State of Black Entrepreneurship Fellows Program

The Center for Black Entrepreneurship (CBE) invites proposals for its inaugural State of Black Entrepreneurship Fellows Program. Fellows will conduct an independent research project while contributing to the annual State of Black Entrepreneurship Report.

For you as an applicant in Nigeria, the first task is to confirm whether CBE accepts applicants with your citizenship and country of residence. The programme does not specify eligible countries or confirm participation from Nigeria. It also requires workshops, meetings and a symposium presentation without stating attendance locations, remote options or travel support.

The published application schedule runs from September 2026 to 16 November 2026, with award notifications expected in December 2026. Check the official application page before preparing your submission, including the deadline time and time zone, which are not stated.

Opportunity Summary

About the Opportunity

CBE is a partnership between Morehouse College, Spelman College and the Black Economic Alliance Foundation. This fellowship combines individual scholarship with collaborative research intended to inform entrepreneurs, investors, educators, policymakers and other organisations supporting entrepreneurship.

Your proposal should align with capital formation and investment access; venture creation and business growth; entrepreneurial talent and pathway development; or entrepreneurial ecosystems, institutions and policy. Projects addressing emerging issues in entrepreneurship and economic mobility are also encouraged.

Independent projects may take forms such as a journal article, working paper, dissertation research, policy analysis, dataset or ecosystem study. Reviewers will assess originality, methodological rigour, relevance to Black entrepreneurship, practical impact and feasibility. A focused question with credible data access is therefore more useful than an ambitious topic you cannot complete within the fellowship timeline.

Funding and Benefits

• A $10,000 research fellowship award, allocated through a detailed project budget. This is not described as full funding for living costs, travel or relocation.
• Workshops and collaborative research sessions intended to strengthen project design, support knowledge exchange and develop the State of Black Entrepreneurship Report.
• An opportunity to present findings at the State of Black Entrepreneurship Symposium in Fall 2027.
• Potential amplification of findings through CBE’s partnership with Brookings, including policy briefs, blog posts or policy events. Selection depends on final deliverables and is not guaranteed for every fellow.

Who Can Apply?

• Applicants should demonstrate strong research skills, an interest in entrepreneurship and economic mobility, and a commitment to advancing knowledge about Black entrepreneurship.
• Applicants must be able to complete the proposed project and participate fully in fellowship activities.
• Applications are particularly encouraged from doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty researchers, think tank researchers, policy researchers and applied research professionals. These are encouraged applicant groups, not an explicitly exclusive list.
• Researchers from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are especially encouraged to apply; HBCU affiliation is not stated as mandatory.
• Collaborative and interdisciplinary proposals are welcome.

What Nigerian Applicants Should Know

• Citizenship and residence: Nigerian eligibility is unconfirmed because the programme does not specify eligible citizenships or countries of residence. Do not interpret the absence of a restriction as confirmed eligibility.
• Remote location and attendance: participation from Nigeria is not confirmed. Ask where required meetings, workshops and the symposium will take place and whether remote attendance is permitted.
• Work permission and travel: the programme does not state visa, work-permission, sponsorship or relocation arrangements. If attendance abroad is required, clarify the arrangements and any available support before making commitments.
• Professional recognition: no Nigerian credential-recognition or professional-registration requirements are stated. If your qualifications or institutional status need clarification, ask CBE how they will be assessed.
• Funding limits: do not assume the award covers international travel, accommodation or living costs. Establish whether required attendance would create costs outside your approved research budget.

Required Documents

• Curriculum vitae detailing academic credentials, professional experience, research activities and relevant publications.
• Personal statement of no more than one page explaining your interest in Black entrepreneurship research and the project’s alignment with the fellowship mission.
• Research proposal of no more than four pages, including the problem, research questions, significance, theoretical framework and hypotheses, methods, data sources, analysis plan, timeline and detailed $10,000 budget.
• Supporting documentation as applicable, including letters of collaboration, data access agreements or other relevant materials.

How to Apply

1. 1. Confirm participation eligibility. Check the official application page and seek clarification from CBE about citizenship, Nigerian residence, research geography and attendance arrangements before committing substantial time or expenditure.
2. 2. Select your research focus. Connect your question to a priority domain and explain how answering it would advance knowledge or practice in Black entrepreneurship.
3. 3. Build the proposal. Set out the problem, precise questions and significance, then explain your theoretical approach, hypotheses, data collection and analysis. Demonstrate reasonable access to the data and include milestones and an estimated completion date.
4. 4. Prepare the research budget. Break down how you would use the $10,000 and connect costs to project objectives. The stated exclusions are unrelated personal expenses and general office supplies; verify any uncertain expense categories with CBE.
5. 5. Assemble the required materials. Prepare your CV, one-page personal statement, four-page proposal and applicable supporting evidence. Check the application page for submission formats and any further instructions, which are not specified in the supplied programme details.
6. 6. Submit through the official application route by 16 November 2026. Verify the closing time and time zone and allow time to resolve submission problems. The published schedule places orientation in January–February 2027, design feedback in March–April and a final-deliverables workshop in July–August.

Visit the official application page

Application Tips

Optional preparation advice: start with a short project outline covering your research question, intended contribution, data sources, methods and likely output. Use it to test whether your project fits a priority domain before expanding it into the four-page proposal.

Hypothetical example: a study of barriers to investment could fit the capital formation domain. Rather than promising to explain every financing obstacle, you could define a particular group of entrepreneurs, a specific financing mechanism and a realistic analysis. This illustrates project design only; it does not establish that a Nigeria-focused study would be accepted. Confirm the programme’s geographic research scope with CBE.

Treat data access as a central feasibility issue. Explain which data you need, how you expect to obtain them and what evidence supports that access. Where a collaborator or data holder is essential, include applicable supporting documentation rather than relying on an unexplained promise.

Before submission, check that your statement stays within one page and your proposal within four pages. Ensure the question, methods, milestones and budget describe the same project. Remove unrelated personal expenses and general office supplies from the budget. Finally, check that you have addressed both the independent project and your capacity to contribute to the shared report and attend required activities.

Information checked 11 November 2026.