Zulu Alpha Kilo founder and CCO Zak Mroueh has created a new scholarship fund intended to create educational and mentorship opportunities for 20 aspiring BIPOC creatives.

Aimed at those who may not have considered a career in advertising, the 20Doors Scholarship Fund is open to all BIPOC college or university graduates; each year for the next five years four students will receive tuition funds to complete a year-long undergraduate course in copywriting or art direction.

Mroueh will also personally provide mentorship and coaching for recipients, while opening the door to access other senior creative leaders. The goal is to equip students with not only the education, but also the complementary skills that come from real-world experience and support building their professional networks.

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The program is a personal project for Mroueh, who himself faced barriers while trying to enter the industry. The goal is to spur progress on greater diversity in the ad industry, and to create more success stories, thereby encourage more candidates to consider a creative career.

20Doors will run alongside Zulu’s existing “Employeeship” competition, which aimed to differentiate from other agency internship programs by giving recent grads the opportunity to get a full-time job at the agency, selected after a day-long, paid creative bootcamp. Though not part of that program’s mandate, half of Zulu’s past “Employeeship” winners have been BIPOC.