HBCU Entrepreneurship Curriculum: Cultivating the Next Generation of Business Owners

For decades, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have partnered with leading organizations to help cultivate the next generation of Black business leaders. Since 2014, there has been a concerted effort to increase innovation and entrepreneurship across school disciplines such as business, agriculture, science, technology, and engineering. This joint initiative between the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Office for Access and Success, APLU’s Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Economic Prosperity (CICEP), VentureWell (formerly NCIIA), the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), and participating HBCUs is widely known as the HBCU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Collaborative, or HBCU Collaborative for short.

The HBCU Collaborative is comprised of several public and private HBCUs that are committed to fostering innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship on their respective campuses to improve student success by implementing new institutional courses, transforming faculty pedagogy, and fostering partnerships with government and private industries.

Out of the several HBCUs participating in the HBCU Collaborative, a couple are located in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, where HIP is headquartered. These local institutions have made considerable strides within the last few years to further entrepreneurial opportunities for their student populations.

Howard University, for example, partnered with the PNC Foundation to support and develop Black-owned businesses through their National Center for Entrepreneurship as part of a multimillion-dollar initiative aimed at building resources for Black business owners across the country, with programs such as the Entrepreneurship Education Innovation Grant, HBCU Startup Scholars, and the Black Commerce Conference. The primary objective of the center is to expand access to entrepreneurship opportunities by engaging students, business owners, and communities of color in growing their enterprises, with a goal of increasing employment and wealth for students attending HBCUs.

Less than an hour away, in Prince George’s County Maryland, Bowie State University (BSU) has transformed its campus to cultivate educational enterprise and accommodate aspiring entrepreneurs. Home to its Entrepreneurship Academy and the Bowie Business Innovation Center — the first business accelerator located at a Maryland HBCU — BSU’s Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community (ELLC) houses 500+ students and features retail space for the public to enjoy. Complete with state-of-the-art in-house technology, BSU’s ELLC offers resources for students to develop their business aspirations and explore their ideas.

Of the many paths to success for young entrepreneurs, Federal government contracting is well worth consideration. Understanding the Federal marketplace and how to apply for (and procure) B2G opportunities can be tremendously rewarding. According to federal contract data aggregated by Fedmine, in FY 2023, 5,371 Black-owned businesses won $9.99B in federal contracts.

Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a new record in Federal funding and investments in HBCUs totaling more than $16 billion from Fiscal Years (FY) 2021-2024. Over $1.6 billion of that allocation has come through Federal grants, cooperative agreements, and other competitive funding opportunities that drive the advancement of academic and training programs, community-based initiatives, and research innovation across national priorities such as medicine and public health, climate science, agriculture, emerging technologies, and defense. Almost $950 million has been allocated to support HBCUs in growing research capacity and related infrastructure to better compete for Federal research and development dollars.

In October 2023, HIP and the University of Virgin Islands (UVI) — one of the several HBCUs also participating in the HBCU Collaborative —became formal partners thanks to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Path to Excellence and Innovation (PEI) Initiative. The PEI Initiative was created in accordance with Presidential Executive Order 14041 of “Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Historically Black Colleges and Universities” as a comprehensive vehicle to strengthen the capacity of HBCUs to compete for, win, and manage Federal government contracts. Administered by the NIH Small Business Program Office, the PEI Initiative plays a vital role in demonstrating how HBCUs, small businesses, and Fedaral government agencies can effectively work towards more equitable solutions.

The NIH Office of Acquisition Management and Policy offers a variety of free additional resources and materials on the PEI Initiative and how HBCUs can find success in the Federal marketplace.

Together, HIP and UVI have leveraged our combined expertise and experience to maximize Federal government contracting opportunities. As a cooperative team, we offer the advantage of a proven track record for delivering customized, innovative training and workforce development solutions that leverage cross-cutting technologies to solve challenges in the workforce system. Combined, our customers include NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the U. S. Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense.