American Express OPEN Joins digitalundivided’s FOCUS100 Symposium as exclusive Financial Partner

Aug. 29, 2013 - PRLog -- American Express OPEN joins digitalundivided’s FOCUS100 Symposium and Bootcamp as the exclusive financial partner. The 3 day conference, taking place October 4th – 6th, 2013 in New York City, connects tech companies with founders/co-founders who are black women, angel and venture investors, leading corporations, and those interested in the future of tech.

American Express OPEN offers small business owners products and services to help them grow and run their businesses efficiently. It's a growing community of innovative and successful entrepreneurs and digitalundivided is a proud partner. Valerie Morris, former CNN anchor and financial expert will be leading the OPEN for Women: CEO BootCamp session at FOCUS100. Valerie will present a workshop on “Harnessing the Power of Money” designed to help women CEOs better understand how to build the right team and resources to manage their finances and grow their business.


FOCUS100 continues to bring together diverse leaders in the tech industry. This year, the keynotes include Three-time Grammy award winner, digital pioneer and founder of several Silicon Valley based startups, MC Hammer; MacArthur “Genius” Award Recipient Majora Carter; Lisa Lambert, Vice President of Intel Capital; and Stacy Brown Philpot, COO of taskrabbit.

“FOCUS100 is a great chance to connect with people who have the same mission as me, expansion of opportunity, expansion of job creation, and creating new avenues of promise for our community”, said Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey.

FOCUS100 redefines the traditional view of “who is tech” by spotlighting top entrepreneurs and innovators who also happen to be women of color. Last year, FOCUS100 reached over 3 million people with 47 million impressions (tweet reach 10/8/12). 30% of the 40 FOCUS FELLOW companies (founded or co-founded by black women) received next step meetings with investors, eight (8) received angel and/or funding. Speakers included Mayor Booker and Majora Carter.

“The Black community, especially black women, are a vital part of the overall tech eco- system, as both consumers and creators” said Kathryn Finney, Founder and Managing Director of digitalundivided. “If you’re looking for diversity in terms of ideas and thoughts around technology and the startup world, then you must attend FOCUS100.”

digitalundivided’s “…ability to attract high profile leaders in the industry who are willing to engage with new entrepreneurs is the game changer for black women in technology who struggle to be seen.", says FOCUS100 panelist Tracey Solomon, co-founder of Hoseanna, an e-commerce company where women can sign up for deliveries of must- have hosiery, leggings and shape wear, among other necessities.

For more information on the event including sponsorship and registration, please visit:
http://www.digitalundivided.com/

For media inquiries, please contact PR Coordinator Amanda Spann at Amanda@digitalundivided.com  

About digitalundivided

digitalundivided (DID) is a social enterprise that builds forward thinking initiatives that fundamentally change the digital space by increasing the number of urban women digitalentrepreneurs. Founded in 2012, digitalundivided’s programs and projects, such as the START series of national workshops and the weekly DIDTechTalk with leaders in the world of tech, have reached over 4 million people.



About FOCUS100

The FOCUS100 (#FOCUS100) is a Startup bootcamp and symposium that connects thought leaders, tech startups founded or co-founded by black women, brand managers,
and innovators. The symposium features keynotes with game changers like Mayor Cory
Booker, MC Hammer, Stacy Brown Philpot (taskrabbit), Majora Carter, Erik Moore (Zappos) and more. The event includes, panels on emerging technologies and a PITCH session with top Angel and Venture Capitalists.