 My name is Andrew Brower. I am with the Mission Driven Investments Team at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and I am very honored to be joined by two amazing professionals that we're going to be talking with this evening here for for a little bit of time, Marcos Gonzalez and Rod Robinson, but just really quickly I'd like to just take a second and talk a little bit about the foundation, our work here at SoCAP, and and why we care about this work and why we wanted to bring Marcos and Rod out here to really feature their story and their leadership throughout the country here at SoCAP. So the foundation was founded in 1930 by serial innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg and from day one we have been focused on children. But we know that children live in the context of families and communities and our goal is to make sure that we are helping create, through our philanthropic, philanthropic giving, helping create conditions, find leaders and build opportunities for equitable communities so that all children can thrive. Back in 2007 our board of trustees they took a step back and started to examine our own policies and practices and said an issue a demand date that said that we want to be an effective anti-racist organization that promotes racial equity. The very next year in 2008 we founded our mission-driven investment program and as we started to think about the different tools that are that were at our disposal and started to think about impact investing we took a look at the data that was out there and some of the striking data that we know about that we really care about that we think speaks to the conditions that exist in communities and conditions that affect children out there is the racial wealth gap where we know that the racial wealth gap between whites and blacks is 20 to 1 and the racial wealth gap between whites and Latinx communities in individuals and families is about 17 or 18 to 1. We know what created that space. We know what created that disparity there. We know it started with colonialism. We know that it started that it then enslavement. We know Jim Crow. We know segregation. We know policies of voter suppression. We and immigration policies that are here. We know what caused it. So if we want to start to close that and that's just a handful of some of the policies and practices and structural barriers that are there. If we want to close it, then we have to do something very intentionally and very different than what actually created that. Three years ago we started to work with SOCAP and we helped establish the racial equity track. We caught a lot of flak about how come you're having just a tracker on racial equity? Well, the year before there wasn't one. So we wanted to make sure that we actually started this conversation and started to bring it to one of the places that was holding this up in a national platform and a place where incredible people like yourselves and even with just a broader audience nationwide are actually here and can engage and start to build their literacy around the history of race and racism in this country and what it means in particular to the capital markets. So as a team, we were thinking about this year. This is our third year here and we said, hey, you know what? We're a little bit done with the conversation of sort of like, should we or shouldn't we do this impact investing conversation? Or should we or shouldn't we sort of have a racial equity lens? Why don't we actually just talk to some folks out there that we already know are doing this work and bring them up and help us understand? You know, not necessarily not necessarily should we do it, but actually who's doing it? What they're doing it? And then most importantly, how so that we can actually start to take some of those actions and connect some of those dots from all the different networks and experiences and opportunities that you guys have. So I'm going to so Marcos Gonzalez and from Vamos Ventures, Rod Robinson from Conexus. Rod, I actually like to start with you. If you don't mind, can you just tell us about the story of Conexus? You know, where it came from and and why you're in it. Sure. So I come from a corporate background in procurement and supply chain. And so I wanted to I'd grown frustrated over time and I wanted to dispel the myth that it's difficult or impossible to find minority and women owned businesses to introduce into the corporate supply chains. So that was really my key motivation for launching Conexus conceptualized at nine years ago, actually launched at seven years ago. So essentially what we are is a cloud procurement platform that supports and enables key corporate supply chain initiatives relative to supply chain transparency, diversity and economic impact. We have an underlying data collection engine that enables us to to track this information and essentially what we've been able to do over time as we've continued to grow our customer base, probably 14 Fortune 100 companies to date. We've been able to build a database of 21 million SMBs included in that is 1.8 million diverse suppliers. So we're really pleased. So mission accomplished in terms of, you know, dispelling that myth that, you know, there are no diverse suppliers. We can't find them. Right. Excellent. Marcos Valmos Ventures. Yeah, tell us tell us why and what you're up to. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks very much for inviting Andrew and thanks everybody for being here at Socap. Valmos Ventures is a venture capital fund, diverse manager impact fund. We invest in diverse teams, but we have a particular focus on Hispanic tech entrepreneurs throughout the country. The impact that we want to deliver is wealth creation, social mobility and tech driven solutions that help or empower vulnerable communities. And the way I got to this is that my career has been basically in strategy and investing and spent a long time doing that. And it was really the meeting of my professional career and my personal experience. I'm Mexican American, my parents from Mexico, son of immigrant immigrants to the country and really grew up in an environment where I saw a lot of entrepreneurialism, resilience, creativity, innovation, et cetera, et cetera. And a few years ago was in the Bay Area. And of course, there's a lot of the idea of the lack of diversity in tech is not new. And it's been around for a long time. We took a look around basically and we said, what's going on here? Clearly, a lot of wealth is being created. The future is being defined here, generally speaking. And what we and people of color are not very present. So we took some time to look into it and found hundreds of companies throughout the country of diverse entrepreneurs that had products and that had traction just couldn't get in front of the right people. So we finally concluded that there's a need here. And that's when we started Vomos Ventures a couple of years ago. Yes. So both of your businesses actually have a sort of a theory of change or a business model that has racial equity embedded into it. Why is that important? Is that are you seeing market opportunities because of that? Are you having, is there a competitive advantage with that even? But one of the areas, one of the statistics I'd like to share is the fact that of the 28 million businesses in the U.S., over 50% of those businesses are minority or woman-owned. However, they only account for 6% of the total revenue generated. So when you think about the fact that more innovative small startups create the jobs, the net new jobs, but the fact that they only represent 6%, but over 50% of all businesses, there's something wrong with that. So to the extent we can flip the script on that, if you will, there's an opportunity to really create, close some gaps. So that's what keeps me energized. Yeah, I would echo that. And competitive advantage is I think we have plenty at Vomos Ventures. Number one, we're not competing with everybody else for the same deal. It drives up values and that doesn't help anybody other than the founders of the company, I guess, but then they have to live up to it. What we do is we find deals that are overlooked, deals that maybe are not in Silicon Valley, not in San Francisco, but other parts of the country that are overlooked. Detroit, for example, Atlanta, Nashville, and other cities like San Antonio, for example. So those, that strategy of looking for the non-usual spaces is key. Number two, a bunch of studies, McKinsey, Credit Suisse, et cetera, about diverse teams, outperforming average, non-diverse teams, that's another advantage. So I think that for a impact fund or investors, whether you're individuals, institutional, asset owners, whatever it might be, clearly there are competitive advantages here. Yeah, I think what I'd like to add to that is the fact that I was sort of creating a solution based on a frustration that I had and was really focused on diversity. But now the fact that we sort of created a solution and we were laser focused on it, we were able to sort of gain these customer relationships that enabled us to really broaden to become a more, you know, a broader supplier relationship management solution. So it went from just being sort of focused around, you know, inclusion in the supply chain, supplier diversity. But then we continued to add attributes like sustainability, like financial health. And so now having supplier diversity sort of at the nucleus in the, you know, in the DNA, we've been able to really create this supplier relationship management platform that's now becoming valuable to customers that are, you know, e-commerce platforms, for example, where we're able to actually vet and validate third-party sellers, right, creating value for them. So it's really interesting to think that you can focus, kind of have a laser focus on solving one specific problem. You know, you're creating, it's almost like kind of creating, when I think about organizations where I've worked that have created one awards for creating the best environment for minorities and women, it's almost like you create a better place for everybody. So it's almost like we've created the solution that's now sort of morphed into this supplier relationship management platform that's, you know, something unique that no one else has. Right on, Rod. Marcos, I'm curious, you know, one of the, the stat that we talked about sort of our why at, for our team at the foundation is around the racial wealth gap and closing that I'm curious how, as you're making investments into, into communities and communities that are frankly, frankly just, just overlooked. How are those investments manifesting in, in sort of in that wealth creation and that opportunity for, for overlooked communities? I think there's a lot of pent up demand in these communities. Certainly, I think amongst entrepreneurs of color and definitely amongst Hispanic entrepreneurs. A couple of stats, 80,000 Hispanics turn 18 every month, 80,000 turn 18 every month. It's a very large demographic in the country and it's not just in California, it's in Texas and New York, Illinois, Florida, but now it's also in North Carolina, you know, it's, it's in Memphis and Nashville and, and Tennessee. So we're seeing a lot of folks throughout the country that's a lot of building a lot of pent up demand as well as the decreasing cost of starting companies is really enabling a lot of entrepreneurs. The way we find them is through personal, professional networks and of course anyone who's in the business of developing diverse entrepreneurs. That's, those are folks we want to know and we're developing relationships with. But as I always say, Andrew and I think you, what attests to this too, Rod, is there are a lot of great organizations throughout the country that are supporting diverse entrepreneurs. That's awesome. But what we, what we don't have and what we definitely need, the other side of that equation is we need diverse investors. Investors who are familiar with these communities, investors who are, can identify personally with these entrepreneurs and have intentionality around it. I don't think we can rely on ad hoc and accidental investing that might happen. Rod, any, any closing thoughts before we, before we move on? I'd like to, well I would just say that I would just like to applaud. I've been to many conferences, but this is one conference where I've never seen so much passion. Everybody's so focused. Everybody's passionate about what we do here, but I will say this. The last time I was here was 2012 and that's actually where I met one of my first investors who happens to be an impact investor, Keisha Cash of Impact America Fund. So, you know, the one thing I'll say about what I've learned since then have attracted additional impact investors, social entrepreneurs fund, serious change. I will say, had it not been for the early belief from organizations like that, impact investors, I wouldn't be here right now because that enabled me to obviously bring in the patient capital that was required to get the company to a point to attract, you know, that Series A where we were able to attract a sort of broader mainstream venture capitalist, but you're absolutely right. I think having that context is so important. Not only the asset class of Impact, but I think having a more diverse cadre of investors will make a huge difference. Was there anything you want to leave us with? Yeah, I think that, you know, there are a lot of things that we've learned on this journey and one of them is that you find what you look for. And if you're an impact investor or you're with an organization that's an impact organization, you really do have to have a lot of intentionality around it and get out the door and look in you in different places and be clear about what you want to find because you have to get out there and do that. That's what we've done and thankfully we've been doing well. So I think it does work and I think, you know, that's what we're going to see with our fund. Yeah, Ron, and I just, I really want to elevate that story you said coming back here in 2012. This is, I want to applaud the SOCAP team for, frankly, for having the courage to name Racial Equity as a focus three years ago and to keep on going with that. But the brilliance of this place and this space and as it relates to Impact Investing in the capital markets is how the money is going to flow through networks. And this is an incredible opportunity to build in and thicken those networks because Marcos and Rod are absolutely amazing, incredible leaders. There are people sitting in these chairs right here that are the same and also throughout all the different, the content that's going to be here and beyond. I mean, Keisha's here as, you know, as you mentioned several others. This is not about like whether or not we should or we shouldn't or where can we find people. It's about intentionality. It's about building your literacy where you have tracks to be able to do that so that we can understand and see new opportunities and then actually making these deals happen so that we can start creating wealth in intentionally overlooked communities to create more equitable opportunities. So thank you for your time, everyone.