Art Basel Sponsor UBS Supports Women Entrepreneurs

The global wealth managment firm conducted business education seminars during the world's most prestigous art fair.

UBS insures that Art Basel has Miami dripping in glamour, and amidst the raised champagne glasses, the celebrity sightings and the art priced above what’s likely the wealth management company’s minimum account requirement, this financial powerhouse also spent time this week promoting minority business. The company that sponsors Art Basel – the world’s most prestigious art fair featuring works priced for millions — organized a discussion on entrepreneurship that was headed by and intended to promote businesses run by women of color. A select group of women who have succeeded to a great extent professionally and financially spent the morning tucked away in the sponsor’s VIP lounge, where it partnered with Village Capital to host panelists including Kathryn Finney, who founded digitalundivided – an organization that leads high potential black and Latinx women businesses through the startup process.

“When I started out people didn’t have low expectations for me because I was a black woman,” says Finney. “They had no expectations. And they’d say ‘I never met a black women who got venture capital funding.'”

Securing venture capital, performing due diligence, and altering and improving the economic landscape were the most discussed topics for the panel, which offered a vault worth of advice. The group also included UBS managing community affairs executive Jamie Sears, Village Capital managing director Allie Burns, Caribu founder Maxeme Tuchman, CurlMix founder Kim Lewis, Leche Lounge founder Stephanie Conduff, Court Buddy founder Kristina Jones.

“We want to help women understand the game,” said Jones, “So we can level the playing field.”