Paving the Way for New Innovators: Neythri Futures Fund and HBCU Presidents; Nutanix CEO on Multicloud

Mythili Sankaran of Neythri, Makola Abdullah of Virginia State University, Rajiv Ramaswamy of Nutanix

I'm a sucker for unique conversations that yield rare insights, and I got to have more than one this week. My friend and former colleague Aditi Roy connected me with the Neythri Futures Fund, which grew out of a networking organization for South Asian women. A conversation with some of the investors in the fund highlighted dynamics in business that too often get overlooked. And also this week, my friend Jayson Council and I did another installment of our March Forth series (as in "march ahead," though we did stream our first installment on 3/4/21). This one was a conversation with the presidents of three historically Black colleges that touched on the unique opportunities in this era of higher ed.

Read on:

Question the Popular Narratives: Michael Dell on CNBC's Working Lunch

Unique visions and secret weapons: In the latest Working Lunch on CNBC's Power Lunch, I used excerpts from my Fortt Knox interview with Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell to introduce new sides of him to the audience:

A Fund to Change the Face of Venture Investing, and Who Gets Funded: Neythri Futures Fund

In a Fortt Knox stream this week, I spoke with Mythili Sankaran, cofounder and CEO of Neythri, a networking organization for South Asian professional women. She was announcing the $10 million Neythri Futures Fund, where 90% of limited partners are South Asian Women. The fund will invest in companies with diverse leadership. Investors who joined the conversation included Cerebras Systems CMO Rupal Shah Hollenbeck, Room to Read CEO Geetha Murali, and Vendia Cofounder Shruthi Rao:

From Researcher to CEO: Nutanix's Rajiv Ramaswamy

Rajiv Ramaswamy didn't set out to be a CEO. But as he tried to produce meaningful innovation in several different organizations, he eventually developed the skills required to lead Nutanix:

Preparing the Future: A March Forth Conversation with HBCU Presidents

It's that time again: Jayson Council and I brought the latest Fortt Knox / March Forth conversation, this time with the presidents of three historically Black colleges: Makola Abdullah of Virginia State University, Roslyn Artis of Benedict College, and Michael Sorrell of Paul Quinn College. They discussed the challenges of making education more affordable, modern and relevant in a changing society.

Here's Abdullah on the impact of the surprise mega-gift from billionaire MacKenzie Scott:

And here's the full conversation:

Will Supply Chain Woes Break the Holidays? On the Other Hand

Will supply chain woes create holiday chaos across the board? I argued both sides in the latest edition of On the Other Hand on CNBC's Squawk Box:

Check out The Black Experience in America: The Course, an online educational resource I researched, designed and built. A free PDF download is available to bring the material to kids, and the online interactive experience is made for adults.