2021 Fellows Spotlight
2021 Tadler summer fellow Daniel Wong is spending his summer interning at Country Roads Angel Network (CRAN) and West Virginia (WV) Hive. A rising third year in the McIntire School of Commerce with a minor in Social Entrepreneurship, Wong is passionate about promoting sustainable business practices and exploring how impact investing can create both financial and social returns.
After taking a few courses in social entrepreneurship (An Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing in Action: Appalachia), Wong grew more interested in how you can use investments to leverage businesses and create social impact. It was through these academic experiences he was introduced to CRAN and WV Hive.
The Country Roads Angel Network and West Virginia Hive are initiatives part of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA) designed to increase economic activity, improve workforce health, and foster a better environment for growing entrepreneurs. The WV Hive was established in 2015 as sub-organization and CRAN was later founded as a non-profit foundation to help evaluate and recruit potential investors to invest and mentor start-up businesses.
Along with WV Hive, CRAN screens individual investors and acts as a middleman between investment-ready businesses and credited investors. Currently CRAN is made up of about 20 investors taking applications from businesses with a stake in West Virginia. CRAN is not a fund but a non-profit, and the only one of its kind in the region.
“The investment that the angels make is for profit-driven businesses, but the structure is not-for-profit. Typically, in the real world of angel investing, there is no market for non-profit structures [since] usually the investors are looking for market rate returns.”
Wong works with CRAN and WV Hive by assisting with applicant screening and pitch decks and supporting research for reports on potential partners. His most valuable experience so far has been getting to visit the office and sit in on a consulting deal in West Virginia.
“It was great to see someone who had a great idea push forward this project and see how investors with industry experience helped advance the idea. I also got to meet with a few other angels with a social impact strategy they wanted to implement. Essentially, they are trying to figure out if there are other funding opportunities or resources they can offer the social enterprise businesses that are impact driven and not profit driven. They are also trying to find better ways to measure the impact of their investments and how they better the West Virginia economy.”
Despite an increasing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and impact investing, angel investors remain predominantly white and male[1]. Wong sees the large disparity in the racial makeup and gender makeup of angel investors and remarks that angels should not just be one segment of society, acknowledging the barriers that are preventing that change. He hopes to see the face of angel investment change in the future to match the communities and regions that are being revitalized.
[1] According to the Angel Capital Association, 77.9% of angels are male and 87.6% are white.