Tag Archives: entrepreneurship

Why Are HBCUs Not Becoming College Towns Where African American Businesses Thrive?

Posted on February 2, 2023 by | 1 comment

As a leader, you must consistently drive effective communication. Meetings must be deliberate and intentional – your organizational rhythm should value purpose over habit and effectiveness over efficiency. – Chris Fussell

In the world of economic development and real estate development there are fundamentals that allow for development to take place. One of those fundamentals is what is known as an anchor. According to Janover Commercial Real Estate, “An anchor tenant is the largest or most prominent store in a retail commercial real estate development, intended to help draw customers into the area. In strip centers and power centers, anchor tenants are often big-box stores or grocery stores, while in shopping malls, they’re more likely to be department stores.” Anchors can be a myriad of things such as neighborhoods, megachurches, downtowns, boarding schools, and yes (but not limited too) colleges and universities. 

It is a simple question really. What good is African America’s $1.6 trillion in buying power if all of it goes into companies owned by non-African Americans? From the FAMUAN Online, “Studies say that the average lifespan of the dollar is approximately 28 days in Asian communities, 19 days in Jewish communities, 17 days in white communities — and just six hours in Black communities.” Yet it seems there is no actual intentionality on changing this. No thought to why it is happening and certainly no thought to solutions. One major issue of course is that everything African American institutionally operates on an island. There is virtually no interconnectivity between African American institutions or intentionality on creating it. The real question begs, do we understand what it would take to actually increase the African American dollars circulation? 

There are a plethora of independent Black owned coffee shops in every city where an HBCU is located and yet HBCUs are more excited to bring Starbucks to their campus. Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M University could feature The Breakfast Klub on their campus, but instead Sodexho, a French owned company, dominates their food services and many other HBCUs. An opportunity to create a food hall of locally owned African American food businesses both on and near our campuses is missed, ignored, simply not considered. The opportunity to have African American banks and credit unions present on or near our campuses – again, missed, ignored, and simply not considered. Many have argued that HBCUs banking needs are too big for African American owned banks. Despite, Florida Memorial University and Roxbury Community College, an HBCU and PBI both banking with OneUnited Bank. Albeit they are smaller HBCUs, this claim that HBCUs financial needs are beyond that of African American owned banks is not actually founded in any real assessment. Even if one were to go with this notion (as faulty as it is) this does not remove the institutions ability to ensure African American banks and credit unions have access to their faculty, staff, and students to open accounts and build relationships. What about the Divine 9, student organizations, and the like? Do we believe they too have to “complicated” of financial needs to not bank with an African American owned bank or credit union? Even if just the faculty, staff, students, and low level organizations with the campus banked with African American owned banks it would be enough to double the size of them alone. This lack of intentionality is painfully screaming at us. Opportunities for HBCU/African American health providers like dentists, doctors, therapists, etc. to be given space on or near HBCU campuses could be highly proactive in addressing and preventing many of the health crises we find the African American community facing. 

What happens if we become intentional? What happens if we become proactive and not reactive to trying to circulate the African American dollar using HBCUs as the anchor? These small businesses grow first and foremost. With this growth come jobs and interns for our students, new wealth for the owners of the businesses and an opportunity for HBCUs to build sponsorship and endowment relationships with them. Our students working for these African American firms are now using their intellectual capital to build more African American institutions, reducing their own student debt loads while in college, and maybe just maybe be an early employee that received stock options that make them a millionaire of the next Google, FedEx, Microsoft, Dell, Nike, SNL Financial, or any of the other major companies that we may or may not realize were started on college campuses and in college towns. Except in this case, they are companies that are HBCU Alumni/African American owned. Those banks and credit unions would then be able to open multiple branches and put predatory financial services in our communities out of business. They would have the deposit bases to offer more small business loans for HBCU entrepreneurs and mortgage loans for HBCU homeowners. This is not even to speak of the implications of such an increase in the tax base in those areas that the K-12 schools that often surround HBCUs would significantly benefit. K-12s that are usually filled with African American children who could one day be HBCU students. The multiplier effect due to the intentional circulation could be hard to measure because there are so many social, economic, and even political ramifications of our intentionality when it comes to the African American dollar, but to say it would be a profound paradigm shift would be an understatement. 

1 Comment

Posted in Business

Tagged , , , , ,

Bun B Advises African America To Get A Larger Worldview When It Comes To Wealth

Posted on April 2, 2022 by | Leave a comment

”Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.” – Paul Samuelson

The Walton Family, most notably known as the “owners” or dominant shareholders of Wal-Mart. As of March 31, 2022 they are worth an estimated $234.2 billion or 20 percent of African America’s $1.1 trillion buying power.

In an interview with Brandon Hightower, who is better known as B High and a journalist in Atlanta, on his YouTube channel BHighTV, Bernard Freeman, better known as hip-hop legend Bun B, lays down an immense amount of financial wisdom that he has accumulated over the years. Primarily speaking to up and coming hip-hop artists, the conversation could apply to any room in African America. According to an economic study done by McKinsey, African America continues to be the poorest racial group in America with a median net worth of only $24,000 and yet its financial behavior according to Mr. Freeman reflects anything but that.

Mr. Freeman immediately addresses the issue of ownership versus labor that many may have overlooked in the conversation. Asked about how to navigate the issues of artist feeling like they are being robbed by their labels Freeman says, “Don’t sign to a label. I mean that’s just it. Don’t sign to a label and take the slow road.” When pressed by Hightower of people not wanting to take the slow road, Freeman counters with, “Take the fast and get robbed then. Do you want to be famous or do you want to be rich? Because there is a likeliness that you might not be able to be both in this game. At a certain point you have to decide, do you want to be seen and known and look like you got bread and have everybody assume you got bread? Or do you really want to have bread and have people just assume you broke and not really getting it?” The slow road being an independent label that you own and own the masters and all rights to your music or going with a major label who owns the rights to everything you produce in exchange for a small royalty. Do you want to be the owner or do you want to be the labor? This is a question that is consistently overlooked in our community and institutions. HBCUs love to discuss how many of their students have gotten jobs, but when is the last time you saw an HBCU produce an entrepreneurship report detailing how many of their students started companies, hired other HBCU graduates, brought jobs to their community, wealth creation, and overall economic impact in the community? You do not because we do not have a focus there. Our community too often prides itself on finding a “good” job. Despite this push, our unemployment rate always remains twice the national average. Why? Because there is not nearly enough ownership within the community and therefore the ability to dictate employment, wages, and wealth in our community are always at the hands of others.

After a brief exchange on how the African American community seems to not believe that you can be famous and not be rich and be rich and not be famous, Mr. Freeman ask Mr. Hightower if he knows what the Walton Family (pictured above) looks like to which the latter replies no idea. The irony that members of the Walton family could walk into many Wal-Marts around the country and not be recognized, while controlling one of the world’s largest corporations and being one of the wealthiest families on Earth is not to be lost in this age of social media influencer and the like that more and more see as a path to riches. Again, associating being known with being financially successful. And while a few people listed on the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index maybe well known, such as Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, 99 percent of that list could walk into many households and be absolutely unknown. However, one thing they all have in common? 100 percent of them are owners.

Mr. Freeman then says in response to Mr. Hightower asking how do we get kids to see beyond the drug dealers, ballplayers, and rap stars, “You have to give them a broader worldview so they can see what real money look like. Because I tell young people all the time everybody that you looking on TV and on the internet that’s rich, with the exception of a hand full of people, maybe ten people, somebody pay them.” He even goes on to discuss Shaquille O’Neal, who he believes either is close to or already a billionaire, but also states that a large portion of O’Neal’s wealth comes from people paying him, but who they themselves were already billionaires and O’Neal had no idea what they looked like before getting paid by them. We often hear of athlete’s salaries, but rarely if ever think about what the owner’s of these teams make. The NFL for instance, which is one of the worst paying professional sports leagues for players based on salaries and career expectancy, is also the most profitable sports league for owners. It is no coincidence that those two things go hand in hand. As of this article, Deshaun Watson, quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, recently signed to become the highest paid player in NFL history at 5 years, $230 million or $46 million per year. Compare that with Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who last year took home $280.4 million or six times what Deshaun Watson’s contract is. Even more so, Jerry Jones does not have to take one hit owning the team, can own it longer than any player can play, and then can pass it onto his children (as of this article the Dallas Cowboys are valued at $6.5 billion according to Forbes). Deshaun Watson can claim none of those things. Again, labor versus ownership.

This is not to say that Mr. Freeman is against having fun and enjoying your money as he points out discussing the trend of people who count money on the internet as a form of showing off. But he also follows it with, “Jay-Z is getting richer and richer and he is wearing less and less s**t that looks rich. And you keep going into these rooms with these people trying to look like money. No, you have to sound like money, think like money.” He points out that you will do little to impress Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffett walking into a meeting with them wearing a $4-5 million watch, number 2 and 5 on Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index and worth a combined $400 billion or 36 percent of African America’s buying power. One could argue that you may even turn them off by spending so lavishly. Spending $5 million on a watch versus leveraging that $5 million into $25 million worth of real estate and $2.5 million in annual income from that real estate looks like someone who is not really interested in building generational wealth. Especially for African America when every single dollar is going to count for families, communities, and institutions. In 2019, African Americans accounted for 13.2 percent of the population, but a heartbreaking 23.8 percent of poverty according to the U.S. Census.

“Wealthy does not have to prove to anybody that they are wealthy”, says Mr. Freeman in closing out the show’s segment. And to that point, the lack of wealth in our community and institutions continues to induce behavior that screams of lack. Unfortunately, wealth is not going to be generated by a job or even by starting a business per se. Wealth and power is generated by the building of an institutional ecosystem that is connected and circulates intellectual, social, economic, and political capital within it. African American banks having enough deposits to lend to an HBCU who wants to build a new research facility. An African American venture capital fund setting up and office at an HBCU to fund the next great idea in renewable energy. An HBCU alumni association putting money into an African American community to help ensure the K-12 system is providing the best education with the latest technology. Then all of those moments working together in unison. That is when we will see wealth and then power become not a scarcity in our community but a norm.

To watch the full interview segment, click below or go to http://www.bhightv.com.

Leave a comment

Posted in Personal Finance

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HBCU Money™ Turns 9 Years Old

Posted on February 5, 2021 by | 2 comments

By William A. Foster, IV

“I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.” – Tom Stoppard

It is hard to believe that it has been nine years since HBCU Money was founded. It began with a conversation with Jarrett Carter, Sr., founder of HBCU Digest, about the lack of economics, finance, and investment information from an African American and African Diaspora perspective. He simply said, why do you not start one then. Challenge accepted and a challenge it has been. HBCU Alumni Owned media across the spectrum continues to fight to be a real and present voice in the ever changing landscape of media. Both trying to push the old guard forward and try to keep up with the competition and outsiders that seeks to control and own our narrative. They often seeing the value of our content, but with wretched intentions. This has and continues to be one of our great fights.

To be a voice of a community is an immense responsibility. Holding decisions makers accountable, helping inform the community in an unbiased manner, and yes, at times shaping the conversation. Sometimes it has been the duty of HBCU Alumni Owned media to present thoughts and visions that are ambitious and bold into the conversation about what is possible. It is a gentle balance that must be minded.

Going forward I will continue to help build HBCU Money, HBCU Politics, and our other media assets to be a formidable force for empowerment for the HBCU community and Diaspora. This I believe to be part of my life’s work. I am thankful for those who continue to fight along side me and for us.

2 Comments

Posted in Editorial

Tagged , , , ,

Internet Services Startup Launched By Three HBCUpreneurs – Who Have Never Met

Posted on January 25, 2021 by | Leave a comment

“Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs

It is a business story worthy of Hollywood. Mainly because it seems to be a storyline that you only find in movies. However, the story is very real and very powerful. Not only because of its potential, but also because of the possibilities that it presents. Three HBCUpreneurs from three different HBCUs start a business, but have never actually met each other in person. The power of the internet, the power of Twitter and most importantly, the power of the HBCU community.

The company, HBCU Real Estate, is an internet services company that seeks to help the HBCU community (but not limited too) find and use HBCU real estate service providers. Everything from real estate agents, mortgage brokers, interior designers, and more. The founders hope that it will even lead to business creation in the spaces of real estate that the HBCU community may have little to no presence. HBCU Money is aware of only one title company* owned by an HBCU alumnus. HBCU Real Estate’s mission is to help facilitate circulation of the HBCU community’s dollars and keep them in the HBCU community. If successful, it could potentially keep tens of billions of dollars within the HBCU community. The fact that none of the founders have ever met in person makes what they are trying to accomplish even more astounding.

For two years it sat on the proverbial shelf according to organizer, cofounder, and HBCU Real Estate’s Director of Product Development, William A. Foster, IV, a Livingstone College, Virginia State University, and Prairie View A&M University alumnus. “I am a multipreneur and have learned that more hands and brains on deck is almost always a good thing. I needed to meet and find the right people who could understand, compliment, add value, and who could see the potential just as much as I could. Also, I promised myself no more solo projects. When you are involved in as many businesses and organizations as I am, being able to spread the load is vital to success – and sanity.”

Enter Christen Turner, Spelman College and Southern University alumnus, and Marcus King, an alumnus of Prairie View A&M University, both HBCUpreneurs themselves. Ms. Turner, HBCU Real Estate’s Chief Technology Officer, also owns Janelle T. Designs, a graphic designs firm, as well as Forever Femme, an accessories company. Mr. King, HBCU Real Estate’s Chief Marketing Officer, owns Hardly Home, a clothing line that is catered towards travel that was featured on HBCU Money’s The HBCUpreneur Corner in 2015. What does it say to you (King) about the potential of collaboration for HBCUpreneurs that 5 different HBCUs are represented among the 3 cofounders? King answered, “The motto at my alma maters is that “PV produces productive people” and I think that can be said about HBCUs across the board. For years HBCUs have been producing top talent and should continue to do so as we seek to move forward and provide solutions to the problems our community faces.”

The three have followed each other on Twitter for years, although no one can remember for how long. It was towards the end of 2020 that Foster said he approached Turner and King about doing a collaboration or tweeted at them rather. “I sent out a tweet and tagged both of them saying that I need to cofound something with the two of them. Having watched them over the years I knew we would click and have the same kind of work ethic. I just needed to find out if they thought the idea had any legs. If it was not this, it was going to be something else.” The work ethic was confirmed when he said he got an email from Turner on Thanksgiving while he himself was working. Turner further drove the point home of the potential of the moment, “This business will be successful because of two reasons, respect and trust. Despite not having met in an ‘official’ capacity, our partnership seems to have a natural fit to it; almost like pieces of a puzzle. With William’s intuition, he was able to unknowingly add the right people to his team who would each be able to add something different. Whether from a professional standpoint or specific personality traits, we all came in with an immediate respect for each other’s talents and skills. This is why the business will be successful. There’s no questioning; there’s only action, openness, and honesty.” Usually in Hollywood the movie ends with and they lived happily ever after – The End, but in this case it is clear that this is just The Beginning.

For more information, visit http://www.hbcurealestate.com

Leave a comment

Posted in Entrepreneurs

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Building Wealth In College: 6 Personal Financial Tips Before You Blow Your HBCU Refund

Posted on August 18, 2020 by | 1 comment

By William A. Foster, IV

“There are two types of (people) in this world; there are those with guns and the ones with butter. The guns; that’s the real estate, the stocks and bonds, artwork that appreciates with value. The “butta”; cars, clothes, jewelry that don’t mean shit after you buy it.” – Melvin (Baby Boy)

When I arrived at my HBCU many years ago, two decades ago now, it was true before, it was true then, and it is true now – you know on an HBCU campus when refund checks have been disbursed. New wardrobes show up and fashion shows commence across campus, “new” used cars show up with rims and sound systems, and in some cases trips to Jamaica for spring break are coordinated. A full range of African American consumerism is in full bloom. The problem of course is that majority of these refunds are part of a financial aid package that largely includes student loans. This means students are being handed thousands of dollars (with no financial aptitude) that will in their future life turn into tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt to pay back. But Jamaica will be fun, right? Or in the words of the classic philosopher Riley Freeman (of the Boondocks) after blowing the food money their granddad left them “Now before you start hating, ask yourself – be honest, ain’t I clean though?”

The ripple effect is acute to put it kindly. HBCUs, although significantly cheaper, often find their students graduating with more student loan debt than their counterparts. A result of poor endowments, lack of family resources, and again, poor financial aptitude. Student loan debt, even more so than credit cards, maybe the easiest debt for a college student to obtain. It is also the cheapest unsecured debt that most of us will ever see or have access too in our lifetime – and there is the rub. There is good debt and bad debt. As simple as it can be put, good debt helps you acquire assets that generate income. Bad debt does not. Again, good debt, if used properly helps you acquire assets that can in turn pay off the debt and once paid off continue to pay you passive income. The best example of this I ever witnessed was a classmate of mine who had a part-time job while in school was using his refunds as down payments on rental properties buying one or two a year. By the time we graduated he owned 5-6 rental properties that were all cash flowing. Those rental properties will pay for the mortgages AND his student loans. Eventually leaving him with rental income and appreciation from the properties. Meaning when he takes that trip to Jamaica he could really afford it.

A few things to think about before we get into our tips. Upon graduation, do you expect for someone to give you $10,000 or more dollars? Upon graduation, how will you come up with the deposit for your first apartment? Upon graduation, will you have an emergency fund or savings of any sort? For most HBCU students, there is a resounding no to probably all of those questions, which is why refunds should be treated as close to an “inheritance” as most of us will ever see. If we are smart about it, this will give us the foundation to build transformative wealth.

The TIPS

TIP 1: Learn to say NO. Say no to yourself, to your friends, and for a lot of HBCU students – your family. The last part being the hardest for some. It is a poorly kept secret on a lot of HBCU campuses that a lot of students send portions of their refund checks  home to help their families. Unfortunately, their families are not likely to be helping them pay their student loans after graduation. Without learning to say no you are likely to succumb to your own consumer desires, friends or classmates peer pressure, and families dependency. Just like when flying, put your mask on first. In other words, make sure you establish your financial foundation before overextending yourself to help others. Financial security and stability should be a paramount concern. If you are unsure what that means, always ask yourself this question as you build wealth – if something happened and you could never work again – how long would you be financially okay?

TIP 2: Call a financial advisor and open a brokerage account. There is a misconception that that financial advisers are for the wealthy. This is simply not true. They are for whoever is willing to use them and the earlier you acquire one the more likely you are to make a long-term plan for wealth creation. Remember, you building wealth is in their best interest. If you need help finding a financial advisor, do your homework. There are vultures out there like in any occupation, but there are quality people in the profession as well. This is one time where Google is indeed your friend. A great place to also go – your HBCU’s business school. Just to understand what this has the potential for in the short-term. Imagine your refund is $2,000 a year and we will use the prior five year returns of the S&P 500. The returns on the $2,000 invested each August over the past five years would be worth $14,020 today. Which means the student would have increased their assets by 40 percent with a student loan interest rate that has been under 5 percent for over a decade. There are however downside risk and that should be explained to you by the financial advisor. If they do not explain this, fire them immediately and find a new one.

TIP 3: The financial advisor can help you with this one as well, but it is a specific type of account. Opening a Roth IRA. It is another type of brokerage account, but the difference is you will not have access to the money until you reach the ripe retirement age of 65. The beauty of this account though is you will never pay taxes on the money earned in it. Retirement is often something that African American are ghastly unprepared for financially. If you contributed $2,000 a year to the account during your five years in college and graduated at 22 you would have $10,000 in your account. If invested in the market, which has a historical annual return of 12 percent, and you simply contributed $50 a month going forward for the next 43 years that would give you at the age of 65 over $2 million tax-free.

TIP 4:  Open a CD ladder at your bank or credit union. Every year when you get your refund, go to your bank (preferably a Black Owned Bank) and open a certificate of deposit (CD). Your freshmen year get a four year CD, sophomore year get a three year CD, junior year a two year CD, and so on. Assuming you are getting a minimum of $2,000 in refunds per year and it takes you like many students these days five years to graduate, when you walk across the stage you will have $10,000 to start off in the world with. This will not have the same impact as the previous tip, but is more for those who are a bit more risk averse. While you may not increase your assets by 40 percent, there is also no chance of you losing any of the $10,000 either. If you are not familiar with CD ladders, call your bank, visit the library, Google, and of course as always – your HBCU’s business school.

TIP 5: Start a business. When I was in undergraduate, I wanted to open up a jazz club, but learned very quickly and harshly that nobody wants to lend to just a good idea. Banks, the SBA, and others expected you to have some skin in the captain also known as a down payment of capital. It is also unlikely that you will be able to call home and have family fund your amazing idea. Often times, your refund can serve as the seed capital for your business. Remember, Michael Dell founded Dell Computers in his dorm room. You do not need to be a business major to start a business. You need an idea. It certainly is prudent to visit your HBCU’s business school and ask for guidance on things like setting up the proper paperwork. While there, you may have recruit an accounting student as your CFO and a marketing major as your CMO. Some HBCUs actually house the region’s Small Business Center that is funded by the SBA and they have a lot of free resources at your disposal to help you get on your way.

TIP 6: Create a real estate partnership. Believe it or not, there is still a lot of valuable real estate that is available to be purchased in and around HBCUs. It also protects HBCU communities from gentrification that we have and are seeing around HBCUs like Howard, Texas Southern, Prairie View, and others. If you can find three other like-minded class mates who are all willing to contribute their refunds that would be $8,000 a year and $40,000 by the time of graduation which would give the group buying power of $200,000 worth of real estate. Be it a single-family, duplex, or other kind of rental property. Your refunds could be the start of a real estate empire that in turn would pay off all of you and your classmates student loans and build wealth over the years. Definitely do your homework on this one. Take a real estate class from a reputable place, speak with a local real estate investor who maybe open to mentoring, and of course see what resources your HBCU business school has on the topic.

In the end, whatever you choose to do with your refund, make sure it counts. Remember, this is still debt – whether it becomes good debt or bad debt is ultimately up to you. Getting more financially educated whether you receive a little refund, a big refund, or no refund is vitally important for all HBCU students and their futures.

 

 

1 Comment

Posted in Personal Finance

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,