Princeton University will host Empower 2021, a two-day national conference celebrating Black academic entrepreneurship and addressing the funding gap for Black startups and founders.

Empower 2021 will bring together national thought-leaders to share actionable knowledge and tools that can help to transform university discoveries through entrepreneurial activities into companies and ventures that advance societal and economic progress. Among the many high profile speakers:

• Dr. George T. French, Jr., president, Clark Atlanta University
• Ken Chenault, chairman and managing director, General Catalyst, and former CEO, American Express
• Gabrielle Sulzberger, senior adviser, Two Sigma Impact, and trustee, Ford Foundation
• Mike Froman, vice chairman and president, strategic growth, Mastercard

Six dynamic startups (including an HBCU spinout) will compete for grand prize of $100,000 cash plus in-kind services.

Empower 2021 is sponsored by Princeton University, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Mintz, the National Urban League, Foundation for Health Advancement and EisnerAmper.

Empower is a Princeton University entrepreneurship conference hosted by Princeton Innovation and organized by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council.

Led by Rodney Priestley, Vice Dean for Innovation, Princeton Innovation is a University initiative to help translate research discoveries into technologies and services that can benefit society. Priestley was named to The Root’s “100 Most Influential African Americans” list in 2014.

Free and open to the public. Register at empower.princeton.edu.