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Speaker 1: Afrotech is a global gathering where inclusive tech companies meet innovators.

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Speaker 1: It's the only tech event you need all year. Get

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Speaker 1: ready for Afrotech twenty twenty three in Austin, Texas, November

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Speaker 1: there's no better place to be. The massive corporate layoffs

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Speaker 1: to learn more. I'm Will Lucas and this is Black Tech,

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Speaker 1: Green Money. Mandy Bauman is founder and CEO of Official

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Speaker 1: Black Wall Street. The marketplace ad that is the fastest

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Speaker 1: growing platform for finding and supporting black owned businesses in

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Speaker 1: the United States. Internal reports say her app has recirculated

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Speaker 1: about ten million dollars in sales and business services back

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Speaker 1: into black owned businesses. Now, she's focused on expanding her

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Speaker 1: services to ten other countries, including Canada, South Africa, Friends

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Speaker 1: in UK, and the Netherlens. When you're starting something like this,

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Speaker 1: you don't always intend to be a techie. What did

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Speaker 1: she have to learn to get this idea off the ground?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that is a good question.

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Speaker 3: I'm a non technical founder, So I started out my

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Speaker 3: career in the digital marketing social media space, and I

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Speaker 3: think that's what helped me grow Official Black Wall Street.

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Speaker 3: But on the tech side, you know, I had taken

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Speaker 3: some some web development classes, very very different from building

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Speaker 3: an actual app, and so for.

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Speaker 2: Me it was a major learning curve.

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Speaker 3: I definitely had just have a lot of mentors and

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Speaker 3: advisors to help them to help me actually interview you know,

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Speaker 3: developers and you know, our a CTO just to make

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Speaker 3: sure that we were considering.

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Speaker 2: The right things.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, we, I say we at that point, it

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Speaker 3: was just but I had even back then, I was

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Speaker 3: so accustomed to saying we all the time. But I

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Speaker 3: had launched the app, the website for Official Black Wall Street,

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Speaker 3: the first one in like twenty fifteen, and that one

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Speaker 3: I had built myself.

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Speaker 2: I knew for a fact that.

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Speaker 3: I did not want to do any of that again

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Speaker 3: for the app or something even bigger, because it took

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Speaker 3: a lot, and so for me, it was it was

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Speaker 3: literally just all about trial and error and finding the

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Speaker 3: right people who had the right skills, which again was

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Speaker 3: a lot of trial and error.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, when you think about, you know, organizing this database

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Speaker 1: of black owned companies, a lot of our companies' businesses, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: are not supertect happy. There's you know, a category of

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Speaker 1: them are, but a lot of us have mom and

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Speaker 1: pops and et cetera. So I wonder how you go about,

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Speaker 1: you know, engaging them to the directory when they already

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Speaker 1: have some issues just getting their technology up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that one was tough.

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Speaker 3: Like you said, I've noticed when it comes to technology,

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Speaker 3: a lot of our businesses are way behind. I mean,

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Speaker 3: you know, we have other businesses talking about taking advantage

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Speaker 3: of you know, VR technology and AI, and we're still

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Speaker 3: trying to get our business owners online, like just a

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Speaker 3: website first. So for us, even with our platform, you know,

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Speaker 3: there's like an application process to be approved, and we

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Speaker 3: want to make sure that the businesses on there are prepared,

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Speaker 3: you know, for traffic, you know, the the aesthetics and

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Speaker 3: everything else. So for us, we have different partners that

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Speaker 3: we work with. So when we come across the business

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Speaker 3: that doesn't have the right infrastructure, doesn't have the right

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Speaker 3: website in place, we pass them along to those partners

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Speaker 3: so that they can help them. A lot of times

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Speaker 3: there's just a major there's just a major gap when

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Speaker 3: it comes to the education and resources, especially when you're

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Speaker 3: talking about technology.

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Speaker 2: So for us, it's all about kind of holding their hands.

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Speaker 3: We have, you know, two different type of customers and

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Speaker 3: for those we hold their hands and we you know,

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Speaker 3: we refer them to our partners to help them with

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Speaker 3: with all of that.

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Speaker 1: You know, many have tried to organize black companies onto

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Speaker 1: a platform but have not reached the success you have.

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Speaker 1: I remember even Diddy, you know, like a year ago,

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Speaker 1: was talking about building you know, some things to help

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Speaker 1: organize us. But you've you've found a lot of success here.

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Speaker 1: What would you say differentiate you or your offering or

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Speaker 1: was different about your strategy or your value prop like

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Speaker 1: what made you the one to shoot out of the crowd?

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Speaker 2: I like to say I was a secret sauce. Outside

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Speaker 2: of that, I think my like I said.

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Speaker 3: Before, my background was in the digital marketing social media space.

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Speaker 3: Before we even had a website, I had a community

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Speaker 3: that I was growing online. So before we had a

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Speaker 3: websit or anything like that, I was like, you know,

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Speaker 3: let me create some social pages and share the businesses

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Speaker 3: that I'm coming across. And in doing that, we had

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Speaker 3: literally built a community of over one hundred thousand followers

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Speaker 3: before we even launched a website. So I think building

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Speaker 3: that community and you know, fostering that community, and you know,

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Speaker 3: this is a social impacts tech company, and the fact

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Speaker 3: that we were very big on social in the very

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Speaker 3: beginning definitely helped us pick up steam, especially when you

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Speaker 3: think about all the different social movements that have that

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Speaker 3: we've experienced over the past couple of years alone, Like

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Speaker 3: we've been in position.

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Speaker 2: And ready to.

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Speaker 3: You know, ready to take the lead in those areas

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Speaker 3: because of our social media presence and the community building

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Speaker 3: that we did before we even had a product.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you said a couple of things you

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Speaker 1: said that I think are necessary to highlight you know,

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Speaker 1: you know, just because because you have you know, a

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Speaker 1: well funded, you know, initiative doesn't mean you're gonna go.

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Speaker 1: Like you talked about, you built a community first. And

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Speaker 1: what people so often missed is if you haven't engaged community,

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Speaker 1: people who really believe you can almost sell them anything

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Speaker 1: because you've already earned the trust. So can you talk

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Speaker 1: about what kind of things you did to nurture that community,

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Speaker 1: because I'm imagining you had the community before you had

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Speaker 1: the idea.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yes, I don't know that, correct me. I

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Speaker 2: don't know that was a good guess though I had.

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Speaker 3: When I first, you know, started the idea for official

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Speaker 3: Black Wall Street, I was creating a resource my my background.

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Speaker 3: I went to school for entrepreneurship, and kind of this

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Speaker 3: evolved into a business. So I didn't in the very

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Speaker 3: beginning see this is, you know, being a business.

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Speaker 2: But I lost my train of thought.

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Speaker 1: No, yeah, I mean I just imagine when when you're

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Speaker 1: building a community, people will follow you anywhere. And so

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Speaker 1: when you've built this community, like, what the things that

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Speaker 1: you do to get people interested in joining your group?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was all about trial and error and with

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Speaker 3: social media, there was a lot of that, so figuring

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Speaker 3: out what our customers actually wanted, what our users wanted

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Speaker 3: to see. So at that point in time, they wanted

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Speaker 3: to learn about different black owned businesses.

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Speaker 2: Well where are they in the US.

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Speaker 3: We had a lot of users who were in New York, Atlanta, La, Houston,

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Speaker 3: so you know, highlighting the different businesses in those areas,

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Speaker 3: you know, doing different community events in those you know,

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Speaker 3: local community events in those areas, also collaborating with local organizations.

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Speaker 2: So all around the country.

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Speaker 3: There there are you know, different black professional groups than

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Speaker 3: black entrepreneurial groups, and so connecting with those people. But

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Speaker 3: really it was all about I think one of the

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Speaker 3: biggest mistakes me and other entrepreneurs make starting out is

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Speaker 3: creating something and being like, Okay, this is what I

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Speaker 3: would want to see, uh but for for for this,

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Speaker 3: in the very beginning and building that community, it was like, okay, well,

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Speaker 3: who is who is you know in our community? What's that?

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Speaker 3: What is that persona like? And what exactly do they

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Speaker 3: want to see? And so we began you know, producing

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Speaker 3: content around that. In the very beginning, I was I mean,

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Speaker 3: I wore all the hats, so you know, we did

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Speaker 3: a lot with content as well, and that helps, you know,

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Speaker 3: just circulating different businesses in different areas, all of the

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Speaker 3: small nuances of social media commenting, following, you know, following

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Speaker 3: up with people, congratulating people for anniversaries, posting about it,

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Speaker 3: different things like that definitely helped to build an if

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Speaker 3: off of that community.

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Speaker 1: When you are building something that helps people find, you know,

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Speaker 1: actual physical locations, rick and mortar locations, I imagine you've

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Speaker 1: got to do a lot of work in a particular

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Speaker 1: area in order for there to be enough in said city,

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Speaker 1: said town. Did you find it an imperative to be

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Speaker 1: hyper local first and wherever that may have been?

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Speaker 3: Yes, uh so we didn't exclude other businesses in other areas.

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Speaker 2: But it's when you have a marketplace you you.

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Speaker 3: You come across that, you know, the chicken and the

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Speaker 3: egg problem, which one comes first?

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Speaker 2: Which one do you focus on first?

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Speaker 3: Uh So for us, the easiest thing to do was

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Speaker 3: to figure out which cities you wanted to zero in

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Speaker 3: on first. You know, I had already built that that community,

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Speaker 3: so it was like, okay, where are.

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Speaker 2: Most of these people located?

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Speaker 3: They were in New York, La Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, and

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Speaker 3: so then it was drilling down into those specific areas

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Speaker 3: to find the businesses and find the people.

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Speaker 2: Very similar to like Uber and a lot.

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Speaker 3: Of those companies, and you know, when they first started,

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Speaker 3: they were just in specific locations and then expanded outwards.

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Speaker 1: And you were doing you know, social media for major

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Speaker 1: brands before you did this, Like, what did you learn

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Speaker 1: about how all things work in those brands that might

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Speaker 1: have helped you, you know, scale Official black Wall Street.

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Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing so I had out of college, I.

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Speaker 3: Worked in the music industry, so I was at Atlantic

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Speaker 3: Records in digital marketing. Then I went to Complex Magazine

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Speaker 3: and Essence Magazine and Social and.

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Speaker 2: I think being at.

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Speaker 3: Being at those companies, especially the digital online publications Essence

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Speaker 3: and Complex was super helpful because it I learned content

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Speaker 3: and content is king. So when it comes to marketing

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Speaker 3: Official black Wall Street, when it came to growing our platform,

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Speaker 3: even going viral in different areas, you know, being for example,

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Speaker 3: being at Essence, it taught me the type of headlines

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Speaker 3: that people look for. So I was able to write

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Speaker 3: our press releases when we first started, I you know,

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Speaker 3: had a good idea of you know, a similar audience,

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Speaker 3: so I got a good idea of what people clicked

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Speaker 3: on versus what they didn't click on so much when

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Speaker 3: it comes to the images and the headlines, so I

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Speaker 3: was able to create articles on a consistent basis that

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Speaker 3: would literally go viral and bring more attention to the

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Speaker 3: businesses on the platform. So I think that and when

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Speaker 3: it comes to social media, just being consistent, which is

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Speaker 3: a tall order because you know, social media can be

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Speaker 3: a lot, and knowing knowing when to sit out of

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Speaker 3: you know, the new thing that's happening, or knowing when

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Speaker 3: which platforms you need to focus on so that you're

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Speaker 3: not spreading yourself tho thin. But I think those two things,

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Speaker 3: especially content, was a major.

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Speaker 2: Key for me.

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Speaker 1: Afro Tech is a global gathering where inclusive tech companies

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Speaker 1: meet innovators. It's the only tech event you need all year.

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Speaker 1: Get ready for Afrotech twenty twenty three in Austin, Texas,

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Speaker 1: November first through the fifth. We built a whole temper

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Speaker 1: next internship, or if you work in avention capital looking

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Speaker 1: for your next business to invest in, and if you're

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Speaker 1: looking for a co founder or people that's join your team,

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Speaker 1: there's no better place to be. The massive corporate layoffs

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Speaker 1: of twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three have affected

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Speaker 1: our community in a big way. An afro Tech wants

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Speaker 1: making it easier to switch industries. If that's your route.

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Speaker 1: In an afrotech, you'll make connections to help you get

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Speaker 1: your next opportunity. Visit afrotech dot com slash conference to

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Speaker 1: learn more. Have you found that knowing that black vendors

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Speaker 1: exists is enough? Like what other keys to them thriving

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Speaker 1: and us supporting them are necessary?

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Speaker 2: Knowing that they exist definitely not enough.

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Speaker 3: I think when it comes to support, there has to

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Speaker 3: be it has to be intentional.

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Speaker 2: One thing that I've found is.

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Speaker 3: That there is always this massive energy towards buying black

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Speaker 3: when something happens, you know, when there's you know, some

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Speaker 3: like police brutality, or there's a large you know, luxury

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Speaker 3: brand that does something that it is always reactionary. So

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Speaker 3: I think for us, in order to move things forward,

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Speaker 3: at least on our end, it has to be a

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Speaker 3: more intentional push where we're not just doing this as

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Speaker 3: a reaction to something else. One and then two, there

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Speaker 3: is you know we can talk about you know, systemic

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Speaker 3: racism and the different challenges business owners go through when

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Speaker 3: it comes to that, and that is a whole different

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Speaker 3: ballgame that we can't even I believe that it's it's

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Speaker 3: up to the powers that be to change that system.

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Speaker 3: And you know, the when we talk about access to capital,

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Speaker 3: and you know, there is a stat that black women

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Speaker 3: receive less than one percent of VC funding. You know,

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Speaker 3: when it comes to bank financing, you know, even when

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Speaker 3: we're equally qualified, we still get shut out of those loans.

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Speaker 3: So I think there is a heap of work that

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Speaker 3: needs to be done on that end. And I think

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Speaker 3: when it comes to us, there is I think supporting

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Speaker 3: or knowing that they exist isn't enough. I think that

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Speaker 3: we need to be intentional about supporting them.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 3: And number two, I think we need to be intentional,

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Speaker 3: intentional about giving grace when it comes to black businesses,

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Speaker 3: and not just not just when it comes to the

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Speaker 3: day to day supporting, but also you know, when there

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Speaker 3: is a black business that gets acquired, you know that

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Speaker 3: is that is being an If you are an entrepreneur,

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Speaker 3: you know that that is an amazing accomplishment. So being

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Speaker 3: you know, having some grace and understanding how things work

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Speaker 3: on the other end would definitely help.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, along those lines, I was reading this article when

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Speaker 1: you said buying black should not be a trend, it

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Speaker 1: should be a habit. And with that said, like, it's

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Speaker 1: not always easy to buy black, Like, how do you

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Speaker 1: discuss this being a responsibility in that sometimes we probably

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Speaker 1: should go a little bit out of our way to

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Speaker 1: support black owned businesses. You know, what would you say that?

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Speaker 3: I would say that it's it's necessary. You know, we

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Speaker 3: we don't have the same access we we also don't

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Speaker 3: have the same the same number of businesses, uh, the

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Speaker 3: same variety in our communities. I mean you go to

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Speaker 3: some even some black communities and you know there are

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Speaker 3: Asian owned businesses on every single corner, and that we

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Speaker 3: we don't have that all the time. So I think

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Speaker 3: it's necessary for us to, you know, even if it

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Speaker 3: made you got to go out of your way a

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Speaker 3: little bit to support I mean, how else are we

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Speaker 3: going to get it done? I know something that there

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Speaker 3: is one one I guess you can call it a

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Speaker 3: complaint that I hear a lot with people like you know,

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Speaker 3: the the price points when it comes to black businesses

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Speaker 3: are a lot higher than others. Uh. And it ties

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Speaker 3: into you know what you just said and and us

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Speaker 3: going out of our way to support a lot of times,

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Speaker 3: these small black owned businesses don't have the same contracts,

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Speaker 3: they don't have the same demand that these larger companies

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Speaker 3: have to sell things at a steep discount, and they

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Speaker 3: can't get to that.

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Speaker 2: Point unless we actually go out of our way to support.

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Speaker 3: Them so that they have the demand to do so.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it's like an ongoing cycle, but the

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Speaker 3: only way for us to actually push through.

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Speaker 2: And I mean, we've been doing this for god knows

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Speaker 2: how long.

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Speaker 3: You know. I have an advisor who you know is

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Speaker 3: old us with my dad, and he talks about, you know,

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Speaker 3: we were in college, we did something like this too.

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Speaker 3: So at some point we have to do something different

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Speaker 3: if we want to see something different.

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Speaker 1: Like I said this on a different episode, but like

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Speaker 1: I don't shop at Target because I believe in the mission,

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Speaker 1: Like I shopped there because they have what I need.

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Speaker 1: And it's purely just that, how do we get more

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Speaker 1: black owned businesses and black owned companies to just be

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Speaker 1: utilities to where it doesn't necessarily matter to even communities

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Speaker 1: outside of our community, to where it's not just us,

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Speaker 1: but they just simply have what you need.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that you said businesses being purely utility.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, in that we're not necessarily I don't support Target

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Speaker 1: or I don't support Walmart. I just go there because

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Speaker 1: they have the thing, you know what I mean. And

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Speaker 1: so in that way, they purely are the tools because

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Speaker 1: they're the vehicle who have the stuff on the shelf

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Speaker 1: that I need. Now to your point about specifically black

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Speaker 1: owned businesses, we do need to support and I agree

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Speaker 1: with that, but I wonder how do we get them

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Speaker 1: too the place to where we as a community and

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Speaker 1: other communities are frequenting these places black owned businesses particularly

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Speaker 1: just because they have the think.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that is a great point. That is a really

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Speaker 2: good point.

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Speaker 3: I feel like we, especially in doing this, we have

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Speaker 3: so many basically businesses that are necessities every day necessities

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Speaker 3: and terms of you know, getting more businesses into that space.

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Speaker 3: I think it's it's all knowledge and resources and a

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Speaker 3: lot of you know, there's that education gap and a

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Speaker 3: lot of our communities. We don't have an example of

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Speaker 3: someone who has done this before. I mean, it's a

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Speaker 3: lot easier now because we have the Internet, so you know,

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Speaker 3: you can google something or go to YouTube university and

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Speaker 3: figure it out. But I think, you know, letting people

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Speaker 3: know the benefits of it so that you know, everyone

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Speaker 3: doesn't have to have a skincare or not that anything

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Speaker 3: is wrong with that, but creating things that people actually need,

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Speaker 3: and sometimes they're not the sexiest businesses. I remember someone

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Speaker 3: had told me about there's this company that sells like ice,

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Speaker 3: and I was like, I did not even think about that,

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Speaker 3: but you know, businesses continuously need ice, and you know

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Speaker 3: they sell directly to restaurants. But anyway, I think it's

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Speaker 3: it's I think for a lot of business owners, we

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Speaker 3: create the businesses out of a need or out of

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Speaker 3: a passion. So like, hey, I can cook really well,

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Speaker 3: so I created a business from it. Or I can

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Speaker 3: sell really well, so I created something from it. So

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Speaker 3: I think I hate saying that we need more knowledge

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Speaker 3: because I also think even more than that we need money.

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Speaker 3: But I do think that there is an education gap

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Speaker 3: where we need to understand, you know, the benefits when

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Speaker 3: it comes to profit. I think I've seen a lot

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Speaker 3: of business owners who are creatives and not necessarily savvy

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Speaker 3: in the business sense.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I was reading a posts about you

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Speaker 1: guys having you know, you've recirculated about ten million dollars

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Speaker 1: in sales and business services back into black owned businesses. So,

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Speaker 1: first of all, congratulations, and you know we salute you

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Speaker 1: for that. What are some of the best effective messages

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Speaker 1: or best effective methods of encouraging black people to spend

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Speaker 1: their dollars with black owned businesses? And here's why. I

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Speaker 1: I don't know the numbers. You may know these numbers,

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Speaker 1: but it talks about, you know, the white dollar may circulate,

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Speaker 1: you know X amount of times, the Jewish dollars circulates,

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Speaker 1: why amount of times? And whatever it is ours, once

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Speaker 1: we have it, it's immediately out of our community six hours.

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Speaker 1: So how what are some of the best messages you've

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Speaker 1: found to be effective in inspiring black owned business support.

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Speaker 3: That is a good point when the staff that you

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Speaker 3: have mentioned the dollar in the black community circulates.

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Speaker 2: For six hours.

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Speaker 3: In Asian and Jewish communities is a month and twenty

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Speaker 3: days on average. But I think the best message that

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Speaker 3: I have found is the benefits of supporting black owned businesses.

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Speaker 3: You know, when it comes to one circulating our dollars

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Speaker 3: back into our community, creating more jobs, and creating more conglomerates.

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Speaker 3: You know, when we talk about you know, anytime there

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Speaker 3: is a black owned business, I gets acquired you know

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Speaker 3: social media.

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Speaker 2: You know social media is.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, people are usually pissed about it, and it's like, no,

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Speaker 3: this is this is how it works.

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Speaker 2: This is how we generate more wealth.

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Speaker 3: We always talk about generational wealth in our community, and

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Speaker 3: this is like a major way that we get to

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Speaker 3: that point. So I think I think the best the

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Speaker 3: best messages making it personal. You know, this is the

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Speaker 3: reason why I support black owned businesses, is because I

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Speaker 3: want to see more wealth in my community, and that

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Speaker 3: is a great way to recirculate it. Even when it

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Speaker 3: comes to when we're talking about the benefits of buying

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Speaker 3: black even there was a study that Golden Sachs did

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Speaker 3: a couple of years ago where they found that I

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Speaker 3: think it was like nine times out of ten, when

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Speaker 3: there is a black entrepreneur in our community, they become leaders.

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Speaker 3: So they become mentors. They're teaching other people how to

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Speaker 3: become business owners. You know, they're they're basically leaders within

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Speaker 3: their community. So I think removing the whole you know,

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Speaker 3: this company or this police officer did this thing, so

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Speaker 3: now we're going to do this in response, I think moving,

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Speaker 3: you know, removing that completely and making it more so

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Speaker 3: about you know, giving back to you know, bringing dollars

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Speaker 3: back into our community and our infrastructures in my local economy.

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Speaker 3: I think that that is the best message to you know,

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Speaker 3: to get things.

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Speaker 2: Through to people.

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Speaker 1: And so you have this initiative to expand of Official

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Speaker 1: Black Wall Street out to ten countries, you know, super ambitious.

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Speaker 1: Proud of you though. I salute you for undertaking this.

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Speaker 1: Talk about you know, the challenges that exist when you know,

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Speaker 1: starting to distribute to other countries, when there's different cultural implications,

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Speaker 1: different econom implications. How are you navigating those types of conversations.

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Speaker 3: So expanding outside of the US has been a goal

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Speaker 3: that we have had maybe since our first app iteration.

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Speaker 3: We have you know, in growing the platform we have

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Speaker 3: been we received emails and messages from people in South Africa,

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Speaker 3: the Netherlands, Canada who were just like, yo, we need

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Speaker 3: this too, Like how can we get this into our

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Speaker 3: country and our community. Uh So, for us we I mean,

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Speaker 3: we're not launching in ten different countries like tomorrow or

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Speaker 3: next year.

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Speaker 2: We definitely plan on doing it one by one.

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Speaker 3: So we we've connected with you know, local organizations in

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Speaker 3: South Africa and the Netherlands, which is you know, we're

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Speaker 3: considering starting and making it more of a collaborative effort

439
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,800
Speaker 3: so that we one gain access to you know, knowing

440
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 3: the different pain points that they're going through as well,

441
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:01,639
Speaker 3: but also having some one on the ground who already knows,

442
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:06,120
Speaker 3: you know, the area, already knows the culture and can

443
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,399
Speaker 3: kind of act as an ambassador or a laison for

444
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:10,640
Speaker 3: official Black Wall Street.

445
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,520
Speaker 1: You know, we've talked about these stats and I don't

446
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,240
Speaker 1: love them, but you know, their reality is, you know,

447
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 1: most black owned businesses have relatively small payrolls by and large,

448
00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,119
Speaker 1: and two thirds, you know, like sixty six percent have

449
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,679
Speaker 1: fewer than ten employees. And this is these are like

450
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,399
Speaker 1: twenty twenty numbers, like very recent numbers of fourteen percent

451
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:34,480
Speaker 1: you know, ten to forty nine employees and just three percent,

452
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 1: you know, fifty percent fifty employees are more. How do

453
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,960
Speaker 1: we scale, like, what is what is the barrier between

454
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:45,280
Speaker 1: us and building businesses that grow beyond mom and pop shops.

455
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 3: Man, it really hurts even hearing it out loud. But

456
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 3: the first thing I thought of was one the access

457
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 3: to capital. A lot of the business owners that we

458
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,399
Speaker 3: work with, if they don't when they don't have the

459
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,119
Speaker 3: knowledge of receiving that capital and knowing what's possible and

460
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,679
Speaker 3: what their options are, and so for them, you know,

461
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,600
Speaker 3: they're starting out in a negative and there is no

462
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 3: space for hiring somebody else. It's like, Okay, we can

463
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 3: get an intern, but that's about it because we have

464
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 3: to work our way up. So I think, you know,

465
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:25,360
Speaker 3: one the different bias is that business owners go through

466
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:27,200
Speaker 3: when it comes to bank.

467
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:33,320
Speaker 2: Funding, VC funding, All of that has to to.

468
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,399
Speaker 3: All that has to change in order for us to

469
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 3: actually get the funds that we need to launch and scale.

470
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 3: But I think outside of that, it goes back to

471
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 3: the conversation of buying black And you know what I

472
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,919
Speaker 3: mentioned before about people kind of like the cycle that

473
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,159
Speaker 3: we're in where it's like, you, we want businesses to

474
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:54,680
Speaker 3: grow and be prosperous, but we have to support them

475
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:56,479
Speaker 3: so that they have to demand to grow to that

476
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 3: level and actually you know, have the revenue and the

477
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,160
Speaker 3: funds that they need to hire other people and continue

478
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:06,919
Speaker 3: to grow. So it always goes back to access to

479
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 3: capital and US actually, you know, making a concerted effort

480
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,080
Speaker 3: to support those businesses.

481
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna give you another one that may even

482
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,119
Speaker 1: help further this conversation is like they're according to I

483
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,200
Speaker 1: think US Census, there's one hundred and forty thousand, nine

484
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: hundred and eighteen at least registered US Black or African

485
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 1: American owned businesses. As Lord knows, we have many that

486
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 1: are just not registered. And we're just doing this and

487
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:39,040
Speaker 1: so across all sectors of the economy, and they a

488
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 1: trip they have ray I'm sorry, in sales generation one

489
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: hundred and forty one billion dollars in twenty twenty. That's

490
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,359
Speaker 1: their annual sale. So just in like raw division, you know,

491
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:55,680
Speaker 1: that's with one point three million people employed by these companies,

492
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: that's nine employees per company out of those one hundred

493
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:03,359
Speaker 1: and forty thousand, and then raw division a million dollars

494
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,119
Speaker 1: in sales per company. Obviously that's raw division. Some of

495
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 1: them might do better than others. But if there are

496
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 1: a couple levers that make the most difference with these

497
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 1: businesses scaling that we as a community can pay attention

498
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,000
Speaker 1: to when we're both building these businesses and trying to

499
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,119
Speaker 1: support these businesses, what can we do so like And

500
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,360
Speaker 1: I would like you to answer that, and particularly from

501
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:29,720
Speaker 1: the perspective of building these businesses, because you work with

502
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,520
Speaker 1: these companies, what kind of things are the ones that

503
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,880
Speaker 1: are growing doing right at the onset that help them

504
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: to scale that other companies, you know, may do wrongly

505
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:41,720
Speaker 1: that hurt their ability.

506
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:47,399
Speaker 3: Oh man, I have two that immediately immediately came to mind.

507
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,880
Speaker 3: One is prioritizing tech in some way, shape or form

508
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:58,440
Speaker 3: so that we're not trailing behind the industry. And two,

509
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 3: I think one thing that one thing that I've seen

510
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:03,959
Speaker 3: a lot a lot of black owned businesses do not

511
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 3: have a marketing budget and or don't understand the importance

512
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 3: of marketing.

513
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 2: And my background is in marketing, so for me, that is.

514
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:16,400
Speaker 3: An official Black Wall Street is essentially a martech company.

515
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:20,680
Speaker 2: But you know, so it is extremely important to me.

516
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 2: And I think the.

517
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,080
Speaker 3: Communicating that importance to businesses where it's like, you know,

518
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:28,399
Speaker 3: these are the things that you should have, as you know,

519
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,880
Speaker 3: a business owner if you want to grow and scale.

520
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 3: But I found that there are so many, so many

521
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,919
Speaker 3: business owners large and small who just don't have a

522
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 3: marketing budget, or don't prioritize marketing, or don't have a

523
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,040
Speaker 3: sales strategy or funnel, and so they are all these

524
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 3: kind of missing pieces that are kind of that are

525
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,360
Speaker 3: glued together, and it just it doesn't.

526
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 2: It doesn't work out when it comes to scaling.

527
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 3: So knowing how to to automate, you know, those different

528
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:03,960
Speaker 3: processes and being strategic things like having a strategy for sales.

529
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 3: And if you're not a salesperson, I'm not a salesperson,

530
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 3: so we have someone who specifically does it well as

531
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 3: an entrepreneur. I am the the salesperson, but you know

532
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 3: what I mean. But yeah, I think you know, those

533
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:18,400
Speaker 3: are the biggest things that I've seen. You cannot grow

534
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 3: a company if you aren't if you aren't putting money

535
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,880
Speaker 3: back into it and marketing you know, your product or

536
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 3: service to other people.

537
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 1: Where are we making money? Like, in what industries are

538
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,000
Speaker 1: we making the most money?

539
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,000
Speaker 2: I've seen a lot, well, at least when it comes

540
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:36,000
Speaker 2: to our platform we have.

541
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 3: I've seen that we have a lot of businesses that

542
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 3: are in professional services. There are a lot of businesses

543
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,239
Speaker 3: that are in food and beverages, and a lot that

544
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 3: are in beauty.

545
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: So when you say professional services, let's break down what

546
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 1: that is like. Is that consulting or bookkeeping?

547
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 3: That's like consulting, bookkeeping, you know, CPA marketing. People in

548
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 3: those basically people who took their professional skills and Step,

549
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:02,600
Speaker 3: I'm going to make a business out of this.

550
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,160
Speaker 1: Done And you talked about earlier, good to continue on

551
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:07,440
Speaker 1: it if you.

552
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,680
Speaker 2: Weren't finished, No, that's I'm good.

553
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 1: And so you talked about earlier you had this database

554
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:17,760
Speaker 1: of a community and you could look and see, you know,

555
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 1: where is it. Where does it make the most sense

556
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 1: to launch official Black Wall Street talking? You know, we've

557
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 1: seen the lists of best cities for a black entrepreneurship.

558
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: You know, I want I would love to hear from

559
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 1: from you. Where are you? Where do you see if

560
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 1: you were to locate or relocate a service, Where do

561
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:42,120
Speaker 1: you think, geographically are suitable places that offer the best

562
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: chance for success?

563
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 3: Oh, I would say number one is Atlanta. I think

564
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 3: Atlanta's probably at the top of everyone's list. But there is,

565
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 3: you know, this massive community of black professionals and black

566
00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:00,240
Speaker 3: entrepreneurs and so, you know, collaborating and partnering with is

567
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,360
Speaker 3: something I think we must do. Uh is a lot

568
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:05,760
Speaker 3: easier in that kind of atmosphere where there's so many

569
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:10,440
Speaker 3: different creatives and and you know, entrepreneurs around you.

570
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:12,640
Speaker 2: So Atlanta is a definite.

571
00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 3: I'm a little biased on this, but I would say

572
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 3: New York only because there are so many opportunities out

573
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 3: here and so many companies that you know, you can

574
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,239
Speaker 3: you know, corporate companies that you can network with. There

575
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 3: are also so many founders out here. But I think

576
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:36,920
Speaker 3: I found Atlanta, Houston, New York, which I'm a little biased,

577
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:38,720
Speaker 3: so you can take that one with the grain of salt.

578
00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 2: I think those are also Miami.

579
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,200
Speaker 3: I feel like there has been this growing, you know,

580
00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 3: black tech community in Miami as well.

581
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:53,719
Speaker 1: You're obviously paying a lot of attention to not only

582
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:58,080
Speaker 1: your the growth of directory listings on your platform, but

583
00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 1: also that those companies and thrive. What gives you hope

584
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 1: about what you're seeing, Oh, that's a good question.

585
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 2: What gives me hope is just the quality of the businesses.

586
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 3: I think that was one of the reasons why I

587
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,200
Speaker 3: created Official Black Wall Street as a resource in general.

588
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,040
Speaker 3: You know, I this started out, as you know, a

589
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,840
Speaker 3: passion project. I wanted to support the businesses in my community.

590
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:24,240
Speaker 3: So I'm like, all right, let me just you know,

591
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 3: create a list and see what's out there. And there

592
00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 3: were so many beautiful, dope, amazing businesses everything you can

593
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 3: think of from you know, black owned banks, restaurants, gas stations.

594
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 3: And I was like, wow, this is this is amazing,

595
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,160
Speaker 3: and I don't see that. I'm a very prideful person.

596
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 3: I think that we are an amazing, amazing people, the

597
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 3: most creative and brilliant people.

598
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:54,200
Speaker 2: You know. So I think that alone has has given

599
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 2: me a lot of hope. Also, there's this.

600
00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 3: Major kind of people prioritizing, know, like socially conscious brands

601
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 3: or brands that at least align with their value. I

602
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 3: think forms that come out with this this article saying

603
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 3: that you know, socially conscious spending is at an all

604
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:12,640
Speaker 3: time high.

605
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 2: So we see the trend is there.

606
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 3: We see that people are are are more focused on

607
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 3: black owned businesses.

608
00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:19,440
Speaker 2: Maybe not as.

609
00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 3: Much as you know three years ago, but there is

610
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,240
Speaker 3: a bigger focus on black owned businesses. There's a bigger

611
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 3: focus on you know, spending based on value. And I

612
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 3: think the world is the world is finally seeing the

613
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 3: amazing things that we produce. Uh and I think that's

614
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,240
Speaker 3: one of the one of the things that excites me

615
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:44,720
Speaker 3: about doing official Black Wall Street, Like we have black

616
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 3: owned multi vitamins and and black owned puzzles and toys

617
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:54,440
Speaker 3: and dolls, and there's just a wealth of amazing businesses

618
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:55,400
Speaker 3: out there, and so.

619
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:58,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm very hopeful about it.

620
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity afro

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