The Milky Way Tech Hub Series: Featuring Young Development Group's CEO Lavelle Young

The Milky Way Tech Hub series continues even though it seems like the entire world has come to a stop. For the third video, Lavelle Young, CEO of Young Development Group, sat down with The Milky Way Tech Hub.

Young believes that diversity of people and ideas is the key to pushing the tech industry into the 21st century.

“The more diverse ideas and perspectives at the table, the better the solutions,” Young said.

“Diversity in tech…what that means is that we’re including ideas that are challenging the status quo. Ideas that are challenging the traditional, old boys club when it comes to what a tech startup looks like,” he added.

With technology being engraved in everything that we do, Young said it’s a must to be inclusive. Young stated that there are so many inventors who are unspoken for, and now is the time to figure out how to tap into that.

According to a Wired article, in 2018, only 6% or less of Black people worked for Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft in their tech departments, which is a very small increase from when they reported back in 2014. This is a major issue Young wants more people to pay attention to, but he does credit The Milky Way Tech Hub for tackling this issue head on.

“I really support The Milky Way Tech Hub’s ability to secure funds and make funds accessible to entrepreneurs who don’t have access to that capital,” Young said. He also mentioned that the access to capital is the bottom-line issue for most communities, specifically Black communities.

Speaking of providing funds, Founder of Jet Constellations and The Milky Way Tech Hub, Nadiyah Johnson announced on April 11, 2020 the winner of The Milky Way Tech Hub’s Small Business COVID-19 Response Grant.

Darlene Rose, owner of Positive Touch Therapy LLC, has been selected and awarded $1,000.

Picking a winner was a challenge for Johnson because it was clear that each person who applied needed the money. Johnson based her decision on two things: how clear the business owner’s plan was to utilize the funds and how they intended to adapt to the change.

“I looked for candidates that had a plan to adapt and move forward, instead of only using the funds to maintain a business model that has proven [to be] vulnerable in these times,” said Johnson about selecting Rose. “Businesses need to leverage technology in some way, shape or form in these increasingly digital times.”

To find out more about Jet Constellations, click here. To find out more about The Milky Way Tech Hub, click here.

Watch Lavelle Young’s interview below: