Black Boss Summit Inspires Business Minds

Black Boss Summit Expands with Competition and Cannabis Panel

Fifth Annual Event Continues Aim of Creating Wealth by Establishing and Sustaining Businesses

By Joshua Glenn

Resilience was the theme that fueled a weekend of inspiration at the Fifth Annual Black Boss Summit. The gathering featured entrepreneurs from across the country, as summit leaders opened their arms to give aspiring businesses the tools to adapt, perform and thrive.

A ballroom at the Clayton Hotel in Cherry Creek North was home base for the jam-packed, three-day event. Hosted by Jice Johnson and Shay J of the Black Business Initiative, the summit expanded into the community this year to up the ante from years prior. For the first time in summit history, the Pitch Black competition and Cannabis and Conversations panel made their inaugural debut at this year’s event.

The Jacquad Autograph Hotel was the venue for day one of the Black Boss Summit. Shay J and Rich Lewis from RTL Networks co-hosted the first annual Pitch Black competition to kick off the festivities. In the style of the popular TV series, “Shark Tank,” over 80 Black-owned businesses pitched their ideas for a chance to earn a $10,000 investment sponsored by Amanda Gordon, owner of GoJo Auto. National Business League CEO Dr. Kenneth Harris and Ben-Gurion University Chief of Staff & Strategic Initiatives for Americans Nneka McPhee sat alongside Gordon to form an all-star judge’s panel. Emerging from a tight pool of finalists, Truck Desk Owner Nosa Iyare was crowned the winner of the competition.

The president of Commercial Rail Solutions, Christopher Senegal, led an engaging conversation about the real estate market. While sharing his market knowledge and the ways the Black community has struggled with it, he also spoke about the realities of gentrification of Black communities that results in the unfortunate displacement of Black families.

Black Boss Summit Founder Johnson set the tone for day two. In her presentation, she introduced attendees to the event theme of resilience. Last year’s pandemic halted the growth and development of Black-owned businesses across the country. However, resilience is in our roots, and with it, the instinctual ability to overcome any hurdle in our way, Johnson told the audience.

In her opening conversation, she mentioned how setting a goal and performing at the highest caliber will provide you with the tools necessary to create your own success.

“Unless you reach the goal, you don’t change the vision,” said Johnson. She stressed the importance of changing your mentality. Mainstream media is often a culprit of dictating the way people feel and their beliefs. Holding true to one’s core values, it is possible to create agency and leverage to be successful.

Johnson adds that it was due to her resilience that she created her own resources. Being resilient will not only allow us to bounce back, but also move forward. In order to do that, “We must adapt. We must perform, and we must thrive,” she declared.

Create and Find Tools and Opportunities to Forge a Path to Success

Jice Johnson, Hill Harper and Shay J Photo by Ajay Kyle

Throughout Saturday’s event, entrepreneurs and economic professionals had opportunities to share their personal experiences navigating the business world. Duwain Pinder from the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility presented a portion of the McKinsey Report that discusses the economic impact of small businesses. With a significant number of Black-owned businesses opening in healthcare, “How do we start Black businesses in sectors where the economy is growing?” asked Pinder.

Launching, owning and operating a business are a major financial investment and can be virtually impossible to do individually. Multiple speakers from the weekend, including Pinder, discussed how partnering with other established corporations will increase funding opportunities.

Following the discussion of economics was Danielle Shoots, founder and CEO of the Daily Boss Up. Her advice to the room was about the critical importance of spending money to make money. “You do not grow business without debt,” Shoots advised.

Stern in her speech, she mentioned the word “risk.” As the banking industry has routinely operated against Black people, she described risk as the word used to keep Black businesspeople out of the capital machine. Through years of developing financial literacy, she developed the tools to stand up to the banking industry and create her own path to success.

“There is no entrepreneurship without purpose,” asserted Dr. Kenneth Harris, 12th National CEO of the National Business League who followed Shoots by discussing how now is the time for a Black economic revolution. The pandemic in

2020 blankets one of the largest wealth transfers in American history, Harris said, adding that we should use the current economic climate to take back wealth and resources into Black communities.

“If you ain’t got no money, you ain’t got no politics, and you ain’t got no status,” Harris told the crowd.

Amanda Gordon of GoJo Auto concluded Saturday’s festivities by sharing her “Y.” Y, being the shortened version of the question, “Why?” As an independent business owner, she is not bound to a franchise. “Knowing your purpose is half the battle,” she said.

Gordon is the first and currently only African American woman to own a car dealership in Colorado. Her why? She was fed up with working for others in a maledominated industry. She started GoJo Auto with the intent “to introduce women and people of color to the auto industry.”

In the inaugural Cannabis and Conversations event at the Summit, moguls in the Colorado cannabis industry congregated with summit participants in the Tetra private lounge and garden. They shared stories of their experiences navigating an industry that has historically locked up and locked out Black people. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, nationwide data shows law enforcers arrest Blacks almost four times more often than whites, even if the rate of cannabis consumption is equal.

The third and final day of the Black Boss Summit featured brunch and the Boss by Design panel with Johnson, Shay J and Coach Ken Ficklin. The three hosted an invigorating discussion on how leading by example starts with the individuals desire to grow. The world of entrepreneurship is ruthless and it only has room for those willing to commit. “When you’re not performing you can be cut,” said Ficklin. The three panelists continued their conversation and shared their knowledge of the personal and mental obstacles they faced on their path to success.

To conclude a weekend of education, information and inspiration, award-winning actor, humanitarian and entrepreneur Hill Harper was the keynote speaker. “You cannot have social justice without economic justice,” Harper said as the room fell silent.

He is the founder of The Black Wall Street, a free-to-download digital wallet. The mobile app allows users to add funds to their accounts and use those funds to invest in cryptocurrency. More specifically, it gets users involved with bitcoin.

In recent years, cryptocurrency has been on a rapid upward trajectory. One share in Bitcoin, the most popular form of crypto, was worth just under $48,000 during the summit. Though this new currency is volatile, Harper seized the opportunity to get the community involved in crypto.

Gold, as a precious metal, has reached a market value of $10 trillion dollars after 5,000 years of mining, according to him. Bitcoin has reached a market value of $1 trillion in only a decade.

“This five-year window we’re in right now is the opportunity for one of the greatest wealth transfers to the Black community in history,” he said.

To make this happen, he talked about how imperative it is for Black people to change the way they think about money. In his book, “The Wealth Cure,” be asks readers to determine the role money plays in their lives. To close the summit, he revealed the tools needed to build liquidity and cross-generational wealth. .

VOTE YES on 2A-2E

GETTING DENVER BACK TO WORK

Over 7,500 jobs created Over $480,000,000 in wages provided Over $1 Billion in economic impact

88 PROJECTS FUNDED INCLUDING:

Curtis-Mestizo Pool reconstruction 47th & Walden Park construction Globeville Library construction Peoria Street improvements National Western Center arena construction

ALL WITHOUT RAISING TAXES!

Paid for by RISE Denver