Seven-time NBA All Star Kyrie Irving on Monday announced the launch of a consulting firm focused on advising and supporting Black- and women-owned businesses through coaching, mentorship, and direct financial support.
Irving’s new firm, KAI 11 Consulting, will advise companies across a range of industries, and is teaming up with venture capital firm Lockstep Ventures to provide the monetary investments that those companies need to grow.
In a press release, Irving stated that he launched KAI 11 Consulting to address the reality that “traditional business growth opportunities have disproportionately excluded minorities, tremendously limiting access and creating mistrust.” Through KAI 11 Consulting, he hopes to provide a “more equitable process that eliminates systemic barriers to entry” for underrepresented founders.
With help from Lockstep Ventures, KAI 11 Consulting has made an initial $500,000 investment in Fleeting, an Atlanta-based Black-owned commercial fleet management and services company. The funds and overall support will allow the company to continue hiring and training drivers from marginalized communities, including women and formerly incarcerated individuals.
Through his family of businesses, Irving plans to continue investing in minority-owned companies. For him, doing so “is not only essential to closing the wealth gap, but it also fosters a more unified, empowered, and liberated society.”
