gender, criminal justice, entrepreneurship, health, and arts and culture, BOF seeks to elevate the outcomes for generations of Black Canadians.
Read the full feature article from Top 100 Canadian Professionals Magazine.