Sorenson Center project seeks to close equity gap for entrepreneurs

The Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah is launching the first stage of Project DEEP (Developing Equitable Economies Program) with the mission of closing the equity gap in entrepreneurship. Made possible by funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and JP Morgan Chase, the project aims to support women and BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of color) by providing open access training on entrepreneurship and investment.

“We are excited to launch a new initiative to support a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Kyra Clarke, project lead. “Project DEEP will highlight lessons and best practices around the critical work required to unlock equitable opportunities for women, people of color, rural individuals and others that have been historically shut out of entrepreneurship. Systemic solutions and change require systemic action, which is why we are focusing on not only entrepreneurs, but on the full ecosystem including capital allocators, technical training resources and partners, philanthropy and policymakers.”

The center launched the project’s first resource, a cinematography-quality video course on demystifying entrepreneurship, on May 25. The course is focused on helping anyone learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, no matter their background, while also recognizing the unique challenges and opportunities facing women, people of color, rural individuals and others not well represented in the current entrepreneurial ecosystem. The project website (project-deep.com) also houses additional resources and videos for the first course have been recorded, so participants can work at their own pace using the workbook to assist them.

Kimmy Paluch, founder of pre-seed venture firm Beta Boom and an advocate for a more inclusive ecosystem, served as the first course expert. “We’re not seeing enough founders of color and female founders represented. There are real biases and gaps that exist in our ecosystem,” said Paluch. “But what we want to do is draw some inspiration from founders who have been able to navigate this, how have they found success and also learn from the struggles that we’ve all faced. I’m excited because I see a sea of change coming.”

Project DEEP will continue to release new courses and resources on topics such as diversifying investing, creating a policy environment for inclusive economies and other topics. While the project is housed in Salt Lake City, the focus is both local and national. In 2020, Forbes ranked Utah as the best state for entrepreneurship, yet the state ranked worst for women’s equality in the same year. Nationally, only 2 percent of venture capital goes to women founders, with less than 3 percent going to black and Latinx founders, despite women of color being the fastest-growing entrepreneur segment.