By: Lexie Newhouse
On June 28, 2018, Atlanta Tech Village celebrated ten scholars at their #ItTakesAVillage Graduation Party, where Georgia State’s own Justin McLeod (B.B.A. ’15) and Robert Hatcher (B.A. ’16) were among the crowd of entrepreneurs and innovators.
Last fall, Atlanta Tech Village (ATV) launched the “It Takes A Village” campaign with McLeod, ATV’s Diversity Coordinator and entrepreneur, at the forefront. His inclusivity initiative strives to create community, stating that “…if you genuinely include people with diverse perspectives ranging from age, gender, race and cultural background you will be able to build more sustainable companies in an industry that has an extremely high failure rate.”
As part of the “It Takes A Village” campaign, ten six-month scholarships were granted for women and minority entrepreneurs. These scholarships include free membership and access to ATV mentors and amenities. In the last six months, those ten entrepreneurs received over $200,000 in investments, completed $85,000 in sales and earned four pilots and two accelerator offers.
Among the ten, Robert Hatcher, a current Georgia State MBA student, represented the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute as the founder of Soundcollide. Among his many achievements as founder, Hatcher has won competitions like the Clayton State University Elevator Pitch Competition, SharedSpace Cobb’s Collaborate and Compete Pitch Competition and the TYE University Pitch Competition.
Congratulations again to Hatcher for his success with Soundcollide and to McLeod and the remainder of ATV for supporting entrepreneurs with these opportunities!
