JPMorgan Chase invests more than a half million dollars into Louisville minority-owned businesses

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — (WLKY)

JPMorgan Chase is donating more than a half million dollars to support local businesses in Louisville.

A $270,000 investment will go to AMPED’s Russell Technology Business Incubator, the incubator works to help minority-owned businesses grow and create generational wealth.

“Seventy percent of what we do at the RTBI is mental. We have a wealth strategist, so you understand we believe you're going to be wealthy. We want you to understand how to create that wealth and manage that wealth,” said Dave Christopher, AMPED Louisville.

A total of $270,000 will go towards Story’s Wild Beta Accelerator Program to help Black and Latina women grow their businesses through a 14-week mentoring and business coaching program.

“These businesses don’t scale because they don’t get funded. 1.9 percent of venture capital, less than 2 percent in 2021, went to Black and LatinX founders, and that dropped significantly. Now we’re at 1.2 percent,” said Natalia Bishop, Wild’s managing director.

“We know the pandemic exacerbated many of the underlying racial and gender disparities that already existed in our communities. Research continues to highlight that Black and Latina female founders continue to be underfunded and under-resourced,” said Paul Costel, Region Manager for JPMorgan Chase in Kentucky.

Business owners like Chanel Wells-Henderson of Chanel Nicole Co. say this funding is essential.

“I think a lot of brilliant women have beautiful ideas, but we're stuck on that hamster wheel where we're trying to figure it out by ourselves," said Wells-Henderson."I think these programs help the businesses to grow and to scale."