EMPREENDEDORISMO FEMININO NEGRO: Um mapeamento das Startups no Brasil

Abstract

Given the lack of studies on innovative Black women entrepreneurship, the objective of this work was to identify and map startups founded or co-founded by Black women in Brazil, including their geographic distribution, areas of operation, and involvement in support or acceleration programs. This is an exploratory, descriptive, and quantitative study. Data were collected from secondary sources. The results indicate: a) a low rate of startups founded or co-founded by Black women in Brazil; b) a high geographic concentration in the states of São Paulo and Bahia; c) most startups participate in some type of support program. The secondary data collection was carried out manually and systematically, through direct consultation of websites and platforms mapping startups in Brazil, with particular emphasis on the Brazilian Association of Startups (Abstartups). In the case of this database, the procedure consisted of accessing the list provided by the platform and individually analyzing each startup link, verifying the public information about the founders. From this verification, those that had at least one Black woman (Black or mixed-race) among the founders or co-founders were identified. This process was complemented by consulting other secondary databases, such as innovation hubs (StartupBase, Distrito, Inventivos, Afrohub, BlackRocks Startups, and PretaHub). The mapping presents a portrait of the landscape of Black women's entrepreneurship in innovation, indicating the importance of public policies and private support programs to reduce inequalities in Brazil and strengthen the participation of these women entrepreneurs in innovation ecosystems. From an academic point of view, this is the first work with this focus on gender, race, and innovation, which indicates its originality.