BBN AUGUST '17 by Black Business News Group

Publisher's Message

he California Black Chamber of Commerce (CBCC) is hosting its annual Ron Brown Business Economic Summit and Women’s & Youth Symposium August 17- 19, 2017 at the Hilton Airport in Oakland California. The CBCC honors a true icon in the business arena "Ron Brown" with this event. This Summit is well-attended and reinforces the importance of economic empowerment and how African American-owned businesses play a vital role in this initiative. It also oﬀers resources for successful achievement of the goal. This year's Mistress of Ceremony will be Cheryl Brownlee, CEO, CB Communications. This event will also have a special luncheon, "Fireside Chat" with Janet Napolitano President, UC and Moderator Alice Huﬀman, President and CEO. California State

Earl “Skip” Cooper, II Pubisher/Editor-In-Chief

Conference NAACP

Black Business News Group P.O. Box 43159 Los Angeles, CA 90043 USA 1-323-291-7819 Fax: 1-323-298-5064

www.blackbusinessnews.net PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Earl “Skip” Cooper, II

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Sarah Harris Dean L. Jones Phyllis Dixon

ENTREPRENEUR EDITOR

As the President and CEO of the Black Business Association, headquartered in Southern, I am pleased to announce the collaborative effort of the California Black Chamber of Commerce (CBCC), the Black Business Association (BBA) and Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAAC) joining forces to create a powerful advocacy force on behalf of African American businesses in California and throughout the nation. Specifics of this important initiative will be Aubry Stone, CBCC and Earl "Skip" Cooper, BBA provided in the very near future. August is a prime time to take advantage of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) free Subcontracting Opportunities Workshop scheduled for September 19, 2017. Small Business can get Government work through a subcontract vehicle without dealing with the Government directly; and they can learn about Government contracting from an experienced Government vendor. The workshop will explain the following subcontracting requirements: Why do we have subcontracting plans? What is a subcontracting plan? What are the plan requirements? What types of plans are there? Check out www.SBA.gov for additional details. The Federal Government is on a fiscal calendar / budget cycle, ending September 30th, and the new budget cycle beginning on October 1st. Contracting and procurement officers are now looking at the balances in their contracting budgets that they need to spend before the end of their fiscal year, before asking for additional funding for the coming year. Also, it is an excellent opportunity for SBA certified, womenowned and 8a certified business entities to continue to develop their relationships with procurement contracting personnel, and to pitch their business’ goods and/or

Kim Anthony

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Linda Ware

PRODUCTION MANAGER Narishima Osei

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dean Jones Linda Ware Ralph D. Sutton Timothy Lester, Jr. Veronica Hendrix Giavanna Foster P. Yvette Thomas Aman Williams LaSandra Stratton

GRAPHIC DESIGN Sarah Harris Tia Robinson

STORY EDITORS Wanda Flagg Jennifer Marie Hamilton

PHOTOGRAPHY Ian Foxx Sabir Narishima Osei

CONTENT ADMINISTRATOR La Sandra Stratton

LAYOUT/TYPESETTING Lion Communications Copyright © 2017 by Black Business News All Rights Reserved. The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein. 

see Publisher's Message on page 70 3  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

About

The mission of The Black Business News (BBN) is to inspire and inform public and private sector industry representatives on the importance of smart small business growth. As a versatile source of socioeconomic development activity news, the publications of the Black Business News Group (a division of the Black Business Association) impart current local, national and international industry and social trends and news affecting small businesses across the United States of America (USA), providing guides to greater access to financial capital, management efficiencies, business education, mentorship opportunities and social media networks. The goals of the Black Business News Group include: •

promoting USA-based black-owned business enterprises to a world wide audience.

•

oﬀering business growth enhancing information on education, exhibitioning, international trading, technology, industry trends, and more.

•

exploring major public and private sector contracting methods to educate black-owned and operated enterprises.

•

providing an aﬃrmative inﬂuence for emerging entrepreneurs by sharing innovative design and creative cultural content that exposes them to the history of black enterprises and urges them to participate in the USA’s future.

•

advocating and promoting on behalf of black-owned businesses by promoting the need for expanding an economic foundation that supports an unfettered and self-sustained urban society with USA job creation and economic opportunity, where blacks work, live and operate viable business enterprises.

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Contents

Black Business News… 3

Publisher's Message

Government 6 8

10 12 13 14 16

Do You Qualify to Immigrate to America? President OKs Plan for Independent Cyber Command Kenyatta Declared Winner of Disputed Kenya Presidential Vote N. Korea Threat Makes Work on Gamechanging Missile Defense Technology a Priority 1,000 Ministers to March on Washington Tech Founders to Call for UN to Ban 'Killer Robots' Kamala Harris and Rand Paul Introduce National Bail Reform Bill

40 43 44 48 52 56 58 64

Talent To Detroit RECYCLING: A Challenge and An Opportunity Kraft Heinz Taps Oprah's Mojo in Struggle to Boost Sales Out-Of-Home Advertising Opportunities About to Expand Trump Trains His Sights on Aﬃrmative University Aims to Educate 50,000 Refugees Worldwide by 2022 The Black Billionaires 2017 Serena Williams Heads The Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2017 List Social Media Demands Strong Oversight From the Business Leader

Community/Public Interest 78 79 80

Norwegian Air Pays Tribute to Abolitionist Sojourner Truth Watch Out for Phone Scams! When Jack Daniel’s Failed to Honor a Slave, an Author Rewrote History

Obituary/Memorials 83 86 88

Dick Gregory Dies at 84 Elbert T. Hudson, Civic Leader Dies, Los Angeles Mourns the Loss of Adolf Dulan

International Entertainment 20

BBN Show Biz Buzz

92 94

USTDA Supports Power Projects in Southern Africa 4 Lessons Entrepreneurs Should Learn from Dangote’s Bloomberg Interview Hummingbird Mine to Boost Mali's Gold Output

Editorials/Perspectives

Columns

Kenneth Frazier Steps Away from American Manufacturing Council Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Calls on Tech Leaders to Stand Up Barack Obama Tweets in Wake of Charlottesville Violence

Business 25 32 34 35

Introducing Watch, a New Platform For Shows On Facebook VV GROW Fellowship Morgan Stanley Is Putting Its Money Behind 5 Minority-Led Tech Firms Competition Seeks To Bring Start-Up Tech

72 Take A Look! 133 Books to Consider... 135 BBA Master Planner 136 Resource Vault

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Government

Do You Qualify to Immigrate to America? By Lisa Marie Segarra,David Johnson for Time Magazine

resident Donald Trump announced his support last week for a new "meritbased" immigration bill that would screen visa applicants using a point system. The Republican-backed proposal, which would signiﬁcantly reduce (http://time.com/4884914/ immigration-raise-act-white-house)

the number of people allowed to legally immigrate to America, would weigh each person's age, education, English ability, job offer salary, investments and even whether the person has an Olympic medal. The Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act, or RAISE Act, favors people between the ages of 26 and 30 with a doctorate, high English proficiency and a job offer with a high salary. Applicants would need at least 30 points to be eligible to apply for a visa under the proposal, and the fastest way to get there is to have received a Nobel Prize or comparable international award, which gives applicants a head start of 25 points. Applicants with the highest number of points would go to the front of the line to receive visas. The bill, introduced by Republican Senators David Perdue and Tom Cotton, has failed to gain traction beyond the President's endorsement and is unlikely to pass Congress. But if Trump had his way and it became law, here's how you would fare if you were trying to immigrate to the U.S. under the restrictions - see chart on the opposite page:

Time's Methodology For greater clarity, some answers are simpliﬁed from what appears in the bill. For example, the legislation proposes an English test, with points allotted based on the applicant's performance. We instead created categories ranking English ability. The question about job salaries took the bill's original

language regarding "150% of median income" and calculated actual salaries based on the U.S. median household income of $51,939 in 2014. The full text of the bill can be found here (www.cotton. senate.gov/files/documents/170802_ New_RAISE_Act_Bill_Text.pdf). 

http://time.com/4887574/trumpraise-act-immigration/

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You need at least 30 points to be eligible to apply for immigration My Score ___ How old are you? Under 18 cannot apply 18-21 6 points 22-25 8 points 26-30 10 points 31-35 8 points 36-40 6 points 41-45 4 points 46-50 2 points Over 50 0 points What's your highest level of education? Less than high school diploma 0 points High school diploma or foreign equivalent 1 point Foreign bachelor's 5 points U.S. bachelor's 6 points Foreign master's in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics 7 points U.S. master’s in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics 8 points Foreign professional degree or doctorate in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics 10 points U.S. professional degree or doctorate in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics 13 points What's your English ability? Poor 0 points Moderate 6 points Good 10 points Excellent 11 points Fluent 12 points Do you have a job oﬀer? No 0 points Yes, with a salary less than $77,900 0 points Yes, with a salary of at least $77,900 5 points Yes, with a salary of at least $103,900 8 points Yes, with a salary of at least $155,800 13 points Do you have a Nobel Prize or major international award? Yes 25 points No 0 points Have you won an Olympic medal in the past 8 years? Yes 15 points No 0 points Do you plan on investing money in the U.S.? No 0 points Yes, with foreign currency worth less than $1.35 million for a new commercial enterprise 0 points Yes, with foreign currency worth between $1.35 million and $1.8 million for a new commercial enterprise 6 points Yes, with foreign currency worth at least $1.8 million for a new commercial enterprise 12 points

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Government - Cyber Security

President OKs Plan for Independent Cyber Command By Erin Carson

he White House has approved a plan to turn the US Cyber Command (www.cnet.com/news/us-cyber-command-prepped-to-launch) into its own military command. Cyber Command will be elevated to the status of "Unified Combatant Command," President Donald Trump said. This puts it on par with the nine other unified commands of the military, like Central Command, and increases its stature and independence as it handles cyberspace operations. Trump said the move, part of a long-delayed Pentagon plan, strengthens and streamlines operations "by consolidating them under a single commander with authorities commensurate with the importance of such operations." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to who might lead the command. In addition, Secretary of Defense James Mattis is looking into separating Cyber Command from the more intelligence-focused National Security Agency, under which it is currently housed. Mattis will make a recommendation later on. "The elevation of United States Cyber Command demonstrates our increased resolve against cyberspace threats and will help reassure our allies and partners and deter our adversaries," Trump said. https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-trump-oks-plan-forindependent-cyber-co/f-8743dea605%2Fcnet.com

Buy Black! Educate Black! Bank Black! Invest Black! 8  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

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Government

Kenyatta Declared Winner of Disputed Kenya Presidential Vote By Christopher Torchia and Tom Odula, Associated Press

resident Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of Kenya's hard-fought presidential election, but opposition candidate Raila Odinga alleged the voting was rigged. In announcing the results of Tuesday's contest, the election commission said Kenyatta won a second term with 54% in balloting it called "credible, fair and peaceful." Hundreds of riot police were in the streets of the capital, Nairobi, amid fears of further protests by opposition supporters, who called the vote a "charade" and said challenging the outcome in court wasn't an option. Kenyatta, the 55-year-old son of Kenya's ﬁrst president after independence from Britain, appealed for calm and unity after the bitter campaign. "Kenya belongs to all of us," he said. "Let us shun violence and let us refuse to be used for short-term political gain." He said he was extending a "hand of friendship" to "our older brother," Odinga. "We need and must continue to work together for the welfare of our people and in order to keep this country united," said Kenyatta, who also defeated Odinga in 2013. "We reach out to you. We reach out to your supporters." The election was a test of the stability of the East African economic power as many recalled the postelection bloodshed a

decade ago that left more than 1,000 dead. "We have seen the results of political violence and I am certain there is no single Kenyan who would wish to go back to those days," Kenyatta said. Kenya had been relatively calm since the election but had braced for possible violence Friday night with police in the central business district. Although celebrations by backers of Kenyatta were reported in several cities across Kenya, gunshots and screams were heard in at least two areas populated by Odinga supporters, according to police and a witness. The gunﬁre rang out in the Nairobi slum of Kibera and in the southwestern city of Kisumu, the witnesses said. Youths also were reported to be throwing stones at cars in Kibera. "There are gunshots all over; we don't know how it will end but we are praying for peace," said Kisumu resident Lucas Odhiambo, adding that people were bellowing through "vuvuzela" noisemakers when the results were announced "and police moved in." Earlier in the day, opposition supporters burned tires and blocked roads in several areas. The election commission rejected claims by Odinga, a former prime minister, that its database was hacked and results manipulated against him.

The long wait for election results increased tensions in the nation of 45 million people, though the commission by law had until Aug. 15 to announce them. At least three people were killed in clashes between police and opposition supporters this week. Odinga alleged that hackers infiltrated the election commission's computer system in favor of his opponent. He claimed the hackers used the identity of Christopher Msando, an election official in charge of managing information technology systems. Officials had announced on July 31 that Msando had been tortured and killed. In addition, the American CEO of an election data company working for Odinga was deported last weekend. The election commission said there was a hacking attempt but it failed, and that Odinga's camp had no right to declare him as the winner. Earlier Friday, the opposition said it had asked for access to the commission's servers to confirm

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attempts. O di ng a lost the 2007 election that was followed by the violence that was fueled by ethnic tensions. He also lost the 2013 vote to Kenyatta and took allegations of votetampering to the Supreme Court, which rejected his case.  www.msn . com/en-us/ news/world/ kenyattadeclaredwinner-ofdisputedk e n y a -

Newly re-elected President of the Republic of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta whether the alleged hacking took place. If granted, it said it would accept the results, even if they showed that Kenyatta won. Kenyatta has not commented on Odinga's allegations. International election observers have said they saw no signs of interference with the vote. Election oﬃcials spent recent days conﬁrming provisional results with checks of documents from polling stations nationwide. U.S. Ambassador Robert F. Godec said any disputes should be dealt with through legal channels. "No Kenyan should die because of

an election," he said. This may have been the last chance at the presidency for the 72-yearold Odinga after three unsuccessful

presidential-vote/ar-AApRHUF?li= AA4Zpp&ocid=spartandhp

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Government

N. Korea Threat Makes Work on Game-changing Missile Defense Technology a Priority By Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Opinion Contributor, The Hill

eventy-ﬁve years ago, our nation embarked on the Manhattan Project to create weapons of mass destruction. The threat from North Korea shows we need another Manhattan Project to stop such weapons. The U.S. should harness all the resources of this nation to create a robust missile defense system that can shoot down multiple ICBMs from North Korea. For the next ﬁve years, creating such a defensive shield should be the number one priority of the Pentagon. President Trump’s lack of a comprehensive strategy and reckless war of words with North Korea has sent the world into a panic. But all the provocative talk in the world won’t change the fact that the Hermit Kingdom is a nuclear power and will soon have the nascent capability to strike the U.S. mainland. We need to dramatically shift our thinking as to how to tackle this new reality. For all its rapid technological advancements over the last decade, North Korea still lacks the capabilities to overwhelm U.S. missile defenses. U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System, which launches interceptor missiles to collide with an adversaries’ ICBM, will soon have 44 interceptors. However, given the pace of North Korea’s nuclear program, it is likely that over the next decade they will build enough ICBMs to exceed our defensive capabilities.

As an Air Force officer stationed in Guam in the 1990s, we trained for the North Korean threat. What we knew then remains true today: there are no good U.S. military options. The Kim regime possesses nuclear, biological and conventional weapons capable of raining destruction down on millions of civilians and tens of thousands of U.S. service members in South Korea, Japan and Guam. As Secretary of Defense Mattis testified before Congress this year, a military option would be “tragic on an unbelievable scale.” The challenge we face as a nation is how to develop alternative options to mitigate the threat. History may provide some guidance. In 1942, the United States embarked on a massive program to create a game-changing weapon: the atomic bomb. Over the course of five years, President Roosevelt poured well-over $25 billion in today’s dollars into the Manhattan Project to put a new piece on the

chess board. Today’s threats require a new Manhattan Project: a layered missile defense system starting with high-energy lasers that can destroy ICBMs during the initial boost phase. For years, research and development programs for lasers have inched along at DARPA, the Pentagon’s emerging technology arm, and the Missile Defense Agency. Recently, laser technology has taken dramatic leaps forward. Technological advancements in power source, power levels and beam control have propelled the field to the next level of lethality. While the concept may sound like science fiction, it would not be the first time that missile defense innovation disproved the sceptics. The Iron Dome system, a shortrange missile defense system jointly developed by the U.S. and Israel, was often dismissed during development for trying to “shoot a bullet with another bullet.” Yet

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today, Iron Dome is deployed throughout Israel and protects population centers from rockets with astonishing accuracy. Despite the growing North Korean threat, the U.S. government is neglecting to adequately invest

1,000 ministers to March on Washington By Defender News Service

ne thousand ministers are expected to converge on the nation’s capital as part of Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network (NAN) Ministers March for Justice. The march will go from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial to the Department of Justice. The ministers, from all denominations, will convene in Washington, D.C., to reaﬃrm their commitment to the social justice movement and to stand in solidarity in the spirit and legacy of Dr. King.

in game-changing technology. While the House of R epr e s e nta ti v e s has wisely increased overall missile defense spending this year, there is no national eﬀort; programs to fund “directed energy” projects are a small fraction of what we spent on the Manhattan Project. An amendment to the annual defense appropriations bill I passed with Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) doubles the Missile Defense Agency’s program—to a meager $20 million. There is no silver bullet to addressing the North Korean threat, and our strategy will need to include traditional elements of diplomacy,

additional economic pressure on the regime, and deterrence to raise the cost of North Korean aggression. But a strategy that is truly up to the task of meeting tomorrow’s threats requires new capabilities—and the national focus and substantive investments to get us there. When members of Congress return to D.C. in September, we need to give this issue the funding and prioritization that it deserves. For over 20 years, we have been staring at the chess board as North Korea carved itself a queen. The smart move now is not to launch a risky oﬀensive—but to put our own new piece on the board that can neutralize theirs.  Lieu represents California's 33rd District and is a former active duty oﬃcer in the U.S. Air Force. http://thehill.com/blogs/congressblog/homeland-security/347303n-korea-threat-makes-work-ongame-changing-missile

Organizers said clergy will hold the Trump administration and Attorney General Jeff Sessions accountable in the wake of an increase in hate crimes, mass incarceration and discrimination. The faith leaders will unite to send a message that religious communities will not stand by idly as rights are stripped from people in their congregations including voting rights, health care, economic opportunity, criminal justice rights and more. “We are in grave times that call for vigilance and a mobilized effort to confront the Administration around issues that are taking us backwards,” said Sharpton, president and founder of NAN. “Faith leaders will reaffirm the call to their congregations that faith will drive the movement for justice in today’s times.” This year’s march coincides

with the 54th anniversary of the March on Wa shin gton for Jobs and Freedom. It was held on Aug. 28, 1963 and Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the march. “Fifty-four years ago, a clarion call for voting rights and economic justice was issued by Dr. King and today under the current administration many of the same issues are prevalent –voter disenfranchisement, economic disparity, discrimination, and the need for criminal justice reform,” said NAN. For more information visit www. nationalactionnetwork.net. http://defe ndernetwo rk.com/ news/national/1000-ministers-planmarch-washington/

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Government- Military

Tech Founders to Call for UN to Ban 'Killer Robots' By Tas Bindi

esla's Elon Musk and Google's Mustafa Suleyman are among a group of founders to call for a ban on the development and use of autonomous weapons -otherwise known as "killer robots". 116 founders of AI and robotics companies across 26 countries signed an open letter to the United Nations (UN) urging it to stop the arms race that is underway for killer robots. "Once developed, lethal autonomous weapons will permit armed conﬂict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend. These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways," the letter states. "We do not have long to act. Once this Pandora's box is opened, it will be hard to close." The UN's Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional

Weapons had unanimously agreed to start formal discussions on the threat of autonomous weapons such as drones, tanks, and automated machine guns. The letter warns that this arms race threatens to spur the "third revolution in warfare" after gunpowder and nuclear arms. As such, autonomous weapons need to be added to the list of weapons prohibited under the UN's Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which

includes blinding laser weapons. "Nearly every technology can be used for good and bad, and artificial intelligence is no different. It can help tackle many of the pressing problems facing society today: inequality and poverty, the challenges posed by climate change and the ongoing global financial crisis," said Toby Walsh, Scientia professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales, who is one of the key organisers of the letter.

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" H o w e v e r, the same technology can also be used in au t on om ou s weapons to indu str ialise war. We need to make decisions t o d a y choosing which of these futures we want." Ryan Gariepy, founder and CTO of Clearpath Robotics, who was the first to sign the open letter, said unlike other potential manifestations of AI which "still remain in the realm of science fiction", autonomous weaponry is on the cusp of development. The letter, launching at the opening of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Melbourne on Monday, is not the first to encourage the UN to act on the threat of autonomous weapons, but it is claimed to be the first time so many AI and robotics companies have taken a joint stance on the issue. A 2015 report, released by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School, detailed how a lack of regulation

could cause human deaths without accountability. The report, Mind the Gap: The Lack of Accountability for Killer Robots, states that under current laws, programmers, manufacturers, and military personnel would all escape liability for deaths caused on the ﬁeld by fully autonomous weaponry. It also suggests that there is not likely to be any legal framework that would clearly state where responsibility lies in the production and deployment of such weapons -- and therefore no retribution or restitution when errors occur. Another open letter signed by Musk, physicist Stephen Hawking, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and thousands of researchers in 2015, called for a ban on the development of autonomous weapons, fearing that the reality of armed quadcopters -- designed to search and eliminate people -- are just years away. A concern raised in the 2015 letter was that unlike nuclear weapons, autonomous weapons can be built with oﬀ-the-shelf equipment. As a result, they'll be cheap and easy to mass produce, and could be traded on the black market, possibly ending up in the hands of terrorists, dictators, and warlords.  w w w. z d n e t . c o m / a r t i c l e / e l o n - m u s k - a m o n g tech-founders-to-call-for-un-to-ban-killerrobots/?loc=newsletter_missed_content&ftag=TRE6a 12a91&bhid=22879832233920783794305160720838

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Government

Kamala Harris and Rand Paul Introduce National Bail Reform Bill By Alex Emslie

Senator Kamala Harris

bill introduced recently by California Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, seeks to incentivize state and tribal court systems to ditch monetary bail. The bill would allocate $10 million over three years to fund federal grants for courts instituting pretrial services and data-driven risk evaluations thought to reduce racial and economic disparities between defendants who are held and those

who are released pending trial. “In our country, whether you stay in jail or not is wholly determined by whether you’re wealthy or not — and that’s wrong,” Harris said in a written statement announcing the bill. “We must come together to reform a bail system that is discriminatory, wasteful, and fails to keep our communities safe.” The bill’s text notes that typically higher bail amounts are set for people of color. “African American and Hispanic

defendants are more likely to be detained pretrial than white defendants and less likely to be able to post money bail so they can be released,” it says. “Moreover, race and money bail amounts are significantly correlated. Nationally, African American men pay 35% higher money bail amounts than white men, and Hispanic men pay 19% higher money bail amounts than white men.” Decisions about whether defendants should be released

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pending trial hinge on risk to public safety and the likelihood that they will show up to court — factors generally w e i g h e d by judges. Defendants can be released w i t h o u t conditions on their “own recognizance,” with conditions, or only after they’ve backed their promise to return to court with a monetary payment. A burgeoning national movement to reform the bail system seeks to make release decisions less subjective and significantly reduce the number of people jailed while awaiting trial. Harris and Paul’s bill estimates that 450,000 people are incarcerated in the U.S. without having been convicted of a crime. They are awaiting trial. Racial equity groups hailed the bill’s introduction. Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color Of

Change, said ending money bail is essential to reducing the country’s reliance on incarceration. “It benefits no one other than the for-profit bail industry, which has devastated Black communities by locking up people — the vast majority of whom have not even been convicted of a crime — all so that its corporate backers can line their pockets,” Robinson said in a written statement. “This multi-billion dollar industry has not only extorted our communities and broken up our families, but has also ruthlessly fought to influence politicians and block criminal justice reform.” Attempts to reach California and national bail agent trade groups, which have opposed legislative and legal efforts to change the system, were unsuccessful. Harris and Paul’s legislation would spread $10 million among state and tribal court systems to replace the use of bail with “riskbased decision making that includes objective, research-based, and locally-validated assessment tools that do not result in unwarranted disparities,” according to the bill. The federal grants would require “a presumption of release in most cases,” and conditions on those releases to be the “least restrictive”

that “would reasonably assure the appearance of the defendant and the safety of others in the community.” The bill pushes would-be grant recipients to ensure defendants access to defense attorneys as early in the process as possible. It would also allocate $5 million to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics to track pretrial defendants in state courts. California state legislators are considering a bill that may implement some of the federal bill’s grant conditions. An attempt in the state Assembly failed by one vote last month, but a similar state Senate bill remains alive, and is headed for a vote in the Assembly. That bill’s author, State Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, said in a statement that the federal bill echoes his efforts. “Every day, the national movement for bail reform is growing,” Hertzberg said. “This bipartisan federal legislation is the latest sign that bail reform is not a partisan issue or a rural or urban issue or a regional issue — it is an American issue.”  ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/07/20/kamalaharris-and-rand-paul-introduce-nationalbail-reform-bill/

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BBN Show Biz Buzz By Linda Ware

Ten Episodes of 'Dear White People' on Netflix

n 2016, Netflix ordered ten, 30-minute episodes to serve as the first season of Dear White People, the series (you can find the movie streaming on Netflix). Although the cast has changed, the premise and the driving creative force will stay the same. A sequel to Justin Simien’s 2014 film, the Dear White People TV show takes place at the largely white Winchester University, an Ive League school. Although they’re subtle, the school is not free from racial animosity.

Logan Browning The pointed comedy takes on the idea of a “postracial” America, while also following students who are coming into their own as they face the future. The series explores themes including social injustice, cultural bias, political correctness (and the lack of it, too), as well as activism, which is sometimes much needed and other times misguided.

Netflix says, “Through an absurdist lens, Dear White People utilizes biting irony, self-deprecation and sometimes brutal honesty to hold up a mirror to the issues plaguing society today, all the while leading with laughter.” Dear White People is available to stream on Netflix.  https://blavity.com/dear-white-people-justin-simien-loganbrowning-brandon-bel http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/dear-whitel

OWN’s New Docu-Series Focuses on ‘Black Love’

he four episode docu-series, Black Love from filmmakers Codie Elaine Oliver and Tommy Oliver (The Perfect Guy) and Confluential Films, on Tuesday, August 29 at 10 p.m. ET/PT (after an allnew episode of Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots at 9 p.m. ET/PT). The series will air regularly on Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT beginning on September 2.

Black Love highlights love stories from the Black community and seeks to answer the burning question, “What is the secret to making a marriage work?” Black Love dives into how love begins while showing the reality of what life-long love looks like, and offers proof that while it can happen for everyone, it isn’t a cakewalk. The docu-series shares honest, emotional and sometimes cringe-worthy always-true love stories. Featured couples include Oscar-winner Viola Davis and husband Julius Tennon, Hollywood power couple Meagan Good and DeVon Franklin, NAACP Image Award-winner Tia Mowry and husband/actor Cory Hardrict, NAACP Image Award-nominee Flex Alexander and Grammy-nominated recording artist Shanice, gospel singer Erica Campbell and husband/music producer Warryn Campbell, and many additional couples from around the country. 

20  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

https://blackamericaweb.com/2017/08/01/own-introduces-newdocu-series-black-love-2/

Jason Momoa is "Aquaman" Coming in 2018

he 1970s cartoon series Super Friends depicted Aquaman as a goofy character who talks to fish but James Wan, director of the upcoming "Aquaman" doesn't see that as a problem since #JasonMomoa has stepped into the role. In fact, Wan calls Zack Snyder's decision to cast the former Game of Thrones star “a stroke of genius.” James Momoa That, most likely, has a lot to do with Momoa's sheer presence. At 6'4, the actor isn't exactly a shrinking violet, and Wan emphasized that when he spoke with TheWrap about the actor's impact on the role. “Momoa is not a guy that you would go up to and make fun of. I really think you immediately remove any of the stigma of the character from the cartoons that we

are familiar with.” With superhuman strength, nearly impenetrable skin, the ability to breathe under water, and so much more, this refugee from the lost city of Atlantis deserves more respect from the superhero-loving community. I dare say, when Aquaman releases in December 2018, Jason Momoa will make sure the King of the Seven Seas gets what's been lacking for so long.  Rachel Carrington, writer at Creators.co https://moviepilot.com/p/james-wan-jason-momoa-performanceaquaman-stigma/4344945

'Justice League' Features Joe Morton, Ray Fisher and Jason Momoa

ustice League is an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is intended to be the fifth installment in the DC Extended Universe. The film is directed by Zack Snyder and written by Chris Terrio, from a story by Snyder and Terrio, and features an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray

JUSTICE LEAGUE

Ray Fisher see page 22

BBN Show Biz Buzz

from BBN Show Biz Buzz on page 21

Fisher, Ciarán Hinds, Amy Adams, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and J. K. Simmons. In Justice League, Batman and Wonder Woman assemble a team consisting of Flash, Aquaman, and

most of his body and part of his face have been replaced with metallic implants. Victor initially wants to die, but he eventually adjusts to the changes and learns to control his implants. Justice League is scheduled to be released on November 17, 2017, in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D. 

Ndegeocello. Ava DuVernay's film distribution company, Array, is is releasing "The House on Coco Road." The documentary may be viewed via Netflix.  Reporter: Brittany K. Jackson https://lasentinel.net/film-director-damanibaker-on-the-house-on-coco-road.html

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

View "House on Coco Road" on Netﬂix

ilm Director Damani Baker's "The House on Coco Road", is an intimate documentary exploration of heritage and history against the backdrop of a brewing

Ray Fisher as Cyborg Cyborg to face the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons. Joe Morton portrays Dr. Silas Stone (Cyborg's father). On a visit to S.T.A.R. Labs, an experiment goes horribly wrong and Victor is severely mutilated. To save his son, Silas outfits him with experimental prosthetics of his own design. The equipment can not be worn inconspicuously, and Victor is horrified upon discovering that

Shonda Rhimes Inks Deal with Netﬂix

fter a long tenure at ABC Studios, the Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal creator, Shonda Rhimes, is leaving the studio for a mega multi-year deal at the streaming giant, Netflix. Heading to Netflix with Rhimes is her Shondaland, which over the past year she had built into a fullfledged production company with its own infrastructure. Shondaland, in which Rhimes is partnered with Betsy Beers, will function as a division of Netflix’s in-house studio.

Damani Baker

Afro-centric revolution as the U.S. government prepares to invade the island nation of Grenada. A captivating story of a woman who risks the lives of herself and her young children in pursuit of liberty. First hand accounts from activists Angela Davis, Fania Davis and Fannie Haughton weave together director Damani Baker’s family portrait of Utopian dreams, resistance and civil unrest with a film Joe Morton as score composed by Dr. Silas Stone music luminary Meshell

Shonda Rhimes

22 August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Rhimes will continue to work on the ABC shows Shondaland has on the air, the returning Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal — heading into its final season — and How To Get Away with Murder, and the upcoming For The People, a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff. Rhimes’ series already are among the most popular off-network titles on Netflix. Additionally, How to Get Away with Murder streams everywhere else in the world on Netflix, with Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal available on Netflix in many regions as well. “Shondaland’s move to Netflix is the result of a shared plan Ted Sarandos and I built based on my vision for myself as a storyteller and for the evolution of my company,” said Rhimes. “Ted provides a clear, fearless space for creators at Netflix. He understood what I was looking for — the opportunity to build a vibrant new storytelling home for writers with the unique creative freedom and instantaneous global reach provided by Netflix’s singular sense of innovation. The future of Shondaland at Netflix has limitless possibilities.”  By: Nellie Andreeva BBN Editing www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/shondarhimes-inks-deal-with-netflix-leavinglongtime-abc-studios-home/ar-AAq2y9O?li =BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

endure and discovering strength they never knew possible. The film, based on the Charles Martin book, is directed by Academy Award nominee Hany Abu-Assad and stars Academy Award winner Kate Winslet and Golden Globe winner Idris Elba. The release date is October 6, 2017. The film website is www. foxmovies.com/movies/themountain-between-us.  www.comingsoon.net/movie/ the-mountain-between-us-2017#/ slide/1

"Roman Israel, Esq." Set for Fall 2018

ony’s upcoming legal thriller starring Denzel Washington and Colin Farrell has got itself a new title. Once known as Inner City, that was eventually dropped and it’s remained nameless until now. The film is directed and written by Dan Gilroy. It concerns an idealistic defense attorney with strong morals, who is dedicated to helping those who are socially oppressed. He’s offered a job at a prestigious law firm after the death of his longtime partner, but he then takes on a case that has life-

Denzell Washington as Roman Israel, Esq. altering repercussions. Washington had been circling the lead role since August 2016 until the casting was formally announced. After Sony signed for the rights and the film was given funding by a Chinese source, all that was left was a release date and a confirmed title. The film is now officially called Roman Israel, Esq. which is obviously the name of Washington’s character and emphasises the fact that the plot will focus almost entirely upon him. The movie has just wrapped principal photography, but still does not have a release date. It’s rumored that the studio is looking at a fourth-quarter release, as they have plenty of see page 24

"The Mountain Between Us" Due Out in October

tranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow covered mountain. When they realize help is not coming, they embark on a perilous journey across hundreds of miles of wilderness, pushing one another to Idris Elba - The Mountain Between Us

BBN Show Biz Buzz confidence in Washington’s performance and his boxoffice draw, and that would position the actor for awards consideration.  By David Stephens http://screenrant.com/denzel-washingtonsinner-city-gets-a-new-title /

"Mary Magdelene" will be shown in the US in November 2017

et in the Holy Land in the first century C.E., a young woman leaves her small fishing village and traditional family behind to join a radical new social movement. At its head is

a charismatic leader, Jesus of Nazareth, who promises that the world is changing. Mary is searching for a new way of living, and an authenticity that is denied her by the rigid hierarchies of the day. As the notoriety of the group spread and more are drawn to follow Jesus' inspirational message, Mary's spiritual journey places her at the heart of a story that will lead to the capital city of Jerusalem, where she must confront the reality of Jesus' destiny and her own place within it. Chiwetel Ejiofor will play Peter, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles and his lead disciple. According to the New Testament, Peter was a fisherman and played a key role, being with Jesus during events witnessed by only a few apostles, such as the Transfiguration. He famously denied Jesus three times, only to be forgiven after the Resurrection. Peter is believed to have been crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar — crucified upside down at his own request, believing himself unworthy to be crucified upright as Jesus was. With the boarding of Ejiofor, one of today’s most respected and versatile actors, the assembling talent indicates an edgy, decidedly indie take on the greatest story ever told. It is set to be an authentic and humanistic portrait of one of the most enigmatic and misunderstood spiritual figures in history.  www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ mary_magdalene_2017

Joaquine Phoenix as Jesus and Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Apostle Peter

http://deadline.com/2016/07/ chiwetel-ejiofor-in-talks-marymagdalene-will-play-peter-theapostle-1201785939/

Taraﬁ P. Henson is "Proud Mary"

’ve been looking forward to Proud Mary (January 2018) since it was announced that Taraji P. Henson would play an

ass-kicking assassin because I will honestly see her in anything, but after the stylish poster that looked like it could’ve been from a Pam Grier opening, I was absolutely psyched. Here’s the full synopsis: “Proud Mary stars Henson as the titular character, a ruthless professional hit-woman for the Boston mob who breaks good after she meets a young boy who awakens her maternal instinct in her that she never knew she had. The film is directed by London Has Fallen filmmaker Babak Najafi and co-stars Billy Brown, Margaret Avery, Xander Berkeley and Danny Glover.”  by Charline Jao www.themarysue.com/proud-mary-trailer/

24  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

BBN Show Biz Buzz

Introducing Watch, a New Platform For Shows On Facebook By Daniel Danker, Director of Product

atching video on Facebook has the incredible power to connect people, spark conversation, and foster community. On Facebook, videos are discovered through friends and bring communities together. As more and more people enjoy this experience, we’ve learned that people like the serendipity of discovering videos in News Feed, but they also want a dedicated place they can go to watch videos. That’s why last year we launched the Video tab in the US, which offered a predictable place to find videos on Facebook. Now we want to make it even easier to catch up with shows you love.

Introducing Watch We’re introducing Watch, a new platform for shows on Facebook. Watch will be available on mobile, on desktop and laptop, and in our TV apps. Shows are made up of episodes — live or recorded — and follow a theme or storyline. To help you keep up with the shows you follow, Watch has a Watchlist so you never miss out on the latest episodes. Watch is personalized to help you discover new shows, organized around what your friends and communities are watching. For example, you’ll find sections like “Most Talked About,” which highlights shows that spark conversation, “What’s Making People Laugh,” which includes shows where many people have used the Haha reaction, and “What Friends Are Watching,” which helps you con-

nect with friends about shows they too are following. We’ve learned from Facebook Live that people’s comments and reactions to a video are often as much a part of the experience as the video itself. So when you watch a show, you can see comments and connect with friends and other viewers while watching, or participate in a dedicated Facebook Group for the show.

A Platform for Shows Watch is a platform for all creators and publishers to find an audience, build a community of passionate fans, and earn money for their work. We think a wide variety of Facebook shows can be successful, particularly: Shows that engage fans and community. Nas Daily publishes a daily show where he makes videos together with his fans from around the world. The Watchlist makes it easy for fans to catch every day’s new episode. Live shows that connect directly with fans. Gabby Bernstein, a New York Times bestselling author, motivational speaker, and life coach, uses a combination of recorded and live episodes to connect with her fans and answer questions in real time. Shows that follow a narrative arc or have a consistent theme. Tastemade’s Kitchen Little is a funny show about kids who watch a howto video of a recipe, then instruct professional chefs on how to make it. Each episode features a new child, a new chef, and a new recipe.

Unsurprisingly, the food doesn’t always turn out as expected. Live events that bring communities together. Major League Baseball is broadcasting a game a week on Facebook, enabling people to watch live baseball while connecting with friends and fellow fans on the platform. We think Watch will be home to a wide range of shows, from reality to comedy to live sports. To help inspire creators and seed the ecosystem, we’ve also funded some shows that are examples of community-oriented and episodic video series. For example, Returning the Favor is a series hosted by Mike Rowe where he finds people doing something extraordinary for their community, tells the world about it, and in turn does something extraordinary for them. Candidates are nominated by Mike’s fans on Facebook. We’re excited to see how creators and publishers use shows to connect with their fans and community. You can learn more about making shows on our Media blog (https:// media.fb.com/2017/08/09/introducingwatch-and-shows-on-facebook).

We’ll be introducing Watch to a limited group of people in the US and plan to bring the experience to more people soon. Similarly, we’ll be opening up Shows to a limited group of creators and plan to roll out to all soon.  https://newsroom.fb.com/ news/2017/08/introducing-watch-anew-platform-for-shows-on-facebook/

25  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Activism

Kenneth Frazier, Merck CEO, Steps Away from President's American Manufacturing Council By Lydia Ramsey

erck CEO Kenneth Frazier is resigning from President Donald Trump's manufacturing council. "America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry, and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal," Frazier said in a statement on August 13, 2017. Several executives from top U.S. companies have stepped down from a number of presidential advi-

sory councils in protest to Trump policies. Mr. Frazier is one of the few black CEOs of a major US corporation and was the only black member of the council. His resignation is in response to the President's public resonse following a gathering of hundreds of white nationalists in Virginia took a deadly turn on when a car plowed into a group of counterprotesters and killed at least one person.  www.businessinsider.com/merck-ceokenneth-frazier-resigns-from-trumpmanufacturing-council-2017-8 www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/merck-ceo-resigns-from-trumpcouncil-after-charlottesville/ar-AAq3K0 y?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

28  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819 July

Business - Activism

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Calls on Tech Leaders to Stand Up, Speak Out Against Racism and White Supremacist Inspired Violence President Donald Trump's reluctance to condemn the violent white supremacists of Charlottesville - and their active support for him - cannot be tolerated. His statement is too little, too late, too weak. Not believable. The Rainbow PUSH Coalition applauds today's resignation of Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier from President Trump's manufacturing council and tech leaders like Tim Cook (Apple), Meg Whitman (HPE) and Brian Krzanich (Intel) for their public denunciations of racism and the terrorist actions of the white supremacists. In an industry that purports that "diversity is in our DNA" and is now deeply embroiled in issues of race and gender equality, other tech leaders must stand up and speak out, and take principled and brave action. Silence is betrayal. There is but one side – not many – which side are you on?  www.rainbowpush.org 29 August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Activism

Barack Obama Tweets in Wake of Charlottesville Violence By Todd Spangler

ormer President Barack Obama has set the record for the mostliked tweet in Twitter’s history, with his post quoting Nelson Mandela in response to the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend. Obama’s Aug. 12 tweet was posted after a rally of white nationalists and neoNazis resulted in the murder of 32-yearold Heather Heyer, who was struck by a car that smashed into a crowd of antihate protesters. The post set the record on Tuesday, when it topped 2.7 million likes, according to Twitter. Obama quoted Mandela, the South African political and anti-apartheid resistance leader, in a series of three tweets: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” The ﬁrst of Obama’s Aug. 12 tweets surpassed the previous record-holder for most-liked Twitter post, which was Ariana Grande’s distraught message following the Manchester terrorist attack in May after she performed a concert. That has 2.7 million likes. The third most-liked tweet of all-time currently is Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscars selﬁe from the 2014 Academy Awards, with 2.4 million likes. Obama maintains one of the most-followed Twitter accounts (@BarackObama), with 93.3 million

followers. Donald Trump, the 45th president of the U.S., has 35.9 million followers for his primary @ realDonaldTrump account. President Trump, in a bizarre and antagonistic press conference at Trump Tower earlier Tuesday, defended the white-supremacist marchers in Charlottesville. He reiterated his opinion that “both sides” were to blame for the resulting violence. http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/barack-obamatwitter-record-most-liked-charlottesville-nelsonmandela-1202529245/

30  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Mentor Opportunity

VV GROW Fellowship VV GROW Fellowship 2018 Application

hat is the VV Fellowship? The VV Fellowship: A Leading Accelerator for Entrepreneurs is a competitive one-year

GROW GROW Global Women highly global

accelerator program for women owners of small and medium businesses. The program includes customized business skills training, technical assistance, leadership development, and access to networks to grow their businesses and increase their leadership impact. Through online and inperson trainings, fellows focus on strategy and long-term business value paired with action-oriented plans. They amplify their role as leaders in their businesses and their communities to create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth and produce wider social beneﬁts. The program would not be possible without the support of our donor partners, the Global Founding Partner of the VV GROW Fellowship, the ExxonMobil Foundation and Platinum Sponsor of the VV GROW Fellowship, FedEx. The one-year program includes: Global Virtual Learning: Over 4 months, fellows complete a series

of weekly webinars, assignments, online courses, assessments, and one-on-one calls with peers, Vital Voices staff, and trainers. Fellows begin to build their knowledge about marketing, networking, business planning, financial management and leadership, the core topics of the program. Fellows assess the current state of their business and leadership in order to determine where they are; analyze their business and the external environment to identify opportunities for growth; and define specific business growth goals to identify where they want to go. In-Person Training: Each year, fellows from each region gather to participate in a four-day, in-person training workshop that will guide them in creating an action plan outlining how they will accomplish their business growth goals. Fellows also get the opportunity to meet, network with, and learn from other fellows from across regions, Vital Voices staff and trainers. Growth Services and Support: Following the inperson training, fellows implement and revise their action plans, while evaluating their progress toward their business growth goals. Throughout the last 6 months of the fellowship, Vital Voices staff connects fellows to individualized growth services and

support based on the goals and action items in their action plan. APPLY TO BE A VV GROW FELLOW! Who can apply? Women business owners who: Own a business that... Has been in operation for at least 3 years Employs at least 3 full time staﬀ Generates at least USD $40,000 in annual sales Reside in the same country as your business for at least 7 months out of the year Are proﬁcient in spoken and written English As an interested applicant, you: Are motivated to build the skills and make the changes needed to grow your business Have the authority to make critical decisions within your business Have demonstrated leadership within your community Are enthusiastic about participating in a one-year business accelerator program Are willing to have Vital Voices

track your business growth for 1 year during the Fellowship, and up to 5 years afterwards and are committed to participate in data collection methods including online

32  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

surveys and phone calls What will I receive through the program? Strengthened knowledge, skills, and confidence in 5 core areas: business planning, leadership, financial management, networking, and marketing Access to highly qualified staff and business consultants Access to online business management and leadership courses through Harvard Business

A certiﬁcate of program completion Entry into the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network upon graduation What do I commit to as a fellow? Active participation throughout the program 4-7 hours per week dedicated to webinars, assignments and calls during the global virtual learning stage (January-May 2018) Attending the entirety of the 4-day in person training workshop in May

School Publishing’s online platform, Harvard ManageMentor (HMM) for one year Interactive webinars led by expert trainers from across the globe A 4-day in-person training workshop Joining a network of women business leaders from across the globe Referral(s) to business support services tailored to your needs

2018 2-3 hours per week during the growth services and support stage of the program (June-December 2018) Collaborating with Vital Voices on tracking your business growth during the fellowship and for up to ﬁve years afterwards via completion of brief, periodic online surveys, and phone calls What happens after I apply?

Applicants selected for an interview will be contacted for a 1-hour Skype interview. All applicants, whether or not selected for an interview, will be notified about final decision by December 15, 2017. Application Instructions The application deadline is as follows: September 22, 2017 This application should take approximately 60 to 90 minutes to complete; however, you will be able to save your answers and return to the application at any time. To do this just click the “Save and continue survey later” message that appears at the top of the application and provide your email address. You will then receive an email with a personal link which you should use to return to your application. The application must be completed in English. The application must be completed by the person applying for the fellowship. Your personal and business information will remain confidential. Individual responses are only seen by Vital Voices staff and VV GROW trainers and they are used solely for program participant selection, and if selected, for program design, and monitoring and evaluation. If selected, please note that selection is NON-TRANSFERABLE. The applicant may not transfer or share interview or program participation with another owner or employee of the business. If you encounter questions or problems with the survey, please send an email to marrayamkhera@ vitalvoices.org with the subject line: VV GROW Fellowship Application

APPLY TODAY http://vitalvoices.2018vvgrowfellows hipapplication.sgizmo.com/s3 

33  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Start-up Funding

Morgan Stanley Is Putting Its Money Behind 5 Minority-Led Tech Firms By Blavity Team

inancial powerhouse Morgan Stanley has launched a Multicultural Innovation Lab (www.morganstanley.com/ideas/startupaccelerator-multicultural-innovation-lab) to help startups secure funding for their young companies and new ideas. Five companies have been chosen to be part of the program and the bank will sponsor two of the companies a year, according to Business Insider ( w w w. b u s i n e s s i n s i d e r. c o m / m o r g a n - s t a n l e y - t e c h incubator-2017-7). The participants Kairos (www.kairos.com), Landit (https://landit.com), AptDeco (www.aptdeco. com), GitLinks (www.gitlinks.com) and Trigger (www. triggerﬁnance.com) will work out of the Morgan Stanley

headquarters for a four-month period granting them access to Newark Venture Partners (http:// newarkventurepartners.com), a New Jersey-based venture capital firm, and TechStars (www.techstars. com), a global entrepreneurial network. Brian Brackeen the founder of Kairos, a startup that combines artificial intelligence with facial recognition, expressed the difficulty of finding funding. “I come from a middle-class African American family in Philly,” said Brackeen. “I’m not that guy from an affluent family who went to an Ivy League school and has a huge college network of friends in banking and hedge funds.” The innovation lab was the brainchild of Carla Harris, a Vice Chairwoman of Morgan Stanley and Head of its Multicultural Client Strategy Group. She put

together an investment committee after getting the goahead from Morgan Stanley Vice Chairman Tom Nides and began to work on creating a network of mentors for the entrepreneurs. Harris is well-aware of the funding issues minority entrepreneurs face. “Only a small fraction of all venture capital money is given to multicultural and women entrepreneurs,” explained Harris. “Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is a leader at the intersection of what these companies need: capital, connections, and investment banking content. We have the resources, access to relationships, and the expertise that can help reﬁne these businesses and hopefully attract capital to scale up in size.” This program is a much-needed step in the right direction.  www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/need-know-usps-informeddelivery/all/

34  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Start-up Funding

Competition Seeks To Bring Start-Up Tech Talent To Detroit By Blavity Team

nyone who’s tried to start a company knows that getting funding is easier said than done. That’s where competitions and grants come in. Private citizens and governments both are always on the lookout for the new and the next, and things are no diﬀerent in Detroit. Invest Detroit Ventures was started in the 1990s as part of a plan to redevelop Detroit, and the ﬁrm carries on that mission to today. One way they work towards that goal is through the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. “Our goal is to connect Michigan startups to capital and mentorship both regionally and nationally,” Invest Detroit Ventures vice-president Martin Dober said in a press release sent to Blavity. The head of the competition itself, Seun Oyewole told Blavity that Invest Detroit hopes that “the best and brightest high-growth companies led by diverse entrepreneurs” will apply.

There’s a lot at stake for those looking for funding. The competition’s grand prize is $500,000. Another $500,000 will be split between the runners-up. In addition, Oyewole told us that all competitors will “gain exposure to regional investors, corporations and industry experts.” Companies that have competed in the program in years past have reaped sizable rewards — Invest Detroit notes that “past participating companies have raised more than $550 million in funding and created more than 1,000 jobs in Michigan.” Not bad, right? If you want to apply, applications are being accepted until September 2 through Submittable (https://acceleratemichigan.submittable.com/submit?utm_ s o urce =PR& utm_ medi um=p ress % 20r ele ase &u tm _ campaign=submissions%20portal). 

https://blavity.com/accelerate-michigan-innovationcompetition-detroit-tech

35  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Headline

n our second year of this report, we return to the conversation with new data and insights into how consumers interact with and think about the email messages they receive. This year, we also asked in-depth questions around how consumers think about privacy and security. We asked 1,200 consumers, from teens to baby boomers, living all over the United States. You’ll see the details behind: 47% of consumers (across all demos) have a separate email address that they use exclusively

for emails they don’t intend to open. 59% of consumers leave an email unread if they plan to read it later, 33% flag it. When registering for a mobile app, 83% of consumers use their email address instead of their social media accounts. Last year, we learned that teens and millennials prefer email. Let’s see if that held true this year. Their answers — and our analysis and advice — are in this report for you. Visit www. targetmarketingmag.com/ resource/2017-consumer-digitalusage-and-behavior-study to download the study. 

Welcome to More.

Open the door to a hotel you don’t just visit. You own it. Choice Hotels® is committed to achieving more diversity in hospitality with exclusive incentive programs designed to reduce up front costs and provide more support to minority hotel developers. And our commitment doesn’t stop there. Choice Hotels promotes and pursues diversity at all levels, ranging from our workforce to our hotel guests, from our suppliers to entrepreneurs looking to create wealth. Like you. Open the door to hotel ownership opportunities with Choice Hotels. Because you’re not in business for less. You’re in it for more. www.choicehotelsdevelopment.com/#&panel1-2

Business - Climate Change Opportunity

RECYCLING: A Challenge and An Opportunity efforts—already shut down more than 450 recycling plants this year. While the outlook for the industry is bleak, Recycle Across America (www.recycleacrossamerica.org), a nonprofit organization, is finding that the simple solution of creating consistent labels and messaging on recycling bins can help the problem. The more Americans know exactly what to recycle, the less likely they are to contaminate the recycling stream. Events, schools, businesses, cities and even the entire state of Rhode Island have begun using labels with impressive results. The University of Denver, for example, reported a 90% improvement in recycling after adding labels to its recycle bins a couple years ago.

Contamination Global municipal solid waste is expected to double by 2025, and one reason for that rise is the recycling crisis.

ven though Americans have been recycling since the 1970s, not all have been doing it properly. Because different recycling plants allow different items to be recycled in different cities and states across the nation, Americans have had a difficult time deciphering exactly what can and

can’t be recycled at each bin they pass. As a result, the nation’s recycling stream continues to be contaminated with unrecyclable items such as diapers and food products, crippling recycling economics. The process to remove contamination reduces proﬁtability, driving up the cost of recyclables, which in turn prevents manufacturers from reusing recycled materials. The result: recycling plants close. The largest recycling hauler in the U.S. closed 25% of its recycling plants in recent years, and the state of California— known for its progressive recycling

Contamination that stems from public confusion at the bin is the primary cause for the collapse. If the public was not confused, apathetic and skeptical about recycling, there would be millions of

40  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

tons less garbage thrown in recycling bins each day. It would save the billions of dollars currently spent to remove contamination from the recycling stream. With less contamination in the recycling stream, there would be fewer plastic bags a n d other contaminants jamming the processing equipment. There would be signiﬁcantly less wasted time and money spent while equipment is shut down for repairs, and far fewer injuries to employees at recycling plants. If we eliminate confu-

sion at the bin, these exorbitant a n d costly inefficienc i e s would be remedied and the demand for the materials would be strong. Recycling proﬁt margins would be so far improved that they would then be able to weather occasional ﬂuctuations in virgin commodity pricing.

Can we ﬁx recycling? We can by: • Eliminating confusing labels on recycling bins and replacing them with the society-wide stan-

dardized labels. • Sign the "Mayor's Petition" on the Recycle Across America website (www.recycleacrossamerica.org/take-action). • Donate Standardized Labels to Schools, Churches and other non-proﬁt organizations to use on their recycling containers (www.recycleacrossamerica.org/ schools-1).

• Encourage your workplace, school, place of worship and businesses that you frequent, to start using the standardized labels on their recycling bins to make it easier for people to begin to recycle right (www.recycleacrossamerica.org/labels).  www.recycleacrossamerica.org/usrecycling-collapse

he 14th annual National Black Business Month drives national, state and local policy towards achieving a two-thirds increase in African-American annual income by boosting manufacturing, healthcare and export industries. NBBM uses the 31 Ways 31 Days strategy to galvanize spending by industry on specific days during August 2017 and to raise the visibility of policy issues affecting African-American entrepreneurship. Over the next 31 days we encourage you and your circle of associates find 31 ways to interact and invest in the Black Business community in your region. Eat a meal at a few restaurants, open an account or deposit a little extra in a bank-owned bank, shop with the fashion leaders in your neck of the woods, procure foods from local black farmers or black-owned retailers or what ever interations you can devise. As has been said many times before "No one will save us but us." Try the 31 Ways 31 Days strategy several times each year and be part of the campaign to grow and strengthen the African American economy across this nation. http://blackbusinessmonth.com 41  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

42  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Profile

Kraft Heinz Taps Oprah's mojo in Struggle to Boost Sales By Craig Giammona

raft Heinz, struggling to ignite sales growth amid punishing grocery industry competition, is turning to media magnate Oprah Winfrey to break out of a prolonged slump.

the “O, That’s Good!” brand, as “nutritious twists” on comfort foods like mashed potatoes and broccoli cheddar soup. “I love healthy foods and eating from my garden,” Winfrey said in

Kraft, known more for slashing costs than nurturing brands, has tried to update its portfolio to meet changing tastes, adding organic Capri Sun and removing artiﬁcial ingredients from Oscar Mayer hot

Winfrey, pivotal to the turnaround at Weight Watchers International Inc. since she bought a stake in that company and agreed to pitch the brand, is the face of a new line of refrigerated soups and side dishes made without artiﬁcial ﬂavors and dyes. The products have begun hitting shelves and will available nationwide in October, Kraft Heinz said in a statement Wednesday. Winfrey’s wide-ranging appeal makes her an attractive spokesman for products, and Kraft Heinz is hoping that a bit of her mojo will help it ignite sales growth. The company describes the new products, which will be sold under

the statement. “When Kraft Heinz approached me for a food line, what got my attention is making nutritious comfort foods more accessible to everyone.” Kraft Heinz hasn’t posted sales growth since the company was created in a 2015 merger orchestrated by the private equity ﬁrm 3G Capital and Warren Buﬀett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Its competitors in the packagedfood industry are slumping too -- the largest food companies in the U.S. have lost almost $16 billion in sales over the past three years amid broad shifts in how consumers eat and shop.

dogs. In January, the company said that it was working with Winfrey to develop new refrigerated products. The former television host, meanwhile, has seen the value of her investment in Weight Watchers surge to more than $400 million this year. That company’s stock has quadrupled in 2017, partly because of ads touting Winfrey’s weight loss on its diet program.  w ww. msn . co m /e n -u s/ m o n e y/ co mp a nie s /k ra f t -h e i nz - ta ps- op ra h s m o j o - i n - s t r u g g l e - t o - b o o st - s a l e s / a r AApM4OY?ocid=spartandhp

43  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Marketing

Out-Of-Home Advertising Opportunities About to Expand By Candice Simons

s connected technologies and autonomous solutions evolve at breakneck speed in the automotive industry, the driving experience is expected to change drastically over the course of the next decade. With this influx of technology on our roads, let’s explore what this means for the relationship between out-of-home (OOH) advertising and drivers, as well as opportunities that present themselves to advertisers as our world, and commutes, become more connected.

Safety One of the main selling points of autonomous vehicles is their ability to create safer roads. According

to a study by the Eno Centre for Transportation, if 90% of cars on American roads were autonomous, the number of accidents would fall from six million per year to 1.3 million and deaths would fall from 33,000 per year to 11,300. Such wholesale changes to mobility will take time, but semiautonomous features, such as laneassist and adaptive cruise control systems, can be found on roads today. These systems allow vehicles to manage more predictable driving situations, like highway commutes, which free drivers to focus their attention elsewhere. As these systems and other autonomous technologies continue to advance — ultimately making

the driving experience less driver intensive and safer — it presents an opportunity for advertisers to create more engaging interactions with drivers. U.S. consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, estimates that autonomous vehicles could free as much as 50 minutes per day for drivers, who will be able to spend travel time relaxing, taking in their surroundings and, of course, seeing roadside ads.

Instant Interaction In addition to the increased time available to view OOH ads, selfdriving vehicles are going to change how drivers and passengers interact with them as well due to increases in-car connectivity and Wi-Fi

Mercedes Autonomous Car 44  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

capability. Since the d r i v i n g function will be managed by the car, future billboard Solar-powered public bench technology will have more freedom to tap into ending public that connectivity and communicate transportation with riders directly. anytime soon. This means more opportunities In dense Futuristic Bus Stop for passengers to experience cities, public digital and app experiences while in transit will transit, and OOH ads will play a key remain the most efficient role in sharing those opportunities form of transportation; with commuters. According to the however, that’s not to say Pew Research Center, more public transportation will than 77% of Americans now not undergo the same own a smartphone. This number autonomous revolution will only grow over time, and as that cars are experiencing. it does, it will translate to more Driverless solutions are OOH advertisers leveraging riders’ popping up around the mobile connection to share more world and it’s likely that targeted and relevant ad efforts that as autonomous cars grow, Futuristic Bus Stop Ads will increase engagement and user there also will be a growth satisfaction. in autonomous buses, trains and streetcars. there will be a growth in digital Public Transportation This is all good news for OOH connectivity in areas with heavy Even though autonomous advertisers. With the spread of foot traffic, in particular bus and vehicles will have great effect on autonomous public transportation train stations. According to a report personal mobility, they will not be from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, OOH mediums such as smart benches, bus stop ads, and kiosks will offer touch points for passengers that, like advanced billboards, will provide opportunities for OOH advertisers to deliver more highvalue, quality content that people with mobile connections are more likely to engage. In all, connectivity and autonomous solutions do not develop in a vacuum. As they progress, so do other technologies and industries, and it’s important for us as advertisers to take note and recognize how these advancements affect how we reach consumers.  Autonomous Electric Bus

www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/ autonomous-vehicles-and-the-new-drivingexperience-what-it-means-for-ooh-advertising/ all/

45  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

re you a Small Business interested in selling your product or services to Metro or to Prime Contractors that do business with Metro? Would you like to learn how to win contracts as a Prime Contractor through SB Prime, Metro's exciting set-aside initiative? If so, we invite you to come grow with us and learn about Metro Connect. Start now and register for a How to Do Business with Metro Workshop. Metro staff will show you how to take advantage of the vast array of products, services and transportation related opportunities projected over the coming weeks, months and year. As an added bonus, Metro's procurement staff will host informal interviews with firms before the workshop, starting at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 12, 2017 8:30 a.m.: Registration 9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.: One-on-One with Contract Administrators and Continental Breakfast 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.: Program

Metro Headquarters 3rd Floor, Board Room, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Topics: Highway Project Update, Procurement Update, Certiﬁcation Update, Small Business Prime Update, LA SAFE/511 Next Generation Update To learn more about how Metro Connect's Small and Disadvantaged Business Certiﬁcations can help open the door to contracting opportunities with Metro visit Metro Vendor Portal. For further questions, please contact Marisela Villar at VillarM@metro.net or via phone at 213.922.2235.

46  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Editorial

Trump Trains His Sights on Af rmative Action By Jesse Jackson

ampaigning for the presidency, Donald Trump argued that blacks and other people of color should vote for him. Given their current conditions, he argued, “What the hell do you have to lose?” Since winning election, however, Trump seems intent on proving over and over again just how much African-Americans and other minorities have to lose. Under Trump’s attorney general, former Alabama Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, the Justice Department has been turned into a Department of Injustice. Sessions, once rejected by a Republicanmajority Senate for racially biased actions and statements when nominated to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, has set about implanting Dixiecrat justice on the nation’s minorities. He has directed federal prosecutors to seek the harshest sentences possible for nonviolent drug offenses, ensuring the continued incarceration of a disproportionate number of African Americans. The Justice Department has retreated from what was an emerging bipartisan consensus on sensible police reform. It has changed positions to support state laws that suppress minority voting rights. It has extended the federal government’s power to seize the property of innocent Americans. Now, as reported in the New York Times (www. nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmativeaction-universities.html?_r=0&utm_medium=email&utm_

source=rainbow&utm_content=2+-+reported&utm_campai gn=Commentary&source=Commentary), the Department

is seeking political attorneys to investigate and sue universities “over affirmative action policies that are deemed to discriminate against white applicants.” The assault on affirmative action is classic dog whistle racial politics. In fact, as former University of Michigan president Lee Bollinger has shown, affirmative action has helped to expand opportunity. Campuses across the country have become more representative of the American people. This has not only helped counter centuries of discrimination; it also allows students to learn with and from people of different backgrounds. This helps prepare the future leaders and citizens of the country. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that a diverse student body is an educational benefit and a boon to the country that justifies affirmative action. Those who oppose it often assume that university admissions are based upon one objective scale: grade point and standardized test results. This is, in a word, nonsense. University admissions offices labor intensely to create a diverse body of students capable of doing the work necessary to succeed. Grades and standardized tests count, as does the quality of prior educational experience. So does the luck of having an alum as a parent, or wealthy relations who can add to the university endowment, or special athletic or musical

48  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

or dramatic skills, coming from underrepresented rural communities or from abroad, and more. Some of these categories — say having parents who are alumni or are wealthy — discriminate disproportionately against people of color, since African-Americans were forbidden to build fortunes under slavery and were often excluded from college admissions until the civil rights movement’s reforms. Affirmative action helps to level the playing field. Another lie propagated by its opponents is that affirmative action policies make it significantly harder for white students to get into selective colleges. In fact, as Derek Bok, former Harvard president, and William Bowen, former president of Princeton, reported, if selective universities had a completely race-blind admissions policy, the probability of being admitted for a white student would rise from 25 percent to 26.2 percent. A final myth is that race no longer matters. The right-wing gang of five justices in the Supreme Court argued this in gutting provisions of the Voting Rights Act. States across the country then proved them wrong by enacting new voting restrictions — a revival of Jim Crow voter suppression schemes — that were designed to make it harder for African-Americans and students to vote. America is more segregated than it was at the time of the civil rights movement. Our public schools are too often separate and unequal. Race still matters in this country, bigtime. What do we have to lose with Trump? Equal opportunity, voting rights, police reform, sentencing reform, university admission. People of color are learning that when Trump trumpets America First, he doesn’t include them in his America.  www.rainbowpush.org

49  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Education

University Aims to Educate 50,000 Refugees Worldwide by 2022 By Michael Casey, Associated Press

nspired by the success of a Southern New Hampshire University program (www.snhu.edu/

about-us/news-and-events/2017/07/snhu-launchesmajor-refugee-education-initiative) that allows hundreds

of refugees in Rwanda to access its courses, a group of anonymous donors approached its president with a challenge: What would it take to educate 50,000 refugees each year? The president, Paul LeBlanc, was intrigued. After some discussion, the donors agreed last month to provide $10 million to the university so it can study whether its program offering associate and bachelor's degrees at a Kiziba refugee camp and a Kigali facility could be replicated. Most of the 300 students are on pace to graduate, and almost all are getting job or internship offers. The concept of a university for the displaced comes as the world's refugee crisis reaches levels not seen since World War II. The United Nations' refugee agency reports that 65.3 million people were forced to leave their homelands in 2016. Many refugees languish in squalid camps that sometimes lack the basics of life — clean water and sufficient food — and where a higher education is little more than a dream. "When I was in Burundi, I never dreamed of what is happening to me now," said Ella Ininahazwe, a 24-yearold refugee from Burundi who left for Rwanda after her university shut down. She now attends the Kigali program and dreams of one day working in health care for refugees. "I see another Ella who cares about others, an Ella who is fortunate to be able to help others, an Ella who want to share what she has," she said. "I found another person inside me. I am very proud of myself now." If the university can replicate its results at four more sites by 2019, the donors will agree to cover the cost of 20 more sites in refugee camps primarily in the Middle East and Africa by 2022. The goal is to offer a free online education to refugees in jobs such as business administration, construction management and health care and to get them internships and jobs afterward. "It's like building a whole new college from scratch,

a radically different model that is global in scope and incredibly agile to deal with different locals, settings and challenges," LeBlanc said. Only 1% of refugees have access to higher education, according to Ita Sheehy, the education adviser for the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees. Few camps offer higher education to refugees in contrast to secondary and primary education. Many refugees are prohibited from leaving their camps, and those who can leave often cannot afford the schooling. "We really feel investment in higher education is enormously important to build skills that young people

52  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

need to invest in their communities and to be able to rebuild societies when they go back home," Sheehy said, noting that the minister of education in South Sudan and an adviser to the country's president are refugees who received a higher education. With demand far outpacing what is available, the UNHCR is among

"There is no group that is more vulnerable or more poorly served than refugees," said Duncan, who returned this past week from visiting a refugee camp in Jordan. To make it work, LeBlanc is hoping to emulate many of the things that have worked in the Rwandan programs. Students there are served lunch every day, have access to laptops and can receive mentoring, career coaching and help with English. Together with its partner on the ground, Kepler, a nonprofit university that provides education in Africa, the university offers online degree programs in business, communications and health care management. Among the Rwandan students is Sadiki Bamperineza, a 26-year-old student who fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo with his

family when he was 4 and spent his life in the Rwanda refugee camp. Bamperineza, who is on pace to get his bachelor's degree in the next two years, has an internship at a local tech startup and is already making four times what he earned at the camp as a schoolteacher. He also was just chosen for a fellowship in Qatar. "The program helped me to live a life with a purpose. Now I am able to set goals, not only for my life but also for the whole community," Bamperineza said. "Even though I am homeless, I am not hopeless due to education."  www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ university-aims-to-educate-50000refugees-worldwide-by-2022/arAApTlMx?ocid=spartandhp

several high-profile groups that are buying into Southern New Hampshire's effort to scale up more dramatically. Other partners in the New Hampshire program include the American University in Beirut, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's SOLVE program and several high-profile advisers including former President Barack Obama's education secretary, Arne Duncan. 53  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

From: Leon Russell, President and CEO, NAACP

ne of the most troubling prospects for 2017 is the nomination of Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions for Attorney General. Senator Sessions stands against everything that you and I fight for: He's spoken out against the Voting Rights Act, and has described the work that the NAACP and ACLU do to protect civil rights as "un-American." We must do all we can to prevent him from rolling back the rights and protections our parents and grandparents worked so hard to gain, and we've worked so hard to preserve. Please make a donation today — even $4 can make a real difference — to help us fight back in 2017. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. And our president-elect has appointed Jeff Sessions, a man who's actively threatened to strip us of our rights throughout his career. Can we trust someone with our rights — and our lives — with a track record like this? • Sessions was denied appointment as a federal judge because of racist comments he made to a colleague. • He opposed and criticized the removal of the Confederate flag from public spaces. • He once joked that he approved of the Ku Klux Klan until he learned its members smoked marijuana. Too many of our brothers and sisters have sacrificed for the rights we have today. We're ready to battle for our rights in 2017 — and we need your support.

Please contribute what you can right now and help us resist: http:// action.naacp.org/StopSessions

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Business - Marketing

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Business - Sucess

The Black Billionaires 2017 By Mfonobong Nsehe

f the 2,043 people who made it to the 2017 FORBES list of the World’s Billionaires, 10 of them are black, down from 12 a year ago. This year, two black moguls fall oﬀ the ranks of the richest black people on earth, and they are both Nigerian – oil tycoon Femi Otedola and cement mogul Abdulsamad Rabiu. While Otedola fell oﬀ the list as a result of the plunging share price of his oil company, Forte Oil, a devaluation of the Nigerian currency, the Naira, was responsible for Rabiu’s ousting. Angolan investor Isabel dos

Michael Jordan

Mohammed Ibrahim

Oprah Winfrey

Santos, American media mogul Oprah Winfrey and Nigerian oil woman Folorunsho Alakija are still the only black female billionaires on the FORBES billionaires list.

Isabel dos Santos

Patrice Motsepe

Robert Smith

Folorunsho Alakija

Aliko Dangote

Mike Adenuga

1. Aliko Dangote, $12.2 billion, Nigerian, Sugar, Cement, Flour, not only Africa’s richest man; he’s also the richest black person in the world. Read more about Dangote on page 96. 2. Mohammed Al-Amoudi, $8.4 billion, Saudi Arabian, Oil, one of the richest men in the Arab world, but he has deep Ethiopian roots. His mother was Ethiopian. 3. Mike Adenuga, $6.1 billion, Nigerian, Oil, his mobile telecoms company, Globacom, is the second largest operator in Nigeria. 4. Isabel Dos Santos, $3.1 billion, Angolan, Investments, Africa’s richest woman. 5. Oprah Winfrey, $3 billion, American, Television, the richest African-American person in the world. 6. Robert Smith, $2.5 billion, founder of private equity shop, Vista Equity Partners. 7. Patrice Motsepe, $1.81 billion, South African, Mining, African Rainbow Minerals. 8. Folorunsho Alakija, $1.61 billion, Nigerian, Oil, Nigeria’s only female billionaire is the founder of Famfa Oil. 9. Michael Jordan, $1.31 billion, American, Basketball, the majority shareholder of Charlotte Bobcats. 10. Mohammed Ibrahim, $1.14 billion, British, Mobile Telecoms, Investments, the founder of Celtel.  www3.forbes.com/lists/the-black-billionaires-2017/?utm_campaign=black-billionaires2017&utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=00390761b6a3a4 e5ad199921f896345028&utm_term=Information+Nigeria

Mohammed Al-Amoudi

Photo Credits Wikimedia Commons, Elsa / Getty Images, AP Photo, Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg Krista Kennell / Shutterstock, Isabel Dos Santos, Hans Berggren, Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images 57  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Sports/Retail

Serena Williams Heads The Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2017 List By Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes Staﬀ

erena Williams has dominated her sport for 15 years, in a way that few other athletes have. She was the topranked player in the world in 2002 at age 20 and as recently as May at 35 (the oldest ever to hold the No. 1 spot). She’s won 86% of her matches, with an Open era-record 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Her career prize money of $84 million is more than twice as much as any other female athlete’s. Williams won her Open-record 23rd Grand Slam title in January and then shocked the world three months later when she announced she was pregnant at the time. Williams plans to return to tennis at the start of 2018. Serena has more than a dozen corporate partners and her $84 million in career prize money is twice as much as any other female athlete (her sister Venus ranks second at $38 million). Williams’ endorsement earnings soared in recent years as marketers flocked to her while she became the elder stateswoman of tennis and approached the Open-era Grand Slam record of 22 held by Steffi Graf. Williams currently has more than a dozen endorsement partners, including Beats by Dre, Gatorade, JPMorgan Chase, Nike and Tempur-Pedic. Intel added her this year for a campaign with the message that high-tech equals high performance. There has been a break in Williams’ tennis schedule, but she’s remained engaged with her sponsors and business interests. She joined SurveyMonkey’s board

Serena Williams

in May at the recommendation of fellow board member and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. Williams and her fiancée, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, are expecting their first child sometime in the next month. Williams expects to be back on the court early in 2018. Rounding out the top five is Venus Williams ($10.5 million), who reached her first Grand Slam final since 2009 in January when she fell to Serena at the Aussie Open. Williams has her own apparel line, EleVen, so her endorsement portfolio lacks the big Nike/Adidas deal of other top tennis players.

But Williams is still a big draw at 37 and commands hefty fees for tournaments and exhibitions. Williams is also a hit on the speaking tour with six-figure checks for revelations around her two decades in tennis, her fight for equal pay and competing with the autoimmune disease Sjogren’s syndrome. Her other endorsements include American Express, Jamba Juice, Silk and Wilson. In addition to shilling for Jamba Juice, Williams owns 10 of the smoothie, juice shops in the Washington, D.C. area. Her career prize money of $38 million ranks second all-time behind her sister. 

58  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/ serena-williams-heads-the-highest-paid-femaleathletes-2017/ar-AAq47ou?ocid=spartandhp

Venus Williams

59  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Believe in Africa est une organisation non gouvernementale basée a Washington DC, regroupant d'anciens staﬀ du Congres Americain, des leaders africains ouvrant pour la promotion de l'essor économique de l'Afrique, la compétitive du secteur prive, émancipation des femmes et des jeunes.

61  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Business - Social Media Management

Social Media Demands Strong Oversight From the Business Leader By Tichaona Zororo

ocial media can be a powerful force for enterprises—but not always in the manner they intended. Social media can help organizations raise their visibility in the marketplace and connect with customers and other key enterprise stakeholders. However, strong governance of social platforms is essential to avoid crises that can result in catastrophic damage to an organization’s brand. Too many C-suite leaders consider hiring a social media manager the sum of their responsibility on this front. Perhaps these executives are not personally enthusiastic about

social media. Maybe they believe they don't have time to devote to social media. Whatever the reason, business leaders who relegate social media to the marketing department and don't make it a board-level consideration are underestimating the damage that can occur. Consider the fact that Facebook alone has about 2 billion users each month, a ﬁgure that is about the same as the populations of Africa and Europe combined. Now, factor in the many other social platforms that are popular in various regions of the world, and it's easy to appreciate the potential reach

enterprises can have through their social channels. Social media penetration worldwide is ever-increasing. Statista, which studies social media statistics from more than 18,000 sources, estimates that number of worldwide social media users is expected to reach some 2.95 billion by 2020.

Great Opportunity, Great Responsibility With this great opportunity comes great responsibility. Here are six steps organizations can take to provide sound, proactive governance of their social media, and thus realize the business

64  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

beneﬁts of this technology. 1. Identify social media goals and objectives. Favorites and positive comments oﬀer value, but social media for enterprises is not just a popularity contest. Organizations must determine what they want to attain from their social media outreach and then ensure that their social media strategic and performance plans are aligned to their key business goals and objectives. 2. Devise a social media policy. The level of detail put forth in a social media policy (who develops the content; who reviews the content; who posts, tweets or shares the content; what is the legal team’s role; when, if ever, should comments be deleted) often becomes the determining factor of an organization’s social media success. Developing procedures around interacting with antagonistic commenters also should be addressed. In addition, organizations must be sure to regularly update their social media policies, as enterprise objectives change and new platforms become part of the social media ecosystem. 3. Develop a social media incident response plan.

This is of critical importance, given the speed at which a seemingly minor enterprise incident can become a fullblown crisis on social media. Organizations need to determine who responds in the aftermath of a crisis and the role of top executives. They must also ensure that there is organizational alignment on messaging. One misstep in dealing with a crisis can go viral. 4. Give staff members social media training. All employees should receive periodic social media training to ensure there is awareness of basic expectations that, if disregarded, could damage the brand of an organization. Staff members should follow enterprise policies and procedures on social media. This includes not self-appointing themselves to speak on behalf of their enterprise. 5. Audit social media. According to the 5th Annual IT Auditing Benchmark research done by ISACA and Protiviti in 2015, very few organizations spent significant time auditing social media, and most IT auditors still spend the majority of their time auditing IT general

controls. As more and more companies embrace the business benefits of social media, auditors must strive to understand how social media developments and trends affect their organizations. Audit and risk committees need to ensure that a social media audit is included in internal audit plans. 6. Monitor and evaluate. The key to social media governance is "listening" to your enterprise social media audience, competitors and the market in general. The secret to social media success is in evaluating the gigantic amounts of data, and using predictive analytics tools to continuously update social media policies, strategies and objectives. Enterprises need to constantly be on the lookout for both negative and positive mentions in posts, shares and tweets in order to adopt and adapt their social media policies, strategies and objectives. Effective use of social media has become a global business imperative—one that requires a sound governance framework to properly execute. A holistic approach, taking into account key products, processes, and internal and external stakeholders, is required. While there are variables to consider depending on an organization’s size, location and mission, the need for sound governance of social media is one area that virtually all of today’s enterprises cannot afford to overlook.  www.baselinemag.com/social-media/ social-media-demands-strongoversight-from-leaders.html?utm_ medium=email&utm_campaign=BL_ NL_BB_20170824_STR1L2&dni=422 327915&rni=25652266

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Friendship Day

OR ANY SPECIAL OCCASION

meetings. Hudson was a gracious, business leader who never sought recognition. His numerous from page 3 contributions were important and significant to the BBA and the services. African American community of I recognize many have varying Southern California. (See our levels of discomfort with the tribute on page 83) current Administration. However, How can any of us forget Activist as business owners and and Comedian, Dick Gregory. entrepreneurs, we should not allow Gregory first came on the spotlight our political affiliations and beliefs in the 1960’s and was quickly stop us from pursuing opportunities established as a comedian, who for ourselves, business and others. later turned activist, as he could The only color that “should” matter no longer remain silent about the at the end of the day, is “green.” racism and bigotry that has plagued It is with financial resources that our nation for decades. He felt the Black-owned business enterprises social woes that African Americans

Publisher's Message

can grow and continue to create economic empowerment for our families and communities. If its legit, and your organization has the capacity and resources to perform – go for it! Sadly, this August has brought its share of somber news. We lost two (2) successful and committed people. Of honorable mention, the recent passing of Elbert Hudson. In 70’s and 80’s, Hudson was the chairman/president of Broadway Federal. Hudson was a staunch supporter of the BBA, and generously opened its doors to allow the BBA to hold its monthly

and other minority groups faced in this nation were, but instead mocked it in his comedy routines. No longer willing to make it a laughing matter, he transitioned into the role of activistism in the 60’s when he protested the Vietnam War and racial injustice. His face was frequently in the news for being arrested multiple times; for his many hunger strikes, and marches worthy of his time and commitment. He started out making us smile, and ended with challenging us as a race of people to think. Gregory was also a proliﬁc speaker and author, primarily

promoting spirituality. (See our tribute on page 86) Lastly, we had a tremendous local loss of Adolf Dulan, another business icon in May of 2017 (see page 88). Dulan was the founder of legendary Los Angeles restaurants Hamburger City, Aunt Kizzy's Back Porch and Dulan's Soul Food Kitchen. He passed away on May 1st at 83. In 2014, he was the recognized as a “CommunityBased Business of the Year” by the BBA. Dulan was born in Oklahoma and moved to Los Angeles to be a social worker. In 1975, he purchased an Orange Julius franchise, and two years later turned it into his own restaurant, Hamburger City, which at one point had five locations around town. It was a savvy move that entrepreneurs are famous for because Los Angelinos have a great love affair with burgers. Dulan was a visionary businessman who demonstrated his commitment to economic empowerment in Black communities by hiring local employees, and always willing and ready to help those in need. Dulan was a member in good standing with the BBA, and will be sorely missed. He was one good brother. Upcoming events being sponsored by the BBA in collaboration with their corporate partners, include the Procurement Summit & Matchmaking event in October; the Financial Workshop in November. Please contact the BBA office at 1-323-291-9334, to ensure that your name is on the mailing list for event details. In closing, remember that united as a people we stand, divided we fall. Let’s stand together as African Americans for what is important to our families, business community and nation. 

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www.bbala.org

Business Technology:

Take A Look! by LaSandra Stratton

heck out what these ﬁrms and organizations have to oﬀer for your personal interests, personal wealth building, and business expansion opportunities.

Grab: Mobile Ordering Meals at the Airport

earching an airport for food isn’t fun and is time consuming. Now with the Grab app (https://getgrab.com)

you can see restaurants nearby. Or along the way to your gate. Or anywhere else in the terminal. Whether it’s croissants, vegan or Salt Lick BBQ, you have cravings. Now, quickly search for food that

makes your heart (and mouth) happy. Grab will help you ﬁnd and order the food you like and want. It will also automatically star your favorite sites for you to remember for next time or visiting other airport restaurants. Finally your airport receipts are all in one place. And with only a tap, forward your expenses to Concur (www.concur.com/en-us/expensereport). Grab runs on iOS and Android systems.  https://getgrab.com

Make Payments Via WhatsApp The WhatsApp Payments feature, which could oﬀer a simple way to pay someone back for a taxi fare or dinner, is being trialled by the Facebookowned app and is expected to rollout to UK users in a future update. The bank to bank transfer function will use the United Payments Interface (UPI) for 'immediate' transfers. Users of Facebook's other chat

app, Messenger, have already been able to transfer money to friends using the platform and Apple is also working on a similar function with its iMessage.  www.msn.com/en-us/money/ technology/how-to-send-moneyusing-whatsapp-new-paymentfeature-being-trialled-by-chat-app/ ar-AAqfpmC?ocid=spartandhp

A Platform for Your Podcast Project

his is a holistic platform that frees you up from tedious technical and commercial operations so you can focus on delighting your listeners whether you’re an independent podcaster or a network trying to produce at-scale. BlogTalkRadio (www.blogtalkradio.com) helps independent and network podcasters thrive and profit from their content. We are a unified podcasting platform that enables podcasters to broadcast - record - upload, manage, stream live or on-demand, syndicate for downloads, measure, and monetize their shows. We take care of the complex technical and commercial chores of podcasting at an unmatched scale so that content creators can focus on creating and honing content that listeners love. We help you monetize your podcast as well as broadcast. • Use our point-and-click ad insertion tool on all past and upcoming episodes once per episode. • Expose your content to our vast and growing pool of sponsors who are interested in buying both host reads and spot ads on podcasts. We’ll work with you to match the best sponsors to your audience. • Every Download & Stream is

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•

Monetizable. Our dynamic ad insertion system will execute the best paying ads to the the right listeners in real time to maximize earnings across your entire catalog not just your new episodes, wherever you allow them to appear, without you doing any editing. You keep at least 60% of revenues for audio ads. You can continue to earn revenues from your entire content catalog as long as it keeps getting listened to.

Become a Podcaster Learn everything from episode planning to show marketing from top hosts via our email newsletter and interactive podcasting courses. Collaborate on show format and marketing experiments designed to help you figure out what works for your audience. Watch screencasts and read articles in our technical knowledge base or contact our savvy support team via email.  www.blogtalkradio.com

Preserving Dying Languages with Online Courses

ribalingual’s goal is to preserve endangered cultures through teaching languages. We believe that documentation alone is not enough to preserve intangible cultural heritage. That’s why we ﬁnd speakers of endangered languages – often in secluded areas – to run online courses available to students based all over the world. To us language isn’t necessarily an object in itself but a way to understand a community and culture, through the eyes of the native speaker. In this way, new speakers who take our courses help to keep rare languages and traditions from disappearing forever.

All our courses take place online. The lessons are split into manageable, “bite-size” topics that allow you to progress at a pace that suits you. Courses are supplemented with weekly 30 minute Skype sessions with the native speaker, who bring a unique perspective to the courses. When you take our courses, you will discover a diﬀerent way of thinking about the world. Start your experience now! Visit our website to see what languages we are teaching now and what is coming up. Know a language and culture that should be preserved, talk to us.  http://tribalingual.com/

Google Oﬀers

Pollen Forecast on Your Devices

oogle (www.google.com) has recently partnered with Weather.com to create a pollen forecast that will help allergy sufferers track pollen and manage their symptoms, leading to a better allergy season for all (www.google. com/search?q=pollen+forecast&oq=po llen+forecast&aqs=chrome..69i57j0j69i 60j0l3.2113j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie= UTF-8).

In addition, when the pollen count in your area is particularly high, you can receive reminders in the Google app. To opt in to these notifications, just search for pollen levels, pollen forecast or a similar query on Google, then tap “turn on” when prompted. The key to helping hayfever sufferers, short of a miracle cure, is prediction: knowing the airborne presence of particular allergens as plants emit pollen can be hugely

helpful for managing symptoms medically or, if necessary, deciding to stay indoors. And as prediction systems by meteorologists become more refined, technology has decided to find different ways to bring that information into our homes. Google's new functionality is an attempt to help people predict their sensitivity in advance, and another example of how technology can help your health. www.bustle.com/p/googles-new-pollenforecast-is-here-to-save-your-allergyseason-76953 Submitted by LaSandra Stratton, Chief Content Administrator of the Black Business News.

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Business - Social Media Management

Ron Brown Economic Business Summit, Women's Symposium and Youth Summit "Small and Medium Business in a Global Market" August 17- 19, 2017 Hilton Airport in Oakland California It's the time of the year where we honor a true icon in the business arena, Ron Brown. Please join us by attending our Annual Ron Brown Business Summit. The Summit has grown to include the Women's Symposium where we provide opportunity for women business owners to hear from key women leaders in various industries. For the first time we will have onsite certifications with DGS, Caltrans and High Speed Rail. Great opportunity for one stop shop. No excuses get certified. Take a glance at last year' Women's Symposium and partial view of what you can expect at the 2017 Women's Symposium "The Journey to Business Success". We look forward to seeing you in Oakland, California. For more information contact our office (916) 463-0178.

Remember 50% of Winning is showing up! Sincerely,

Aubry Stone, President and CEO California Black Chamber of Commerce

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CBCC 2016 Women's Symposium

"Women of the C Suite"

Community/Public Interest

Norwegian Air Pays Tribute to Abolitionist Sojourner Truth By Judy Rife

orwegian Air will honor Sojourner Truth, the abolitionist and activist who was born a slave in Ulster County, as a “tail fin hero.” Truth’s likeness will appear on the fourth Boeing 737 MAX 8 that Norwegian will take delivery of this month. The airline, which began flights between Stewart International Airport and Europe in June, regularly honors historical figures from the countries where it operates on the tail fins of its aircraft. Last month, it honored its first American, Benjamin Franklin, as well as Sir Freddie Laker from England and Tom Crean from Ireland on the first three of the six MAXs that it will receive from Boeing this year. The remaining two planes will also honor Americans. The six planes will be used on Norwegian’s new routes between three East Coast airports and Europe, including Stewart Airport, T.F. Green in Providence, R.I., and Bradley International in Windsor Locks, Conn. In announcing the selection of Truth, Thomas

Ramdahl, Norwegian’s chief commercial officer, called her “an inspiration and a pioneer” for people around the world. “She is someone who pushed boundaries and challenged the establishment in more ways than one,″ said Ramdahl in a statement. Truth, among the Smithsonian’s “100 Most Significant Americans of All Time,” was born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree around the turn of the 18th century, escaped in 1826 and changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843. A gifted orator, Truth is best known for her dedication to the abolition of slavery and women’s rights, but she also was a proponent of prison reform, property rights and universal suffrage. She died in 1883  www.recordonline.com/news/20170802/norwegian-air-paystribute-to-abolitionist-sojourner-truth

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Community/Public Interest

Watch Out for Phone Scams! "Good morning! I'm calling from the National Institutes of Health. You've been selected to receive a grant for $14,000."

o u n d f am i li ar ? It's a new scam hitting folks over the phone. The caller asks you to make a small transaction through iTunes or Green Dot to pay the "processing fee." That's when they get your information and steal from your accounts. These kinds of scams make me sick. If it's not someone posing as the National Institutes of Health, it's someone calling from the IRS or another agency. A good thing to remember: most government agencies will contact you by mail first. For instance, the IRS doesn't initiate contact through the telephone. If you really owe money, it will send a notice in the mail first. And real IRS agents never demand immediate payment by credit card or wire transfer. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), scammers can now change their caller ID info. They can even pose with a local number so you'll be more inclined to answer. But perhaps the most infuriating scam out there involves preying on grandparents. Earlier this year, scammers started calling older folks and posing as a grandchild in trouble. Often they'd add "please don't tell mom or dad about this!" The best way to prevent this? Tell the caller you're going to reach out to his/her parents or siblings to get help. Don't fall for the trap of "not telling." And whatever you do, make sure you follow these rules: 1. Do not reveal any personal information. Especially keep your credit card, Social Security,

and bank account numbers private. 2. Don't give into pressure. If it's any kind of sales pitch, investment recommendation, or charity, don't do any business over the call. Take the time to research the organizations and see if they are legitimate first. 3. Don't make any payments. Spending money to establish a connection or pay a fee is a clear scam. Do not pay for any registration, shipping, or processing fees for an offer. If you have older parents or know older people who answer every call, try leaving this list next to all their telephones as a reminder. Similarly, you can establish a code word or phrase for your family members if ever they are in trouble and need help. There is one service we recommend for cutting some of these calls - the service is Nomorobo. Now when a house phone rings, if it's an automated sales call, the service disconnects the call after the first ring. The program catches about 90% to 95% of those calls. Nomorobo is free for landline phones and $1.99 a month for a cellphone. You can learn more at www. nomorobo.com. Finally, if you receive harassing calls from the same person or company, report them immediately to your local police. And report them to the FTC. Call them at 1-877-FTC-HELP or go to ftc.gov/complaint.  www.retirementmillionairedaily.com

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Community/Public Interest

When Jack Daniel’s Failed to Honor a Slave, an Author Rewrote History By Clay Risen (Edited by BBN)

awn Weaver was on vacation in Singapore last summer when she first read about Nearest Green, the Tennessee slave who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. Green’s existence had long been an open secret, but in 2016 Brown-Forman, the company that owns the Jack Daniel Distillery here, made international headlines with its decision to finally embrace Green’s legacy and significantly change its tours to emphasize his role. “It was jarring that arguably one of the most well-known brands in the world was created, in part, by a slave,” said Ms. Weaver, 40, an African-American real estate investor and author. Determined to see the changes herself, she was soon on a plane from her home in Los Angeles to Nashville. But when she got to Lynchburg, she found no trace of Green. “I went on three tours of the distillery, and nothing, not a mention of him,” she said. Rather than leave, Ms. Weaver

dug in, determined to uncover more about Green and persuade Brown-Forman to follow through on its promise to recognize his role in creating America’s most famous whiskey. She rented a house in downtown Lynchburg, and began contacting Green’s descendants, dozens of whom still live in the area. Scouring archives in Tennessee, Georgia and Washington, D.C., she created a timeline of Green’s relationship with Daniel, showing how Green had not only taught the whiskey baron how to distill, but had also gone to work for him after the Civil War, becoming what Ms. Weaver believes is the ﬁrst black master distiller in America. By her count, she has collected 10,000 documents and artifacts related to Daniel and Green, much of which she has agreed to donate to the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. Through that research, she also located the farm where the two men began distilling — and bought it, along with a four-acre parcel in the center of town that she intends to turn into a memorial park. She even discovered that Green’s real name was Nathan; Nearest (not Nearis, as has often been reported) was a nickname. She is writing a book about Green, and last month

introduced Uncle Nearest 1856, a whiskey produced on contract by another Tennessee distillery; she says she will apply the bulk of any profits toward her expanding list of Green-related projects. Ms. Weaver’s biggest success, however, came in May, when Brown-Forman officially recognized Green as its first master distiller, nearly a year after the company vowed to start sharing Green’s legacy. (Daniel is now listed as its second master distiller.) “It’s absolutely critical that the story of Nearest gets added to the Jack Daniel story,” Mark I. McCallum, the president of Jack Daniel’s Brands at Brown-Forman, said in an interview. The company’s decision to recognize its debt to a slave, first reported last year by The New York Times, is a momentous turn in the history of Southern foodways. Even as black innovators in Southern cooking and agriculture are beginning to get their due, the tale of American whiskey is still told as a whites-only affair, about ScotsIrish settlers who brought Old World distilling knowledge to the frontier states of Tennessee and Kentucky. Green’s story changes all that by showing how enslaved people likely provided the brains as well as the brawn in what was an arduous, dangerous and highly technical operation. According to Ms. Weaver, Green was rented out by his owners, a firm called Landis & Green, to farmers around Lynchburg, including Dan Call, a wealthy landowner and preacher who also employed a

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teenager named Jack Daniel to help make whiskey. Green, already adept at distilling, took Daniel under his wing and, after the Civil War and the end of slavery, went to work for him in his ﬂedgling whiskey operation. In all likelihood, there were many other men like Green, scattered around the South. Records are spotty, though references to slaves skilled in distilling and whiskey making pop up in slave sales and runaway-slave ads from the early 19th century. But only one of them helped found a whiskey brand that today generates about $3 billion a year in revenue. The company had intended to recognize Green’s role as master distiller last year as part of its 150th anniversary celebration, Mr. McCallum said, but decided to put oﬀ any changes amid the racially charged run-up to the 2016 election. “I thought we would be accused of making a big deal about it for commercial gain,” he said. It didn’t help that many people misunderstood the history, assuming that Daniel had owned Green and stolen his recipe. In fact, Daniel never owned slaves and spoke openly about Green’s role as his mentor. And so the company’s plans went back on the shelf, and might have stayed there had Fawn Weaver not come along. The daughter of Frank Wilson, the Motown Records songwriter who co-wrote “Love Child” and “Castles in the Sand” before becoming a minister in Los Angeles, Ms. Weaver began her career as a restaurant and real estate entrepreneur. She wrote the 2014 best seller “Happy Wives Club: One Woman’s Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage.” As she tells it, she was looking for a new project when she picked up that newspaper in Singapore.

“My wife often thinks and acts as a single activity,” said her husband, Keith Weaver, an executive vice president at Sony Pictures. “As her husband, I knew, ‘Here we go again.’” What was meant to be a quick trip to Lynchburg turned into a monthslong residency, as Ms. Weaver discovered an unwritten history, hidden in forgotten archives, vacant land Fawn Weaver with husband Keith Weaver and the collective memory of the town’s black residents. response to the new tours Through dozens of conversations, spotlighting Green’s contribution local people, many of whom worked has been positive. It’s not hard to or still work for Jack Daniel’s, told her see why: At a rough time for race about learning Green’s story from relations in America, the relationship their parents and grandparents, between Daniel and Green allows holding it as fact even as the Brown-Forman to tell a positive company kept silent. story, while also pioneering an “It’s something my grandmother overdue conversation about the always told us,” said Debbie Ann unacknowledged role that black Eady-Staples, a descendant of people, as slaves and later as free Green who lives in Lynchburg and men, played in the evolution of has worked for the distillery for American whiskey. nearly 40 years. “We knew it in our For her part, Ms. Weaver isn’t family, even if it didn’t come from finished with her search for Green the company.” — and may never be. Although there is no known “I’ve lost track of him after 1884,” photograph of Green, the company the year when Jack Daniel moved placed a photo of Daniel seated his distillery to its current location, next to an unidentified black man — and Green disappeared from the he may be Green or one of his sons fledgling company’s records, she who also worked for the distillery — said. She is still hoping to find on its wall of master distillers, a sort Green’s gravesite, and has recently of corporate hall of fame. been traveling to St. Louis to meet “We want to get across that with a branch of the family there. Nearest Green was a mentor to “I could be doing this the rest of Jack,” said Steve May, who runs my life,” she said  the distillery’s visitors center and www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ tours. “We have five different tour when-jack-daniel%e2%80%99sscripts, and each one incorporates failed-to-honor-a-slave-anNearest. I worked some long days author-rewrote-history/arto get those ready.” AAqbfKB?ocid=spartandhp Mr. May said that so far, visitor

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Community/Public Interest - Obituary

Dick Gregory, Groundbreaking Comedian and Activist, Dies at 84 By Stacy M Brown (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

egendary civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory died on Saturday, August 19. He was 84. Friends, family and celebrities took to social media to honor the icon and innovator of the Black community. “It is with enormous sadness that the Gregory family confirms that their father, comedic legend and civil rights activist Mr. Dick Gregory departed this earth tonight in Washington, DC,” said Christian Gregory, his son, in a statement posted on Facebook. “The family appreciates the outpouring of support and love and respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.” On Facebook, Roland Martin, a journalist and host of NewsOne on TV One said that he had enormous respect for Gregory. “He was honest, truthful, unflinching, unapologetically Black. He challenged America at every turn. RIP,” wrote Martin. “He was one of the sweetest, smartest, most loving people one could ever know,” said Steve Jaffe, Gregory’s publicist of 50 years, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jaffe added, “I just hope that God is ready for some outrageously funny times.” Singer John Legend tweeted that, “Dick Gregory lived an amazing, revolutionary life. A groundbreaker in comedy and a voice for justice. RIP.” Filmmaker Ava DuVernay tweeted that Gregory “taught us and loved us.” Quoting legendary entertainer

Richard Pryor, sports writer Myron Medcalf tweeted, “Dick Gregory was the greatest, and he was the first. Somebody had to break down that door.” Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, also paid homage to Gregory. “We salute and honor the living legacy of freedom fighter Dick Gregory. RIP,” Chavis wrote on Twitter. G r e g o r y had been in a Wa shingt on , D.C. area hospital battling an undisclosed illness. However, as late as Thursday, family members were said to have been upbeat about his recovery and he even had plans to appear at a show on Saturday in the nation’s capital. Born Richard Claxton “Dick” Gregory in St. Louis, Missouri on Oct. 12, 1932, Gregory became a comedian and civil rights activist whose social satire changed the

way Whites perceived AfricanAmerican comedians, according to his biography. Civil rights activist and groundbreaking comedian Dick Dick Gregory entered the national comedy scene in 1961 when Chicago’s Playboy Club (as a direct request from publisher

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see page 85

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Community/Public Interest - Obituary Hugh Hefner) booked him as a replacement for white comedian, “Professor” Irwin Corey. Until then Gregory had worked mostly at small clubs with predominantly Black audiences (he met his wife, Lillian Smith, at one such club), according to his biography. “Such clubs paid comedians an average of five dollars per night; thus Gregory also held a day job as a postal employee. His tenure as a replacement for Corey was so successful — at one performance he won over an audience that included southern White convention goers — that the Playboy Club offered him a contract extension from several weeks to three years,” G r e go r y’s biography said. “By 1962, Gregory had become a nationally known headline performer, selling out nightclubs, m a k i n g n u m e r o u s n a t i o n a l television appearances, and recording popular comedy albums.” Gregory’s biography continued: “It’s important to note that no biography of Gregory would be complete without mentioning that he and his beloved wife, ‘Lil,’ had ten children, who have become highly respected members of the national community in a variety of fields. They are: Michele, Lynne, Pamela, Paula, Stephanie (a.k.a. Xenobia), Gregory, Christian, Miss, Ayanna and Yohance.” While a student at Sumner High School in St. Louis he led a March protesting segregated schools.

Later, inspired by the work of leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Gregory took part in the Civil Rights Movement and used his celebrity status to draw attention to such issues as segregation and disfranchisement, according to his biography. “When local Mississippi governments stopped distributing Federal food surpluses to poor blacks in areas where SNCC was encouraging voter registration, Gregory chartered a plane to bring in several tons of food,” the biography

his biography explained. “Whenever you hear the word ‘Nigger’,” he said, “you’ll know their advertising my book.” Through the 1960s, Gregory spent more time on social issues and less time on performing, his biography noted. He participated in marches and parades to support a range of causes, including opposition to the Vietnam War, world hunger and drug abuse. Dorothy Leavell, chairman of the NNPA and publisher of the Crusader Newspaper Group said that this was a sad moment and a great loss to America, especially Black America. This is a sad moment and a great loss to America and especially Black America. “Dick Gregory was a personal friend, but also a voice for Black America which has now been stilled,” said Leavell. “Dick was also a close friend to the Black Press and the National Dick Gregory with Dr. King Newspaper said. “He participated in SNCC’s Publishers Association (NNPA).” voter registration drives and in sitLeavell continued: “While we ins to protest segregation, most mourn this loss we are grateful for notably at a restaurant franchise in the many contributions he made downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Only that have helped us all.” later did Gregory disclose that he Chavis agreed. held stock in the chain.” “Dick Gregory epitomized the Gregory’s autobiography, rare combination of being an “Nigger,” was published in 1963 intellectual genius and one of our and it became the number one greatest social visionaries,” Chavis best-selling book in America. Over said. “The National Newspapers the decades it has sold in excess of Publishers Association deeply seven million copies. He explained mourns the passing of freedom his choice for the title in the fighter Dick Gregory.”  foreword of the book, where Dick https://lasentinel.net/dick-gregory-diesGregory wrote a note to his mother, at-84.html

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Community/Public Interest - Obituary

Elbert T. Hudson Dies; Civic Leader, Tuskegee Airman and L.A. Police Commission's First Black President was 96

agent of change for his community, his daughter Karen said. During his tenure as president and CEO of one of the first black-owned banks in Los Angeles, he extended loans and job offers to black, Asian and Latino people who were discriminated against by other banks. He mentored dozens of black youth and served as the head of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP. “He was firmly steeped in not only civil rights and community service, but the idea that for all your blessings you have to give something back,” his daughter said. Hudson was born in 1921 in Shreveport, La., the fourth of six children. Elbert T. Hudson, a former Tuskegee Airman, became a pillar of the city's He moved to Los Angeles black community as the president of Broadway Federal Bank. when he was 3 because his father, head of the local NAACP chapter, was getting hen the headquarters of the street from the ruins of the old death threats. He attended the the Broadway Federal building. 28th Street Grammar School, John Bank in South Los “We weren’t going to let a building Adams Junior High and Polytechnic Angeles burned down during the get in the way of the bank’s mission,” High. His childhood was steeped 1992 L.A. riots, Elbert T. Hudson Paul said. in the traditions of the civil rights knew exactly what to do: rebuild. Hudson, 96, died Aug. 8 at his movement. On Sundays, after He and his son Paul C. Hudson Los Angeles home. church, he helped his father sell reestablished the bank, founded by An outspoken advocate for black NAACP memberships, Karen said. Hudson’s father, in a trailer across issues, Hudson strove to be an

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“He felt like he had a lot to live up to,” Karen said. During World War II, Hudson flew a P-51 Mustang as member of the Tuskegee Airmen, escorting bombers on 23 combat missions in the Mediterranean theater of operations. After the war, he obtained an undergraduate degree at UCLA and earned a law degree at Loyola University. In 1963, Hudson was named to the Los Angeles Police Commission, where he became an outspoken advocate for the black community. When he was named the first black president of the panel in 1966, shortly after the Watts Riots, he did not hide his reservations about the position. “In view of the present tensions and conflicts that exist in our city today, I am not really sure whether I should thank you for electing me to the presidency,” Hudson said in his acceptance remarks. Back then, the names ringing out at Police Commission meetings were not Ezell Ford and Brendon Glenn but Leonard Deadwyler and Jerry Lee Arnie, both shot and killed by LAPD officers during Hudson’s tenure. Hudson urged the LAPD to learn more about minority communities, and also counseled his own community against blaming police for things they had no control over. He criticized officers for not understanding “the day-to-day oppression under which black and brown people live.” He resigned his post as vice president of the commission in 1971 to take a position as head of the L.A. chapter of the NAACP. During

a news conference announcing his resignation, he expressed reservations about the direction the department was taking. “I could not serve the best interests of the Police Department while serving the best interests of my organization and my community,” Hudson said. His father, H. Claude Hudson, founded one of the first blackowned banks in L.A. in 1946, and Hudson took over the bank in 1972. As president and CEO, Hudson focused less on profits and more on growing minority neighborhoods, his daughter said. Loans from Broadway Federal Bank helped establish Ward African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Second Baptist Church and the Lewis Metropolitan Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and several black neighborhoods in South Los Angeles. His friends and family remember a man of humility and quiet strength who strove to be a role model for those around him. He was a highly disciplined man who woke up for a 5 a.m. walk around the neighborhood every day, maintaining the regimen

well into his 80s. He took his family to the beach every Sunday, Karen said, and made pancakes for her sleepovers. Hudson was a consummate gentleman, but never stood on ceremony, “as happy with a hot dog as a steak,” Karen said. He chose his words carefully, but he was not afraid to raise his voice. He eschewed a political career and instead spent much of his time mentoring dozens of men and women and supporting the children in his neighborhood. “He was so much to so many,” Paul said. “From war hero to civil rights activist, from legal advisor to community banker, from friend to mentor. But to me, he was everything.” Memorial services have not yet been announced. Donations in lieu of flowers should be sent to the Marilyn Project at the Ebony Repertory Theatre at 4718 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90016.  https://lasentinel.net/elbert-thudson-was-an-advocate-activistand-businessman.html

87  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Community/Public Interest - In Memory

Los Angeles Mourns the Loss of Adolf Dulan By Sentinel News Service

acebook timelines became flooded with the news of Mr. Dulan’s passing. His son Gregory Dulan began posting pictures of his dad and brothers with one post stating “Dad has passed the baton to the next generation of Dulan businessmen.” KJLH’s Kevin Nash posted, “When I have a craving for #SoulFood, I’d call or stop by to see Mr. Adolph Dulan. I will miss you my man. RIP and have a plate ready for me when I get there”. Dulan began learning to cook on a farm in Luther, Oklahoma while working next to his mother as she made the family’s meals. While watching his mother, he learned to prepare her beloved farm raised fried chicken, fresh collard greens, and many other tasty dishes. These informal lessons laid the foundation for what would one day become a soul food empire. In 1975, he left his job with the County of Los Angeles, and invested his personal savings into opening an Orange Julius in South Los Angeles. This was the start of the empire. In 1977, Adolf transitioned the Orange Julius into a neighborhood family run restaurant by the name of Hamburger City; in 1978, Adolf opened a second location. By 1982, there were five Hamburger City restaurants throughout Los Angeles with the fifth location opening in the affluent seaside community of Marina Del Rey.

Hamburger City in Marina Del Rey quickly grew out of its original location and was relocated to a larger space in the same shopping center. Aunt Kizzy’s Back Porch was born out of that move. Aunt Kizzy’s Back Porch gained national recognition for its mouthwatering, delicious cuisine. Even the widely used Lawry’s Seasoned Salt wanted to be associated with Aunt Kizzy’s Back Porch. During a 1999 visit to New York City, Adolf, the ever-observant businessman, noticed the proliferation of cafeteria-style restaurants. He returned to Los Angeles with an idea and a mission. That idea became a reality when he opened Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen later that same year. Now with two locations, the Inglewood eateries are known for their generous portions, good service, and food that reminds one of being at grandma’s for Sunday dinner. And just like at grandma’s house, there is plenty of laughter and joy thanks to Adolf’s down-home hospitality. Adolf, “The King of Soul Food”, has reigned over the Los Angeles food scene for nearly 40 years. Throughout those years he has been recognized by

many organizations and received numerous commendations including: A Top Small Business Award from Assembly member Sebastian Ridley-Thomas in 2014, Community Based Business of the Year Award by Black Business News, The Patsy Brown Award and most recently, Small Businessman of the Year from the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Adolf has been lauded by the California State Assembly, former US Representative Diane Watson and former Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. Of all his accomplishments perhaps none are as special as the children who were the impetus for the family empire. “The King of Soul Food’s” reign will continue with the next generation of Dulans in the restaurant business. This includes the aﬃliate restaurant Dulan’s On Crenshaw. Adolf Dulan is indeed “The King of Soul Food” as well as the patriarch of the “First Family of Los Angeles Soul Food.”  https://lasentinel.net/los-angelesmourns-the-loss-of-adolf-dulan. html

88  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

International

WEST AFRICA

HOSTED BUYER EVENT: MICE WEST AFRICA – WELCOME TO THE EMERGING WEST AFRICAN REGION 23-25 November 2017, Accra, Ghana I am very happy to inform you that MICE West Africa celebrates its inaugural event November 23 to 25 in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. The organizing Street of Gold Foundation (SOG), founded by Mr. Royal Panford who acts as its CEO, cooperates closely with the nation's Ghana Tourism Authority to develop the common understanding of the importance of the meetings industry inside the country, and offers the platform for the nations – but also for the regions’ providers to connect with the international buyers. But the SOG is working far beyond the normal organizational efforts to create the muchneeded platform for exhibitors and buyers. SOG also assists the visitor through connecting them to the appropriate organizations and associations to ensure that groups to Ghana experience the country at its best and enjoy incredible value for money. Oh – and one word about Ghana: Should you think about the Ebola disease outbreak. Ghana did not have a single case. This information has been published by the WHO and the US CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Interested? Let’s meet in Accra! Apply to the MICE West Africa hosted buyer programme to connect with local suppliers and to site-inspect the destination during the post-event Site Inspection Programme. Find details on www.micewestafrica. com. 

90  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

REGISTER NOW! at panafricanglobaltradeconference.com to join us at the CARSON COMMUNITY CENTER on Sept 15 - 16, 2017 and the LIEMERT PARK VILLAGE on SEPT. 17, 2017 to celebrate and organize the PAN AFRICAN DIASPORA! Africa-USA Chamber of Commerce 1.626.243.3614 www.africa-usa.org panafricanglobaltradeconference.com

91  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

USTDA Supports Power Projects in Southern Africa

MOZAMBIQUE

he U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Kuikila Investments, Lda., an independent power developer in Mozambique. The grant supports a feasibility study for a 78-megawatt mobile, gas-fired thermal power plant in the Chokwé District of Mozambique's Gaza Province. Mozambique has the third-largest amount of proven natural gas reserves in Africa, and the sector presents tremendous export opportunities for U.S. industry. Kuikila selected Washington, D.C.-based Delphos International, Ltd., an independent financial services firm, to conduct the feasibility study. This project will meet Mozambique's

power demand by developing and modernizing the country's generation and transmission infrastructure. "USTDA's support will enable Mozambique to get domestic gas-fired power projects online expeditiously," said USTDA's Acting Director Thomas R. Hardy. "At the same time, the project creates opportunities for a significant amount of U.S. equipment exports. We are pleased to cooperate on this important initiative." "Kuikila has been working with the Government of Mozambique for five years on various gas-fired thermal power plants supporting the country's development through reliable and affordable power," said Diogo Vaz Guedes, Chairman and CEO of Kuikila. "This grant represents an affirmation of our efforts. We are pleased to partner with USTDA and Delphos to accelerate the process of getting this project to financial close." Acting Director Hardy signed the grant along with Mr. Vaz Guedes at the African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum in Lomé, Togo. At the ceremony, USTDA also announced support for an upcoming reverse trade mission that will highlight U.S. technologies in "fast

92  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

power" (e.g., mobile generation) projects for African delegates this fall.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Swayana (Pty) Ltd, a Pretoria-based energy project developer, for a feasibility study that will use innovative U.S. technologies to convert waste gas also known as oﬀ-gas - into a valuable commodity at a plant in South Africa's Mpumalanga province. The project will use proprietary technologies from Illinoisbased LanzaTech, Inc. to create ethanol from oﬀ-gas generated as a byproduct of ferroalloy smelting. "USTDA is pleased to support this cutting-edge project, which is creating new opportunities for innovative U.S. technologies that will support South Africa's commitment to reduce pollution in energyintensive manufacturing industries," said USTDA's Acting Director Thomas R. Hardy. "This project will open up a new low-carbon footprint fuels and chemical industry in South Africa," said

Joseph Zinyana, Director of Swayana. "The potential for this technology in South Africa is huge because we have many minerals beneﬁciation plants producing carbon-rich oﬀ-gases, but need the technology to turn them into useful products. Acting Director Hardy signed the grant along with Mr. Zinyana at the American Corner at the Central Library in Cape Town, South Africa. Consul General at U.S. Consulate General Cape Town, Virginia Blaser, witnessed the signing.

ZAMBIA

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant supporting a feasibility study for a 130 MW wind power project in Zambia. The grantee is Access Zambia Wind One Limited, a wind power project developer and subsidiary of Access Power, a Power Africa partner and developer, owner, and operator of

power assets in emerging and frontier markets. Slated for completion in 2019, the wind farm is anticipated to be the first wind independent power production project in Zambia and will help meet the country's growing demand for electricity. "USTDA is pleased to support this important project that will help diversify Zambia's energy generation mix," said USTDA's Acting Director Thomas R. Hardy. "The project will create opportunities for U.S. exports in a new and growing sector in Zambia." Vahid Fotuhi, Managing Director for Access, noted, "By bringing this pioneering project to fruition with the support of USTDA we aim to diversify Zambia's energy mix and tap into its vast clean energy power generation potential in order to help fuel its economic development and satisfy the urgent need for electrification." Access Zambia will competitively select a U.S. firm to complete the study. Businesses interested in submitting proposals for this USTDA-funded feasibility study should visit the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website at www.fbo.gov. A link to the FBO announcement will be posted to USTDA's website at www.ustda.gov/business-opportunities.

About USTDA: The U.S. Trade and Development Agency helps companies create U.S. jobs through the export of U.S. goods and services for priority development projects in emerging economies. USTDA links U.S. businesses to export opportunities by funding project preparation and partnership building activities that develop sustainable infrastructure and foster economic growth in partner countries.  www.ustdalgov

93  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

International

4 Lessons Entrepreneurs Should Learn from Dangote’s Bloomberg Interview By Chacha Wabara, Nairametrics

ne of the major highlights of last week was an in-depth interview Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote had with Bloomberg (www. bloomberg.com/features/2017-aliko-dangoteinterview) correspondent, Francine Lacqua.

In the interview, Dangote revealed much about his personal life as well as business journey so far. While many are harping on the surprising revelations that emerged from the interview, this article takes a look at 4 lessons that entrepreneurs can gleen from Dangote’s interview.

Aliko Dangote "We don't do small things."

Make sure your product/ service satisfies a need This is an often-repeated and often-neglected mantra of entrepreneurs. However, unless that your business idea satisfies some major need in the life or business of other people, you can as well ditch it. Dangote said as much during his interview, revealing how he came about his decisions to move into key areas such as cement and agriculture. I think actually what I figured out was looking at the entire African continent, especially sub-Saharan, and saying, “What do we actually produce?” What I learned is that the majority of African countries imported cement. The better way, I thought, would be to empower Africa—to meet our own infrastructural needs so that we could be more self-sufficient.

Never be afraid to challenge the status quo They say ‘Fortune favors the brave’ and that applies to business as well. For new businesses that are scared to challenge the way things are done but continue to toe the line of predecessors, the likelihood

of achieving major success is low. For Dangote, in an era where almost every other billionaire in Nigeria runs oil businesses, he remains the odd one out having made his money from other sources. The majority of people here made their money through oil. But Dangote has never ever dealt in oil, which is to prove that you don’t have to be in oil. In Nigeria, oil has really damaged our thinking. Everyone is thinking about oil, oil, oil. And we are one company that has made a success without doing that Passion is key Being an entrepreneur is never easy. Problems will come from right, left and center. People will talk you down, the business may be slow at times, and many other issues may come up. The only thing that can push you these difficult times is your passion for achieving your dream. Many people see Dangote and believe he always had it rosy. Not many would believe his business was in debt as recently as 2010. We had already studied doing 300,000 barrels a day back in 2005. At that time I couldn’t even fathom a larger refinery. I had no financial capacity. Then in about 2010 we paid all Dangote Group’s debts, which amounted

94  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

already has a plan for 2025! Every entrepreneur should be that guy. That’s the only way to reach one’s full potential. Many are satisﬁed growing a business to a point and cashing in on a few millions. The truly successful seek more success Beginning in 2020 our major investment will be in the U.S. and Europe… Beginning in 2020, 60 percent of our future investments will be outside Africa, so we can have a balance. Let’s say that by 2025, I’m looking at [putting in] between $20 billion and $50 billion [in Europe or the U.S].

Dangote oil reﬁnery in development

to $2 billion…We don’t want to listen to the critics, because their intention is to destroy us. We are using our own money. This is my lifetime project. I have to back it up with my own life to make sure it is delivered. There is no way you can have a population of 320 million in West Africa and no selfsuﬃciency. So the ﬁrst thing to do is food security. We have land, we have water, we have the climate—we shouldn’t be a massive importer of food. With modern farming you can get 8 to 10 tons per hectare. I believe Dangote Group is in the right position to drive this trajectory.

Never stop growing your appetite for success One thing that stood out from the interview was that Aliko Dangote, despite braking so many records and having so much success, was not yet ready to throw in the towel. The excitement with which he spoke about current and future projects showed that he’s that guy who always looks forward to the next challenge. He

Our business strategy has always been like that, yes. We don’t want to be No. 2 in anything that we do. We want to be No. 1. Worst case, we can be No. 2 but targeted to become No. 1.  https://nairametrics.com/4-lessons-entrepreneurs-shouldlearn-from-dangotes-bloomberg-interview/ Read the "Black Billionaires 2017" on page 56

95  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

International

Hummingbird Mine on Track to Boost Mali's Gold Output From Reuters

u m m i n g b i r d Resources said on Tuesday it had begun pre-production mining on schedule at its Yanfolila Gold Project in Mali and is on track to produce its ﬁrst gold by the end of the year. In Mali, Africa’s third largest gold producer after South Africa and Ghana, around a quarter of government revenues come from gold. Output has been falling this year pending the opening of new mines. In its ﬁrst full year of production, Yanfolila will produce 132,000 ounces of gold and average production over the life of the mine will be 107,000 ounces per year. Hummingbird shares have almost doubled this year after the AIM-listed company successfully raised $75 million in 2016 to begin mine construction. Yanfolila is expected to be one of the highest margin, lowest cost gold projects in West Africa, Hummingbird said.  w w w. r e u t e r s . c o m / a r t i c l e / hummingbird-mining-goldidUSL8N1LE4MS (Reporting by Barbara Lewis in London and Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru. Editing by Jane Merriman)

• Mali’s government gets about 25 percent revenues from gold • Mine to produce 132,000 ounces in ﬁrst full year • After that 107,000 ounces per year

96  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

African Stock Exchanges • Bolsa de Valores of Cape Verde - www.bvc.cv (in Portuguese) • Bond Exchange of South Africa - www.bondexchange. co.za • Botswana Stock Exchange www.bse.co.bw • Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres - UEMOA (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) - www.brvm.org • Casablanca Stock Exchange (Morocco) - www.casablancabourse.com/bourseweb/index. aspx • Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (Tanzania) - www. dse.co.tz • Douala Stock Exchange (Cameroon) - www.douala-stockexchange.com/index_us.php • The Egyptian Exchange - www.

• • • • •

• • •

egx.com.eg/English/homepage. aspx Ethiopia Commodity Exchange - www.ecx.com.et Ghana Stock Exchange - www. gse.com.gh Johannesburg Stock Exchange (South Africa) - www. jse.co.za/Home.aspx Khartoum Stock Exchange (Sudan, in Arabic) - www.kse. com.sd Libyan Stock Market - www. lsm.ly/_layouts/membership/ login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fEnglis h%2fPages%2fdefault.aspx Lusaka Stock Exchange (Zambia) - www.luse.co.zm Nairobi Stock Exchange (Kenya) - www.luse.co.zm Malawi Stock Exchange - www. mse.co.mw

• Mozambique Stock Exchange (in Portuguese) - www. bolsadevalores.co.mz • Namibian Stock Exchange www.nsx.com.na • Nigerian Stock Exchange www.nse.com.ng/Pages/default. aspx • Stock Exchange of Mauritius www.stockexchangeofmauritius. com • Swaziland Stock Exchange www.ssx.org.sz • Tunisia Stock Exchange - www. bvmt.com.tn • Uganda Securities Exchange www.use.or.ug Read the lastest issue of The Exchange Magazine www.nse.co.ke/media-center/ecommunique/exchange-magazine/ category/50-free-version.html

97  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

COMING TO YOUR E-MAIL BOX. Business/Government Contract Opportunities Business In Africa Commentaries/Editorials Financial Management Tech Tools for Growth Mobilization Africa Travel for Business & Pleasure

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International

One Africa:

Tell the US Government that North Africa is Africa Too!

oin with and support the United Africa Organization’s campaign to petition the U.S. Department of State to include the whole African continent under its Bureau of African Aﬀairs.

Why? The State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, led by Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson, currently excludes Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara from its agenda. Instead, the aforementioned countries are grouped with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, together with Iran, Iraq, Israel and others. This artificial distinction between North Africa and the rest of Africa

negatively impacts US foreign policy relations throughout the entire continent of Africa. We unequivocally reject the argument that North African countries are outside the scope of African affairs. North Africa is geographically and historically part of the African continent, and all fifty-three (53) independent African states, including North African countries, are represented in the African Union (AU). It would be far more productive for the State Department to engage with the entire continent of Africa, including North Africa, under its Bureau of African Affairs. We are one Africa, from the Cape to Cairo, indivisible and bound together! Therefore, no square inch of African

land should be excluded from African aﬀairs.

Sign The Petition!!! Go to www.change.org/petitions/ one-africa-tell-us-state-departmentthat-north-africa-is-part-of-africa and sign the online petition to support this important proposition. Next tell everyone you know to sign. 

www.uniteafricans.org

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Zumo Learning System with Tablet The Zumo Learning System provides an accessible learning environment for children of all abilities. Zumo helps children fall in love with STEM. • • • • • •

Includes a 7″ Tablet, Math Games and a Wireless Smart Toy, named Zumo Unique technology maps physical movements to touch screen gestures A suite of apps are included that are specially designed to enable tactile-based learning Designed for K-3rd graders for learning in the home or classroom Apps are customizable to the special needs of each child Zumo oﬀers many diﬀerent play experiences through apps already available on iTunes www.zyrobotics.com info@zyrobotics.com 103  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

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www.nubianskin.com

The Economic Turn Around in the USA is in Our Hands •Buy Products Made or Assembled in the USA •Hire One New Employee •Eat an Extra Meal Out Each Week •Start/Grow a Business to Generate Wealth & Jobs

Buy Black  Save Black  Invest Black 111  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

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This magniﬁcent handcrafted concert grand is a "Best of" in terms of sound, new technology, beauty, and construction. Massively well-built to withstand the rigors of intense concert performances without compromise, the SHADD Concert Grand is a coveted treasure for pianists and collectors. With a rich voluminous sound that performs true to all genres of music, this phenomenal instrument has a rare diversiﬁed ability to play from the softest whisper with pure clear sound to a major roar with a bass section exuding an abundance of power and resounding singing sensations.

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Experience our exciting array of products from Cards to Cupcakes, African Masks, Asian Teacups, Healthy Herbal Teas, Gourd Purses, Candles, to Furniture Hope to see you soon!!! In the meantime visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/pages/CulturalInteriors-West/140688362658236

114  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

New Location Leimert Park Village 3347 W. 43rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90008 1-323-299-6383 www.zambezibazaar.com shop@ zambezibazaar.com

115  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

1-484-459-6625 zimbabwegallery@yahoo.com www.shonasculpture.com @ZimbabweGallery www.facebook.com/Zimbabwe Gallery P P 3500 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30326 G M 2841 Greenbriar Pkwy SW, Atlanta, GA 30331

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Buy Black! Bank Black! Educate Black! Invest Black!

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Krispy Kruchy Chicken is in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, Los Angeles. Krispy Krunchy Chicken is a cajun-style chicken (bone-in and tenders), served fresh, never frozen and fried in zero trans fat oil. Their menu also includes signature dishes of Traditional Wings; Krispy Wings; Cajun Sweet & Sour Wings; Cajun Tenders; Red Beans and Rice; Jambalaya; Boudin Bites (Cajun rice balls); Krispy Shrimp and Honey Butter Biscuits. For additional information, please call Krispy Kruchy at 1-323-293-3332 or visit www. krispykrunchy.com. 120  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Parker House Sausage (www.

parkerhousesausage.com) was started by Chicago entrepreneur, Judge H. Parker who came to Chicago from Montgomery County, Tennessee with little more than the conviction that there was a potential market for homemade sausage products prepared according to his mother’s recipes. By 1919 Judge Parker began selling his unique blend of herbs and spices mixed with ﬂavorful, savory sausage from a horse drawn cart on a retail basis. Recognized as one of the oldest family owned businesses in the U.S. In 2014 Parker House expanded its product line to include chicken products including breakfast sausage, hot links, and smoked sausage.

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We invite you to browse through our store and shop with conﬁdence. Need a dinner idea. Go to the Recipe Page on our website. Thanks for visiting!

ince people from all walks of life really enjoy Down South cooking, NFL Pro Reggie Kelly thought, why not bring a piece of the South to their homes. Reggie and his wife founded KYVAN® FOODS. KYVAN® Foods is a supplier to great customers like Kroger, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Firehouse Subs, Performance Foodservice, Hot Shots Distributing and more. As stated by Reggie, “It’s my goal to pass down to my kids (Kyla & Kavan) and to everyone the gift passed down to me… An Appreciation Of Good Food.” Thanks and God Bless! Website: http://kyvan82.com Shop Online: http://kyvan82.com/store Store Locator: http://kyvan82.com/storelocator

Delicious Southern Flavors At Home!

Whether you’re north or south of the Mason-Dixon line, east or west of the Mississippi, Grandma Maud’s gives you a taste of the South in your own kitchen.

Try our Recipes:

//grandmamauds. com/recipes You’ll ﬁnd our Bean Meals, Southern Seasonings and Pie Fixin’s in supermarkets throughout the U.S.A. (Jewel-Osco, Mariano’s, Safeway and Kroger Stores) – and online at: (h ps://eyelevellink. com/collec ons/vendors?q=Grandma%20Mauds) or call us at: 1-773-493-5353!

Ma's Best is a bakery specializing in the production of home-style yeast rolls and baked products. www.facebook.com/masbestrolls/#!/masbestrolls/?tab=page_info#!/masbestrolls/info

Try all 3 ﬂavors!

In your local grocery store or shop online for syrups, recipes, and books. Learn about our special projects and join the recipe contest.

MICHELE FOODS, INC. 1-708-331-7316 www.michelefoods.com

128  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

www.wosa.us www.winetalkwithmarcia.com

http://aaavintners.org

http://shallwewine.com

https://unclenearest.com

Eso Won Books

African American Books 4327 Degnan Boulevard, Leimert Park, Los Angeles

Give the Gift of Books and Music Come see our unsurpassed collection of books, music, videos, children’s books, and games!

1-323-294-0324

www.esowonbookstore.com  //esowon.booksense.com for Calendar of Events

131  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Books to Consider

Books to Consider...

Poor Economics:

A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit Banerjee (Author), Esther Duﬂo (Author)

hy do the poor borrow to save? Why do they miss out on free life-saving immunizations, but pay for unnecessary drugs? In Poor Economics, Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, two practical visionaries working toward ending world poverty, answer these questions from the ground. In a book the Wall Street Journal called “marvelous, rewarding,” the authors tell how the stress of living on less than 99 cents per day encourages the poor to make questionable decisions that feed—not fight—poverty. The result is a radical rethinking of the economics of poverty that offers a ringside view of the lives of the world's poorest, and shows that creating a world without poverty begins with understanding the daily decisions facing the poor.  www.amazon.com/Poor-Economics-Radical-RethinkingPoverty/dp/1610390938

Happy Wives Club: One Woman's

Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage by Fawn Weaver

ne woman undertakes a worldwide search to learn the secrets of a great marriage--and finds one foundational truth that could change everything. Fawn Weaver was a happily married woman running a successful business--and then something happened. Maybe it was divorce rate reports on the evening news, The Real Housewives of Orange County, or any daytime talk show where husbands and wives dramatically reveal their betrayals. Everywhere she looked, Fawn saw negative portrayals of marriage dominating the airwaves and dooming everyone to failure. Looking at Keith, the love of her life, she knew that wasn't true. She was determined to find and connect with women just like her--happy and optimistic about marriage, deeply in love with her spouse, and committed to building a strong marriage that stands the test of time. On a whim, she started the blog HappyWivesClub. com and sent the link to a few of her friends. What started as a casual invitation to five women exploded into an international community with close to 400,000 women in more than 100 countries. Happy Wives Club is Fawn's journey across the world to meet new friends and discover what makes their marriages great. Join her on this exciting, exotic trip across six continents and through more than eighteen cities. Walk the streets of Mauritius, the historic ruins in Italy, and the vistas of New Zealand and Australia. Go from Cape Town to London, Manila to Buenos Aires, Winnipeg to Zagreb. Along the way, you will meet everyday women whose marriage secrets span cultures. You will hear their stories, witness their love, and be inspired by the proof that happy, healthy marriages do exist--and yours can be one of them!

133  August 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Books to Consider It turns out great marriages are all around us--when we look for them. Go on a trip with Fawn and learn the best marriage secrets the world has to offer.  www.amazon.com/Happy-Wives-Club-WorldwideMarriage/dp/1400205042

Books by Dick Gregory Nigger by Dick Gregory, Robert Lipsyte African Holistic Health by Llaila O. Afrika, Dick Gregory (Introduction) Callus on My Soul by Dick Gregory, Shelia P. Moses Dick Gregory's Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin' with Mother Nature by Dick Gregory, Alvenia M. Fulton (Editor), James R. McGraw (Editor) From the Back of the Bus by Dick Gregory No More Lies by Dick Gregory The Shadow That Scares Me by Dick Gregory, James R. McGraw (editor) Survival Into the Twenty-First Century

by Peter Max (Illustrator), Dick Gregory (Introduction) Dick Gregory's Bible Tales, With Commentary by Dick Gregory Up from Nigger by Dick Gregory, James R. McCraw Murder in Memphis: The FBI and the Assassination of Martin Luther King by Mark Lane, Dick Gregory Write Me In! by Dick Gregory Dick Gregory's political primer by Dick Gregory Survival into the 21st Century: Planetary Healers Manual by Viktoras Kulvinskas, Jean White (Illustrator), Dick Gregory (Introduction) 200 Nights And One Day by Margaret Rozga, Dick Gregory (Foreword) African American Humor: The Best Black Comedy from Slavery to Today by Mel Watkins (Editor), Dick Gregory (Foreword) What's Happening by Dick Gregory The Most Defining Moments in Black History According to Dick Gregory by Dick Gregory Delyte Morris of SIU by Betty Mitchell, Dick Gregory (Foreword) Dick Gregory's Bible Tales by Dick Gregory Mine Of Useless Information (Knight Books) by Dick Gregory .  www.goodreads.com/author/list/78222.Dick_Gregory

Octobe, 201 7

Awards Dinner & Celebration

In recognition of Black History Month, the annual awards dinner highlights the achievements of AfriAmerican entrepreneurs and the government Black Business Day Procurement can agencies and corporate entities that provide supand Award Summit port for African American businesses. For particiaGovernment and Corporate Contracting Procure- tion and sponsorship information visit www.bbala. ment Summit in recognition of the MBDAs Minor- org and call 1-323-291-9334.  ity Enterpriise Development (MED) week (https:// medweek.mbda.gov/). Interface with contractors from the public and private sectors. Event includes oneon-one matchmaking sessions, exhibits, workshops, networking opportunities and an awards Annual Salute to Black Women luncheon. For general particiation and matchBusiness Conference, Vendor making information visit www.bbala.org and call Faire & Awards Luncheon 1-323-291-9334.  In recognition of National Women’s History Month, this conference highlights the achievements of African American women entrepreneurs, along with workshop, including a workshop designed especially for young ladies between 13 and Financial Workshop 18 years of age, entitled “Role Models for SucConducted in collaboration with financial corporate cess.” This conference also provides the opporpartners of the BBA to identify loan opportunities tunity for vendors to promote and sell their goods for African American-owned business enterprises. and services in the Vendor Faire. A favorite feaFor general particiation and information visit www. ture of the annual Salute is the African American bbala.org and call 1-323-291-9334.  Dessert Buffet. For particiation and sponsorship information visit www.bbala.org and call 1-323291-9334. 

Marc 2018

Novembe, 201 7

201 7-2018

Financial Literacy Training & Workshops

April 2018

Local banking and financial institutions in col- All About Supplier Diversity laboration with the BBA provide financial literacy Certification training for its members and aspiring Youth EntreBusiness owners and aspiring entrepreneurs learn preneurs. For general particiation and information about supplier diversity certifications, which certifivisit www.bbala.org and call 1-323-291-9334.  cations they are eligible for, how to apply; and how to leverage certifications for contracting opportunities. This workshop is conducted in collaboration with Thomas & Webster. For particiation and sponsorship information visit www.bbala.org and Black History Month Annual call 1-323-291-9334. 

Feuary 2018

135  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819

Media/Information Africa Interactive Multimedia Press/Content Agency in Africa -- www.africa-interactive.com Africa is a Country -- www.africasacountry.com Africa News & Stories -- http://africatodaytv.com Africa Newsroom -- www.africa-newsroom.com Africa World Press Books -- www.africaworldpressbooks.com African Trade Magazine -- www.africantrademagazine. com African Vibes Magazine -- www.africanvibes.com The Africapitalist -- www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/ africapitalisminstitute/africapitalist-magazine The African World -- www.theafricanworld.tv Africast TV -- www.africast.tv Afritorial -- www.afritorial.com www.facebook.com/Afritorial AllAfrica (news) -- http://allafrica.com Black Wall Street Times -- http://bwstimes.com Black Business News Group -- www.blackbusinessnews.net Black Children's Books and Authors -- http://blackchildrensbooksandauthors.tumblr.com BlackPast.org -- www.blackpost.org Black Press USA -- www.blackpressusa.com Black Then -- https://blackthen.com Blavity Inc. -- www.blavity.com BridesNoir -- www.bridesnoir.com The Chocolate Voice -- www.thechocolatevoice.com CuisineNoir -- www.cuisinenoirmag.com DiasporaVoice -- www.blogtalkradio.com/diasporavoice How Africa, The Rise of Africa -- http://howafrica.com Publish Africa -- http://wow.gm/publishafrica Rock Me Africa -- //rockmeafrica.com Say Grace Blog -- http://saygraceblog.com YouTube Educational Channels -- http://teacherswithapps.com/197-educational-youtube-channels-know United Nations -- http://webtv.un.org World Library -- www.worldlibrary.org

-- www.blackemergmanagersassociation.org CauseCast -- www.causecast.com www.causecastfornonproﬁts.com Community Healing Network -- www. communityhealingnet.org Pan African Film Festival -- www.paﬀ.org United African Organization -- http://uniteafricans.org Zambia-USA Chamber of Commerce -- www.zambiausachamber.org

Investment/Development Africa Reports -- www.africareports.com African Development Bank -- www.afdb.org African Export-Import Bank -- //afreximbank.com/ afrexim/en AfrigadgetTV -- www.afrigadget.com Disrupt Africa -- http://disrupt-africa.com/ The Exchange Magazine -- www.nse.co.ke Silicon Harlem -- http://event.siliconharlem.net Ventures -- www.ventures-africa.com

U.S. Government Commerce Department -- www.doc.gov International Trade Administration -- http://trade.gov Minority Business Development Agency -- www.mbda. gov Power Africa -- www.usaid.gov/powerafrica Small Business Administration -- www.sba.gov State Department -- www.dos.gov Trade Africa -- www.usaid.gov/tradeafrica White House -- www.whitehouse.gov

Culture/Arts Cultural Events/Content -- www.okayafrica.com Hungry Black Man -- https://thehungryblackman.com

Commerce/Entrepreneurship African Success Stories -- www.risingafrica.org #IAMWANDA -- www.facebook.com/IamWANDAorg She Leads Africa -- http://sheleadsafrica.org

Organizations African Leadership Forum -- http://afrialeadership.org African Union -- www.au.int/en Black Business Association -- www.bbala.org Black Emergency Managers Association International 136  July 2017  Black Business News  www.blackbbusinessnews.net  1-323-291-7819