Former American Express CEO Ken Chenault shares a moment with Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, board member of Enterprise Holdings, following the New York PBS-TV taping of An Evening With Ken Chenault, the unofficial launch to the BusinessMakers Initiative. The HistoryMakers returns to St. Louis this week to officially announce the launch, made possible by a $600,000 grant from the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, to raise the profile and public understanding of African American achievement in business.

Enterprise Holdings Foundation had awarded $600,000 to the group to help raise the profile and public understanding of African American achievement in business. The grant will help develop the most comprehensive video recording of the lives, careers, and accomplishments of African American business leaders.

Former American Express CEO Ken Chenault shares a moment with Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, board member of Enterprise Holdings, following the New York PBS-TV taping of An Evening With Ken Chenault, the unofficial launch to the BusinessMakers Initiative. The HistoryMakers returns to St. Louis this week to officially announce the launch, made possible by a $600,000 grant from the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, to raise the profile and public understanding of African American achievement in business.
Former American Express CEO Ken Chenault shares a moment with Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, board member of Enterprise Holdings, following the New York PBS-TV taping of An Evening With Ken Chenault, the unofficial launch to the BusinessMakers Initiative. The HistoryMakers returns to St. Louis this week to officially announce the launch, made possible by a $600,000 grant from the Enterprise Holdings Foundation, to raise the profile and public understanding of African American achievement in business.
“We are thrilled that the Enterprise Holdings Foundation has chosen to support our work in this way,” said Julieanna Richardson, founder and president of The HistoryMakers. “Because of this generous gift, The HistoryMakers will be able to begin the process of creating the definitive recording of African American business leaders.”

Richardson added that the contribution was in response to a 9 to 1 challenge grant from Dorothy Terrell, former president of Sun Microsystems. The HistoryMakers had set a $1 million goal to establish the “BusinessMakers” segment on its online portal.

The HistoryMakers BusinessMakers category currently includes the interviews of over 300 business leaders in 81 cities and towns. Some of those already featured in the category include recently retired American Express CEO Ken Chenault; Merck & Co., Inc. CEO Ken Frazier; Johnson Publishing founder John H. Johnson; former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns; Motown founder Berry Gordy; RadioOne founder Cathy Hughes; among others.

“The Enterprise Holdings Foundation is proud to help The HistoryMakers tell the untold stories of both well-known and unsung African Americans in business,” said Carolyn Kindle Betz, senior vice president and executive director of the Enterprise Holdings Foundation. “This initiative is a terrific way to recognize African American business leaders of the past, while encouraging future leaders of tomorrow.”

Over the next two to three years, according to Richardson, The HistoryMakers will focus on adding 150 additional interviews of noted African American business leaders to its collection – increasing its BusinessMakers category to 500. Currently, the history of African Americans in business make up less than one percent of Harvard Business School case studies, and there are no dedicated exhibits or collection of African American business leaders in any of the nation’s repositories.

“It is critical to show the world that African Americans have had an active role to play in both black entrepreneurship and in corporate America,” said Richardson. “This story has been overlooked for far too long, and deserves to be highlighted.”

Follow The HistoryMakers on Facebook and Twitter.

The HistoryMakers, a 501 (c) (3) national nonprofit organization based in Chicago, is dedicated to recording and preserving the personal histories of well-known and unsung African Americans. It is the largest video oral history archive of its kind, and the only massive attempt, since the WPA Slave Narratives of the 1930s, to record the African American experience by the first voice. In 2014, the Library of Congress became the permanent repository of the collection. The HistoryMakers Collection now numbers over 10,000 hours (3,200 interviews) of first person testimony recorded in over 413 cities and towns, including international locations like Norway, the Caribbean, and Mexico. The earliest memory in the collection dates to the 1700s.

Established in 1982 by Enterprise founder Jack Taylor, the Enterprise Holdings Foundation was created to allow the company to give back to the communities where its customers and employees live and work. The company has grown to become the world’s largest car rental company with more than 10,000 locations in 95 countries and territories throughout the world.

 

Tour Continues February 28 in Austin, TX and March 2 in Houston, TX

 Today, Live Nation and Crown Publishing, a part of Penguin Random House, announced the next two moderators for the 2019 tour dates of Becoming: An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama.

Produced by Live Nation, the tour continues this Thursday, February 28 in Austin, TX with television show host Rachael Ray. Additionally, Michele Norris will join Mrs. Obama on stage once again as moderator at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX on Saturday, March 2. (Please see below for moderator biographies.)

This 2019 extension of the tour will include 15 events in the United States and Canada, with Mrs. Obama making stops in previously unvisited cities, including Austin, Toronto, Atlanta, St. Paul, Cleveland, and Vancouver among others. The tour will also include 6 dates in Europe, including Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Oslo, and Stockholm. The final event will take place on May 12 in Nashville, TN, at the historic Ryman Auditorium concluding the Becoming book tour. Tickets and a limited number of VIP meet and greet packages with the former First Lady are on sale now at BecomingMichelleObama.com.

In keeping with her commitment to make her events accessible to as many people as possible, Mrs. Obama and Live Nation will donate a portion of ticket inventory in each market to various organizations, including, but not limited to, charities, schools, book clubs, and community groups in each city the tour visits. Those fans will receive free admission to the tour stop in their city.

Becoming was released on November 13, 2018, in the U.S. and Canada by Crown Publishing, a part of Penguin Random House, and is being published in 44 languages around the world. Since its publication, Becoming became an instant #1 New York Times bestseller after one week of sales, and has sold more than 5.9 million units in all formats and editions in the U.S. and Canada. According to NDP BookScan data, the hardcover edition of Becoming has sold more copies than any other book published in the United States in 2018 and more copies than any other hardcover nonfiction book published since 2007.

After 22 printings, the hardcover edition of Becoming will have 5,265,000 copies in print in the U.S. and Canada and more than 8.25 million copies in print worldwide. The book is also a #1 bestseller in 12 other countries around the world. An audio edition of the book, read by Mrs. Obama, is also available in digital and physical formats by Penguin Random House Audio.

BECOMING: AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION WITH MICHELLE OBAMA UPCOMING 2019 DATES:

Thursday, February 28, 2019	Austin, TX	Frank Erwin Center
Saturday, March 2, 2019	Houston, TX	Toyota Center
Wednesday, March 13, 2019	St. Paul, MN	Xcel Energy Center
Thursday, March 14, 2019	Milwaukee, WI	Miller High Life Theatre
Saturday, March 16, 2019	Cleveland, OH	KeyBank State Theatre
Thursday, March 21, 2019	Vancouver, BC	Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
Friday, March 22, 2019	Edmonton, AB	Rogers Place
Tuesday, April 9, 2019	Copenhagen, Denmark	Royal Arena
Wednesday, April 10, 2019	Stockholm, Sweden	Ericsson Globe
Thursday, April 11, 2019	Oslo, Norway	Oslo Spektrum
Sunday, April 14, 2019	London, UK	The O2 Arena
Tuesday, April 16, 2019*	Paris, France	AccorHotels Arena
Wednesday, April 17, 2019	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Ziggo Dome
Friday, May 3, 2019	Montreal, QC	Bell Centre
Saturday, May 4, 2019	Toronto, ON	Scotiabank Arena
Friday, May 10, 2019	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	BB&T Center
Saturday, May 11, 2019	Atlanta, GA	State Farm Arena
Sunday, May 12, 2019	Nashville, TN	Ryman Auditorium

 

KUDOS to hip hop turned legends turned business moguls LL Cool J and Ice Cube on the using their celebrity leverage to secure several billion-dollar commitments.

They are a part of a regional group including Carolyn Rafaelian and her husband Alex to purchase a total of 22 sports channels. The deal is the catalyst to the Justice Department’s ruling to make behemoth Disney surrender the stations since they already own ESPN and have a monopoly on sports broadcasting. LL and Cube plan to take the channels and fill a hole in sports by appealing to a younger audience. We will keep you posted.

 

MACRO Founder and CEO Charles D. King will serve as the 2019 Howard University Charter Day Speaker on March 1, 2019. Photo courtesy: The Collins Jackson Agency. Photo courtesy: The Collins Jackson Agency.

MACRO Founder and CEO Charles D. King will serve as the 2019 Howard University Charter Day Speaker on March 1, 2019.

Howard University School of Law Alumnus and MACRO Founder and CEO Charles D. King will serve as the 2019 Charter Day Convocation speaker on March 1, 2019 at 11 a.m. in Cramton Auditorium (processional begins at 10:30 a.m.). During the event, King will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Charter Day Convocation is free and open to the public.

“We are honored to welcome home one of Howard’s native sons, Charles D. King, for this auspicious 152nd Charter Day celebration,” said President Wayne A. I. Frederick. “From Hollywood talent agent to the stars to the creator of content which highlights diverse experiences, Mr. King exemplifies Howard’s motto of truth and service through his career navigating and championing stories of people of color by people of color.”

Formerly a partner and senior agent in the motion picture department at William Morris Endeavor, King was the first African American partner in the company’s 100+ year history and the first ever African American partner at a major talent agency. King’s list of notable clients spanned every sector of the entertainment industry, including acclaimed filmmakers Ryan Coogler and M. Night Shyamalan, music icons, media moguls and innovators including Prince, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey and Janelle Monae and talent like David Oyelowo. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Howard University’s School of Law and resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Stacey, and their sons.

Founded in January 2015, King’s MACRO is a leading media company representing the voice and perspectives of people of color. King oversees the company’s focus on creating, developing, producing and financing film, television, digital content, tech companies and brands driven by people of color that encompass universal themes to which all people can connect and relate.

MACRO’s film projects have received nine Oscar nominations. The company’s first major studio film, Fences, received four nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for director/star Denzel Washington, and one win for Best Supporting Actress for Viola Davis. King was an executive producer on the film. Dee Rees’ Mudbound, was the highest sale at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography. King was a producer on the film. Roman J. Israel, Esq. also received an Oscar nomination for Washington and was executive produced by King. MACRO’s most recent film, Boots Riley’s Sorry To Bother You, is nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. King’s MACRO has a first look co-finance deal with Warner Bros. Pictures and just signed on as a co-financier and King as an executive producer for Just Mercy, starring Michael B. Jordan with Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson as well as a film based on revolutionary Black Panther and historic figure Fred Hampton starring Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield. On the TV side, King will executive produce “Raising Dion,” a 10-episode hour-long, sci-fi, family drama along with Dennis Liu and Michael B. Jordan.

The March 1 Charter Day Convocation sets the stage for the following evening’s highly-anticipated Charter Day Dinner. The annual black-tie gala is Howard’s premiere fundraising event. This year, the proceeds from the dinner will support the Student Aid Campaign and its efforts to directly address the gaps that exist in financial aid for Howard students. During the event, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement will be presented to Rosie Allen-Herring in the field of business and public service; Lori George Billingsley in the field of communications; and Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford in the field of public service. The Capstone Distinguished Service Award will be presented to LaRue V. Barkwell.

Kabbage Helps Small Businesses Seeking Flexible Funding – Kabbage closes a record-breaking 2018 by providing small businesses access to more
than $2 billion in working capital

Kabbage, Inc. launched its first national TV campaign starring actor and comedian, Gary Cole recently. The “10 Minutes in the Future” campaign showcases how quickly and easily small businesses can access working capital through Kabbage. In its 10th year since founding, Kabbage has helped more than 160,000 small businesses access over $6 billion of funding to maintain healthy cash flows and grow their companies. Kabbage customers accessed more than $2 billion during 2018, representing one-third of the total dollars issued by the company since launching its lending platform in 2011 and its highest annual total. In 2018, the company also hit a milestone by extending small businesses access to more than $10 million per day.

The strong performance is driven by the company’s automated lending platform, which approves small businesses for working capital by analyzing their live business data. With a fast application process online or via the Kabbage mobile app, small businesses can apply, be approved and access flexible Kabbage lines of credit as high as $250,000 to cover any business cost. With Kabbage, there are no fees to apply, no fees to maintain the line of credit, and no obligations to take funds.

Created in partnership with a 2018 Ad Age Agency of the Year, Eleven, the Kabbage campaign is now live across traditional broadcast channels, over-the-top (OTT) networks, and streaming platforms. The “10 Minutes in the Future” will be nationally syndicated throughout the U.S. market and creatives can be viewed via the Kabbage YouTube channel. “Our customers demonstrated the true market need for flexible funding by accessing more than $2 billion with Kabbage last year,” said Kabbage Head of Brand and Growth Michelle Lisowski. “The new campaign, paired with Gary Cole’s humor, highlights the spirit on which Kabbage was founded, to make it easy for small businesses to get funding so they can focus on their business instead of their finances.” “I was researching funding options on my couch one weekend morning when I found Kabbage.
Five minutes later I was approved for $50,000. It was so much more convenient than going through a long application process with a traditional bank.” — Laurence Girard, Fruitstreet, New York City, New York

Contact Kabbage here

 

Part-time black entrepreneur Ashley Rouse owns a company called Trade Street Jams Co. that she runs out of the Industry City section of New York. She has a great set of jams that she literally thinks of in the middle of the night. Like Chipotle, figs, and strawberries which is her top seller. Ideas in the middle of the night should be no surprise to black entrepreneurs as most of us do indeed have our best ideas come to us in the middle of the night. It would behoove us to have a pad and pen on our nightstands or record your idea into your cell phone notes (which is better).

Ashley’s flavors are a hit but her profit margin for the last year is only $12,000. This is because she’s not all in an she is afraid to quit her full-time job that is unrelated to her company or products. She is, as other black entrepreneurs know all too well STUCK and afraid to take the next leap and the window of opportunity will eventually fail her as with all black entrepreneurs when it comes to growth. She is not hustling enough according to the show’s host, black entrepreneur John Henry. He believes in her and her product and pushes her to believe in her product and herself more. This is a great episode with a lot of powerful lessons for startups. See the full episode below.

Executive And Entrepreneur Amber Grimes Named To Newly-Created Post As Senior Vice President Of Global Creative For Capitol Music Group

WILL BE INTEGRALLY INVOLVED IN THE COMPANY’S GLOBAL STREAMING STRATEGY AND LEAD THE COMPANY’S INNOVATION TEAM AND TEN3 CONTENT DEPARTMENT

Amber Grimes has been named to the newly-created position of Senior Vice President of Global Creative for Capitol Music Group (CMG), it was announced today by Chairman & CEO Steve Barnett, to whom Grimes will report.   In her new position, Grimes will be integrally involved in formulating and executing the company’s global streaming strategy.  She will also draw upon her diverse experiences to lead the company’s Innovation Team and Ten3 content creation department, and will play an important role in building and expanding CMG’s industry-leading roles in these areas.  Grimes will be based in Hollywood, California in the company’s iconic Capitol Records Tower.

According to Barnett, “Many of us at CMG have had the pleasure to work closely with Amber in her role at Spotify, and her incredible well of innovative ideas and brilliant execution made a great impression on us and convinced me that we needed her to join the CMG team.  Her skills as an executive and an black entrepreneur will be of great benefit to our artists as she leads our Innovation and content creation teams to new levels of excellence and plays a key role in our global streaming strategy.  Amber is a great addition to the CMG family, and everyone here joins me in welcoming her to the Tower.”

Grimes said, “Capitol is at the forefront of developing truly exciting new talent, and they do so by supporting their artists’ vision and never being afraid to push boundaries.  I’m honored to be expanding my relationship to work more directly with this incredible roster of artists, as well as CMG’s incredible labels and teams, and I thank Steve Barnett and Lucian Grainge for creating this unique and forward-thinking role for me.  I’m thrilled to be bringing my streaming experience, passion for artists and disruptive mindset into the Tower.”

Amber Grimes comes to CMG from Spotify, having arrived there in 2017 as the first creative hire in Atlanta and being named to the newly-created position of Senior Manager of Urban Independent.  In that post, Grimes was charged with bridging the gap between Spotify and the independent hip-hop community.  Grimes went on to even deeper involvement with the Universal Music Group labels when she transitioned to Spotify’s Artist & Label Marketing team.  In this role, she worked in tandem with major and independent labels on a number of innovative and highly successful campaigns, including those for Paul McCartney, Quality Control, Rae Sremmurd, TDE, LVRN, Trippie Redd, Logic and Christine & The Queens.

Minority Business Development Agency Awards $1.8 Million To Tackle Opportunity Gaps

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is announcing the five organizations that received grant funds to support three MBDA initiatives – Access to Capital, Research, and Sustainable Business Models. The call for proposals under each initiative sought solutions for constraints, disparities, and opportunity gaps that impact a minority business enterprises’ (MBEs) ability to build scale and capacity and ensure business sustainability.

“MBDA is focused on creating new opportunities for minority-owned businesses,” said MBDA National Director Henry Childs, II. “Providing greater access to financial resources, data analytics, and world-class business models will help companies grow to scale and remain competitive in the global marketplace.”

The grant recipients include:

Access to Capital:

• Harbor Bank of Maryland Community Development Corporation ($400,000) to facilitate MBEs receiving equal opportunity to participate in the opportunity zones provisions.
• National Association of Investment Companies, Inc. ($350,000) to provide diverse investment managers innovative and proven methods for greater exposure to increase the likelihood of MBE firms receiving capital from public and private institutions.
• The Enterprise Center ($500,000) to introduce new financing and investment models and provide patient growth capital to help MBEs hire more local employees and build their businesses to be more stable, competitive, and profitable for the long term.

Research:

• Research Foundation of the City University of New York ($200,000) to create an interactive visual database that maps the journey of minority black entrepreneurs from inception to funding.

Sustainable Business Model:

• Metropolitan Economic Development Association ($382,896) to develop a playbook for developing sustainable revenue generation for other minority development organizations with a focus on merger and acquisition consulting, accounting services, and loan servicing.

These programs are part of the 2018 MBDA Broad Agency Announcement, a new initiative this year. More than $13 million was awarded for 35 projects focused on Department of Commerce and MBDA priorities from resources that increase disaster preparedness and relief to programs that increase access to capital. For a full listing of MBDA’s 2018 grant awards, visit www.mbda.gov/news.

About the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)
MBDA, www.mbda.gov, is the only Federal agency dedicated to the growth and global competitiveness of U.S. minority-owned businesses through the mobilization and advancement of public and private sector programs, policy, and research. Our services provide greater access to capital, contracts, and markets and better equip minority-owned firms to create jobs, build scale and capacity, increase revenues and expand regionally, nationally and internationally.