Federal Communications Commission Can Promote Tech Entrepreneurship for Minority Communities

March 29, 2021 – The Federal Communications Commission represents the “exact platform” for women, minorities and other diverse populations to thrive in technology and entrepreneurship, said the agency’s vice chair of the advisory committee on diversity and digital empowerment.

Heather Gate, the vice chair, was quoted by FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during a committee meeting in February as saying, “You know what can hold innovation back in this country? It is not the lack of talent. It is the lack of opportunity.”

She spoke on a panel co-hosted by the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment and the FCC’s Media Bureau entitled Tech Startup Roundtable.

Many minorities and women are behind small businesses and are hindered by opportunities in entrepreneurship—intensified greatly by the digital divide as they struggle to stay connected. The United States is still tackling issues of digital inequality, which results in entrepreneurial deterioration and perpetuates digital illiteracy.

Underrepresented groups have been brought to their knees with the loss of family and friends during the COVID-19 pandemic. The power of entrepreneurial spirit in every sector has really sustained people this past year, said Gates, who noted the importance of technology being the hands of those who need it most.

Nicole Turner Lee, who serves as chairwoman on the FCC’s broadband advisory working group and digital diversity working group, said her committee’s goal is to see how the FCC can amplify its message that “people of color matter, people who are women matter when it comes to the diversity of these sectors.”

Since the pandemic began, over 100,000 small businesses have been permanently closed which means at least 100,000 employees across the country have lost their jobs, Lee said. This is a serious problem because she said that “diverse startups” like to hire “diverse people” and if all these small businesses are shuttered for good, how will people of color be able to invest locally?

This is why the FCC can use its power to amplify the voices of entrepreneurs from all backgrounds and help grow their big ideas that would otherwise be forgotten, she said.