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HBCUniverse Summit HBCUniverse When Kiante Bush was a student at historically Black Morgan State University, he saw something incredibly powerful but at the same time disconnected: individual campuses doing great work in isolation. This vision led him to build an organization that allows for collaboration and opportunity across Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). According to Bush, “Our vision was to create an actual universe – an ecosystem – to amplify HBCUs across the nation. As an undergraduate at Morgan State University, I often thought of my university as its own ‘planet’ and celebrated it with pride, but I never truly leveraged the solar system around me – the networks and partnerships that extended beyond to other HBCUs.” HBCUniverse, the organization that Bush co-founded with Tremain Davis, is focused on unifying HBCUs through peer-to-peer networking, connections to corporations, scholarships, and startup investments. The PITCH competition sponsored by HBCUniverse HBCUniverse Bush and Davis lead a national network that is designed to connect HBCU students, alumni, and entrepreneurs across the institutions. According to Bush, “Our team was already doing impactful work in the HBCU community, but mostly in silos. We would host our ‘FoundersFridays’ free entrepreneurship workshop weekly. We also hosted various pitch competitions on HBCU campuses across the Mid-Atlantic. But HBCUniverse would be the culmination of all of these separate initiatives, all under one roof – and celebrated throughout our HBCUniverse Summit: a one-day conference full of informative workshops, inspiring panels, HBCU pitch competitions, career fairs, vendor opportunities, and various other activations to celebrate and empower the HBCU community.” Since the organization’s founding, Bush shared that the network has expanded rapidly. He stated, “We’ve now grown to a community of 200+ HBCUniverse Ambassadors across the nation, we’ve provided over $30,000 in scholarships and pitch prizes, and we’ve partnered with brands like Google, Microsoft, and Wells Fargo for our Annual HBCUniverse Summit.” However, the organization’s work has not been without challenges. As Davis explained, “The biggest gap we saw was that there was no collaboration in the HBCU ecosystem. And if you did try to collaborate, the initiative was met with massive red tape and bureaucracy. This creates a massive bottleneck when we are trying to have an impact on the students’ development. It also really stifles our ability to work at scale.” Bush and Davis created HBCUniverse to solve this problem. They work tangentially to HBCUs “without being impacted by the on-campus red tape and politics.” As they explained, "This has allowed us to scale nationally and even internationally, with our latest partnership in Kigali, Rwanda." MORE FOR YOU From Davis’s perspective, “The gaps in funding and opportunity are enormous in the HBCU space. It is extremely hard for Black and brown founders to raise money for new ventures. There is a large population of first-generation students who don’t have the resources to make it to the finish line. These students often lack advanced networking opportunities for job placement and career development.” This year, HBCUniverse launched its inaugural “30 Under 30” list, which celebrates young leaders in innovation, advocacy, and community impact. The group was selected from applicants across the country. The judges examined their strengths in leadership, their measurable impact in marginalized communities, and their representation of HBCU values. As Davis shared, “We are extremely proud of our honorees. These honorees have set the bar high!” Eno Oduok, founder of el powr. HBCUniverse Eno Oduok, an MBA graduate of Prairie View A&M University, is one of the individuals on the 30 Under 30 list. She created a start-up called el powr, which is an AI-powered energy management platform. It is “designed to help commercial buildings and school systems optimize energy consumption, reduce costs, and lower carbon emissions through a centralized hub.” Oduok described el powr as the “Fitbit for commercial buildings.” Likewise, David Nyark, a Ph.D. student at Morgan State University, is also on the list and works on autonomous wheelchair technology at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. Another individual on the 30 Under 30 list is Naomi Winston, a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana. She is the author and founder of The Creative Representation Empire, “a series of creative tools and coloring books used to establish creative representation for Black and Brown kids.” Naomi Winston, graduat of Xavier University of Louisiana HBCUniverse For Bush and Davis, HBCUniverse is more than a platform for opportunity for students and alumni; it is a movement to reimagine collaboration among HBCUs. By cutting through bureaucracy that is common when working in partnership with institutions of higher education and creating new spaces for innovation, the organization is helping students and alumni reach their potential on a larger scale. The 30 Under 30 list also includes: Mardline Prevot, Bowie State University; Desireé (Dez) Jones, Hampton University; John Shaquille Poitier Jr, Virginia State University; Joel Murchison, Jackson State University; Autumn Harmon, Jackson State University; Temitope Ajibola, Morgan State University; Zaria Pompey-Smith, North Carolina A&T State University; Breon McCray III, Hampton University; Ashley Petgrave, Howard University; Eugene Awagah, Morgan State University; Nicolas Pollard, Virginia State University; Martavious Ellis, Grambling State University; Jay’Shun Mathews, Morehouse College; Gabrielle Hall, Morgan State University; Darrell Izard, Winston-Salem State University; Hanna Tchokote, Bowie State University; Toryelle Coleman, Virginia State University; Michael Archibong, Virginia State University; Chazriq Clarke, Florida A&M University; Eric Green, Howard University; Thomas Bittings Jr, Morehouse College; D’aja Grandberry, Spelman College; Trey Sanders, Texas Southern University; Clavine Ntimeh, Winston-Salem State University; Aalliyeh Clinton, Morgan State University; Kayla Jones, Morgan State University; Tiffani Grayes, Savannah State University Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
