SIA Scotch Whisky’s founder Carin Luna-Ostaseski is an entrepreneur of color herself and the program was inspired by her journey to launch SIA despite a myriad of challenges and barriers. Now that Carin has realized her dream, she wants to support, empower, and elevate the next generation to do the same. And, to this day, while entrepreneurs of color have represented over 50% of new businesses started and created 4.7 million new jobs in the last decade, they have been largely excluded in funding, receiving only a 2% share of venture capital annually1.

These trends have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, minority-owned small businesses have been hit disproportionately hard due to the pandemic and corresponding economic crisis. Furthermore, minority-owned business owners are more likely than non-minority owners to report difficulty obtaining loans, express fears about permanently closing, and predict declining revenues in the coming year.

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