Navarrow Wright: There Is A Diversity Problem In Silicon Valley

Race and Silicon Valley has been in the news lately, especially after CNN used an out-of-context clip of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington to promote a documentary on the subject. Lost in thatgotcha moment was a more substantive discussion of the issues. Namely, is Silicon Valley a truemeritocracy or does it have a diversity problem?

Navarrow Wright, the co-founder of Global Grind and current CTO of InteractIve One, which operates BlackPlanet.com and other sites, came into the TCTV studio to have “the race conversation” with me.

“It is a meritocracy at some level,” Wright acknowledges. “I think the challenge is how do you get involved in that ecosystem.” In his view, one of the biggest factors keeping the number of black tech entrepreneurs down is that not enough people from his community are trying to become entrepreneurs. There is a “perception problem in the minority community,” he says, that “it is easier to become a celebrity or athlete than an entrepreneur.”

How do we change that? Watch the video.

Source:http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/11/navarrow-wright-diversity-problem/