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In 2020, TikTok invested $750,000 into a partnership with The Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF). The goal was to increase Latinx representation on the app by encouraging entrepreneurs to act as content creators.
This month, the social media app donated an additional $1 million to the non-profit to further support #CreciendoconTikTok, a program that launched in 2021 initially sharing $150,000 across 30 Latinx businesses.
“We really wanted to intersect vision, cultural pride, tenacity and self reliance during this time period,” says HFF president Antonion Tijerino. “TikTok’s objectives were to be able to support our community in an authentic cultural way by delivering messages, and as well as growing businesses.”
Forty businesses will receive a $10,000 grant through HHF. Tijerino says the end goal is to to create a network of business owners and entrepreneurs who can learn from one another. That network will also learn how to integrate TikTok into their business strategies.
“As important as capital is to access and research and customer service, you have to build that personal brand,” Tijerino says. “You have to make sure that it's authentic and you're able to grow. That's one of the ways that we are trying to give tools beyond giving out a grant.”
The TikTok partnership will also fund a leadership institute in San Antonio this summer. Incoming college freshmen will learn about how to become entrepreneurs and understanding social media’s role in that space.
In addition to the donation to HFF, TikTok is also giving $1 million to Black Girl Ventures (BGV), a non-profit dedicated to connecting Black and Brown women entrepreneurs. Through these donations, both organizations will give out grants to entrepreneurs, teach young people how to navigate the business world and host workshops focused on using TikTok to grow a company. Additionally, TikTok will host a webinar series that teach small business owners how to leverage the app and expand their reach.
BGV founder and CEO Omi Bell, an HBCU graduate, says she didn’t receive much business guidance when she was a student but with some of the funding, she hopes to help change that.
“We want Black or brown people to be able to get access to training and funding earlier,” Bell says.
To make that happen, TikTok will help fund an eight week accelerator program, which grants 25 HBCU students $5,000 stipends and the opportunity to pitch their businesses, teaches people how to pitch, manage cash flow and develop business plans.
The partnership will also support a media fund, which will teach business owners how to use TikTok. Bell says one of the primary goals of the partnership is community programming, and the funding may include opportunities for creators to work with business owners and grants.
“TikTok creates economic opportunity for entrepreneurs or communities who have been historically locked out of institution or resources and networks, where you don't have easy access to mentors,” Bell says.
Connectivity is also part of what Tijerino’s foundation hopes to foster through this program. By teaching people how to share their entrepreneurial stories on social media, Tijerino says it can help connect Latinx business owners across the country, adding that the goal is to “make it a living breathing network, as opposed to just one that has a lot of names collected that were a part of this.”