Meet the 4 Black Women Awarded Up to $50K by PayPal to Economically Empower Their Communities

Four Black women have achieved high honors as the winners of an award named after the first woman—and Black woman—to own a bank in the U.S., Maggie Lena Walker.

The Black American women business owners are blazing their own trails as the winners of the second annual Maggie Lena Walker Award. They each received recognition and a cash award of up to $50,000 from fintech giant PayPal Holdings Inc. The accolade celebrates the achievements of women from underrepresented groups in the U.S. who are economically empowering others in their communities and creating a more inclusive world, per a release.

The 2022 PayPal Maggie Lena Walker Award recipients are focused on supporting underserved entrepreneurs, including providing them capital access and boosting their exposure to new customers. Meet the awardees:

Achievement Winner

Connie Evans is the president and CEO of Association for Enterprise Opportunity. Under her leadership, the organization has expanded, representing over 2,600 microbusiness development practitioners working to create economic opportunity for underserved entrepreneurs.

Emerging Leader Winners

Mandy Bowman, founder and CEO of Official Black Wall Street (OBWS), helps consumers find, review, and support Black-owned businesses. Bowman has helped steer $1.7 million into Black-owned businesses.

Alethia Mendez is the division president for Elevating Black Women Entrepreneurs, Grameen America. She was a member of the founding team at Grameen America and has helped reach over 160,000 entrepreneurial women, disbursing $2.6 billion in microloans.

Diamond Walton, founder, Elpida Social Capital LLC, helps clients invest financial and social capital in historically marginalized communities. Along with Elpida Social Capital, she launched the Black Student Debt Freedom Fund (BSDF) in 2020 to help pay off the student loan debt of Black graduates.

The winners were selected out of nearly 40 award nominations. To learn more about them, why their work is important, and how they are making a difference, check this out.

Dan Schulman, president and CEO, PayPal, reflected on the honorees: “Business ownership and wealth building are key to closing the racial wealth gap.”

“This year’s PayPal Maggie Lena Walker Award awardees are providing guidance, capital, and resources to underserved entrepreneurs, continuing Walker’s legacy of uplifting her community through economic opportunity.”

“It is a privilege to recognize and celebrate these incredible women for their commitment and impact.”