Represented Foundation

Our Story

The idea for Represented Foundation was born In South Africa in 2008, when our founder Noel interned at an NGO committed to rehabilitating Cape Town’s street children and their families. There he supported an organization serving a population of 100% people of color with only one Black employee; the van driver. In one meeting, he was completely ignored by the org’s Board Chair. Reflecting on the missed opportunity to invest in the voices closest to the problem he returned to the US and saw this pattern repeated. While working in the nonprofit sector for 15 years where leaders of color were 4x likely to have their initiatives fail and less than 1% of philanthropy dollars went to Black-led nonprofits he was motivated to build a real community for Black and Brown social entrepreneurs in New York.

Believing they hold the solutions to achieve the best for communities of color, and our society at large, Noel leveraged his background in Human resources and Organizational Development to found Represented Foundation in 2017 as a nonprofit committed to the development of Black and Brown social entrepreneurs to make the best world possible.

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Our Impact

35

Entrepreneurs
Trained

+45

New Jobs
Created

+14,000

People Gained
Community-based Services

35 Black and Brown social entrepreneurs across the New York metro area joined our V.E.R. (Vision. Execution. Results) incubator between 2018 and 2021. With help from our supporters and partners, we provided four cohorts of leaders with mentors, masterclass instructors, executive coaches and professional volunteers to support their vision. Today, over two-thirds of those entrepreneurs have grown their businesses, their impact and their influence, going on to become recognized by Google for Startups, Pharrell’s Black Ambition Prize and the Obama Foundation among others, for their work. Our 1st impact report shares a glimpse of milestones and learnings supporting Black and Brown social entrepreneurs at their earliest stage.

Read our Impact Report below!

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Our Inspiration

One thing we love about Black and Brown entrepreneurship is that it’s organic in nature. From the Icee man to the Dollar van driver, Black and Brown commerce can emerge from the dearth in a community and grow to become a living part of its culture. At Represented, we pull much inspiration directly from the Caribbean. From the biodiversity of its plants and wildlife to present-day interpretations of African and Indigenous traditions, we find inspirations worth teaching.

Often told to leave out culture for the sake of professionalism, we want Black and Brown social entrepreneurs to see lush green foliage and visualize their own diverse, flourishing careers. We teach them to lean into their rich identities and use entrepreneurship to create their own versions of paradise on Earth.