Entrepreneurship

Last week marked the 30th anniversary of a historic deal closed by Reginald Francis Lewis for $985 Written By Lynette Holloway | Posted December 4, 2017million that changed the face of financial dealmaking in the United States. On November 30, 1987, Lewis closed the leveraged buyout of Beatrice International Foods, which at the time was the largest offshore transaction in US history. This groundbreaking transaction would establish Lewis as the first African American billionaire business tycoon, placing himself,  his investment banker, Michael Milken, and the company on the prestigious Fortune 500 list. “We want the new generation to be inspired by the work of RFL on that November 30, 1987.” Loida Lewis, his widow recently told Pittsburgh Courier. “He demonstrated his belief in and commitment to human rights, civil rights and economic development.” U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings marked the anniversary of the historic deal by placing the financial transaction milestone in the U.S Congressional Record in honor of Lewis’ work. Lewis died in 1993, just one day after announcing that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. Writer Blair S. Walker used the 50-year-olds unfinished memoir to craft Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?, an inspiring look at the financier’s life and work that would become a national bestseller. His legacy contains many firsts. He became the first (and still the only) person accepted to Harvard Law School before actually applying to the prestigious school. Today, the Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center is the first Harvard Law School building to be named for an African American. Highlights of Lewis’ exceptional life are on display at the Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, D.C. and at the museum named for him in his native Baltimore. On Thursday, December 7th, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture will celebrate 75th anniversary of his birth with a special event, “Reginald F. Lewis, The Conversation: The $Billion Deal, The Lifestyle, The Man.”  Speakers include Keith Perrin, the co-founder of the iconic FUBU streetwear brand Click here to read original article in NewsOne.com.

History is being made all the time, though, so in this article, we’re going to take a forward-looking approach and learn about 20 black entrepreneurs who are pursuing innovative business ventures right now. These innovators are based all around the world and across many different industries, from financial services to renewable energy. I’m focusing on up-and-coming entrepreneurs rather than household names, so there will probably be quite a few people in this list who are new to you. I hope you take their achievements as inspiration to start new ventures of your own. Imagine taking inspiration from the traditional “sou-sou” savings clubs that are common across Africa, matching it up with modern technology, and creating a successful financial technology startup that just attracted a £100million investment from Goldman Sachs. That’s Martin Ijaha’s story, and I have a feeling it’s only just beginning. His UK startup, Neyber, partners with employers to offer loans to employees at affordable rates, with the repayments being taken directly out of their paychecks. From issuing its first loan in 2014, it’s now lent out more than £50 million, and the new influx of funding should help the company grow fast. Those of you in the U.S. may remember Moziah Bridges from his brief appearance as a precocious 12-year-old bow-tie maker on the reality TV show Shark Tank a few years ago. Reality TV doesn’t always translate into real-world success, but it has for Bridges. Now 15 years old, he recently signed a seven-figure deal to supply bow ties to the NBA, and his business, Mo’s Bows, is going from strength to strength. On Shark Tank, he turned down a $50,000 investment offer from one investor in favor of zero money but an ongoing mentorship with fashion mogul Daymond John. That’s looking like a smart move now. Advertisement The road to success isn’t always straight and direct. Kymberlee Jay started out as a dancer for Madonna before working as a choreographer, but she’s now found success with DoodleDirect, a company that makes slick animated videos to boost companies’ internal and external communications. DoodleDirect has done work for major clients like Knight Frank, Vauxhall and the Food Standards Agency, and its success was acknowledged a few months ago when Jay won the Arts and Media Rising Star award at the 2017 Black British Business Awards. The daughter of Angolan refugees, Myriam Taylor cofounded both a biotech company and a luxury haircare company in Lisbon, Portugal with her husband Paulo. When she was pregnant, Taylor wanted to be able to wear her hair both curly and straight while avoiding any harsh chemicals. Not finding a solution she was happy with, she decided to create one herself, and now her company, Muxima, sells a growing range of caviar-based shampoos, conditioners, oils and other products for textured hair both in European department stores and online. Nigerian entrepreneur Iyin Aboyeji co-founded Andela, a software training company that snagged a $24 million investment from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s foundation. But shortly after the investment, Aboyeji left the company to focus a new venture, Flutterwave, focusing on enabling digital payments across Africa. The company has already processed 10 million transactions and $1.2 billion in payments, so watch out for what it does next. Husband and wife team Courtney and Tye Caldwell just won a $100,000 investment from a Dallas startup contest for their ShearShare startup. The idea is simple: connect owners of barbershops and beauty salons who have empty chairs with individual stylists who need space to work. Tye is a salon owner with more than 20 years of experience, while Courtney has worked in sales and marketing for companies like Zendesk, Zenefits, and Qualtrics. With their solid business idea, complementary skills and a new infusion of cash, expect ShearShare to grow even faster in 2018. After a long career at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Anne Githuku-Shongwe decided to start her own mobile gaming company, Afroes. Although it seems like a change of direction, development is still at the core of her work: the goal of Afroes is to create games that will “position African youth for productive futures by innovating in skills acquisition, engagement and connecting to opportunity.” With a long track record and recognition over the years from organizations like the Cartier Women’s Initiative and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, there’s plenty of scope for more to come from this creative South African entrepreneur. Maya Penn was just eight years old when she started her sustainable fashion company, Maya’s Ideas. Now 17, Penn has written a book, given three TED talks, and been recognized by Oprah Winfrey as a “SuperSoul 100 Entrepreneur”. As her business selling environmentally friendly fashion accessories grows, she also invests in charitable initiatives such as created eco-friendly sanitary pads for women and girls in developing countries and shipping them to healthcare facilities in Haiti, Senegal, Somalia, and more. As an entrepreneur, you’re often told to “follow your passion.” But some people have multiple passions, and it’s often their combination that brings success. That’s been the case for former NBA basketball player Lanny Smith, who now runs Active Faith Sports, a sports retailer infused with his Christian faith. Many of the products have slogans reflecting his religious beliefs, and this combination of sport and religion has clearly found an audience—the company had revenue of almost $7 million in 2016. It takes a lot of courage to go up against the big tech giants like Apple and Verizon, but that’s exactly what Florida entrepreneur Freddie Figgers has done with his cellphone company, Figgers Communication. The company makes and sells its own proprietary handsets as well as offering its own cellphone network. The phone also has a special feature to prevent texting while driving. Figgers got started with technology at a young age and already has a series of inventions to his name. Photo from FreddieFiggers.com Mignon Francois’s story is the stuff of dreams. She started out deep in debt and selling cupcakes from her living