Saturday, December 21

Tag: entrepreneurs

No Comments
Journalism

Tips for Black entrepreneurs from media mogul Byron Allen

This week, media mogul, Byron Allen, broke the internet with a viral interview on The Breakfast Club. The CEO of Entertainment Studios dropped numerous gems for success and told his incredible story of building an empire from his kitchen table. That hard work has paid off, as this Tuesday, Allen was inducted into the 2019 Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. Allen doesn’t mince words: Black people may have been “blackballed” from the day they were born, but they can still succeed. He tells young entrepreneurs not to be afraid to speak out and dream big. “You cannot live in fear. You were born Blackballed. You know you’ve been positioned to fail and you have to recognize where you are.” These are five other gems from Allen’s interview that remind us to pursue our greatness and know our ...
Read More
No Comments
BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY

SoftBank’s message to entrepreneurs: profits matter

Message by founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who invests heavily in startups, underscores decision to oust WeWork chief. Masayoshi Son, long known as a free-spending benefactor who encouraged startup founders to pursue their dreams even if it meant losing billions of dollars, had a different message for entrepreneurs last week: Your dreams had better be profitable. The chief executive officer of Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. told company leaders gathered at the five-star Langham resort they need to become profitable soon and stressed the importance of good governance, according to a person who attended the event. Public investors aren't going to tolerate gimmicks, like super-voting rights or complicated share structures, that privilege founders over other stakeholde...
Read More
Black Entrepreneurs Lead the Charge in Baltimore’s Economic Renewal
No Comments
Journalism

Black Entrepreneurs Lead the Charge in Baltimore’s Economic Renewal

Rasheed Aziz remembers visiting Baltimore in 2006. The empty, hollow buildings sprawled the entire block, he says. Buildings lacked roofs, doorways were boarded up, and tree limbs grew into missing windows. Aziz is the founder of CityWide Youth Development, which he began in central Florida to bring economic development to impoverished neighborhoods using manufacturing and entrepreneurship. In 2006, he decided to move himself—and his nonprofit—to Baltimore after his trip there. During that trip, he says, he saw a need for sustainable employment opportunities in underinvested areas in that city. “I’ve never looked through a window of a building and saw tree limbs before,” says Aziz, remembering his first visit and the “culture shock” he experienced. “That means there’s no roof. It’s a hol...
Read More
No Comments
Journalism

California cities try offer help for minority, low-income marijuana entrepreneurs

Reese Benton’s life has been shaped by the war on drugs. Her mother used crack and died of an overdose when Benton was 16. Her father sold drugs and is currently in prison, on year 20 of a 25-year sentence. “I was a statistic. I was not supposed to make it,” said Benton, 41, who is from San Francisco. But she did. Today, she is a successful hairdresser, styling some of the wealthiest people in the Bay Area. She is also an entrepreneur: Last year, she opened a delivery service for medical marijuana. And now that California legalized the drug for all adults over 21, Benton, who is black, is getting assistance from the city of San Francisco through a program designed to help people whose lives were affected by a crackdown on drugs that disproportionately affected minorities get into the l...
Read More
No Comments
Journalism

African-American Entrepreneurs: Online Affiliate Marketing As a Viable Way To Work From Home

The current economic crisis is being called the worst economy since the depression of 1930. While over-all unemployment continues to climb, African-Americans are experiencing job losses at nearly double the national rate, and this is expected to worsen as the condition of the economy declines. However, as more people lose traditional jobs, more and more business owners are being created. By becoming a business owner and working for yourself, you are at least gaining some control over your financial future, which is why more people are turning to home-based businesses for security. African-Americans, by and large, have always been a very entrepreneurial group. The statistics on new business startups are very encouraging. From 1997 until 2002, the number of black-owned businesses were up...
Read More