BY R.L. WITTER
Money
business, finance + work
The Apprentice Becomes the Master
W
hen Dr. Randal Pinkett appeared on my computer screen via Zoom a few days before Christmas 2020, his megawatt smile and Kwame Jackson necktie let me know it was going to be an energetic and engaging interview. Clad in a three-piece suit with copies of his latest book, Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness displayed behind him, he was ready to discuss a variety of topics from economic justice to Donald Trump, to combatting the isolation some African Americans feel in their quest for achievement and excellence. An Advocate for Economic Justice Pinkett’s face is likely familiar to you. A successful CEO, author, sought-after public speaker, and former college athlete, his accomplishments and appeal stretch across the spectrum of business, activism, and entertainment. It would be hard not to recognize him as he is seemingly everywhere, striving to do good for everyone. Our conversation took place shortly after Dr. Pinkett’s passionate testimony before the New Jersey Legislature’s Joint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Opportunity. Pinkett was approached by Pastor David Jefferson of Metropolitan Baptist Church, who Pinkett described as “a dear friend, fraternity brother, and kindred entrepreneurial spirit for economic justice in NJ connected to Senator Ronald Rice.” He jumped at the opportunity to testify chuckling, “The topic of small business, minority business, women-owned business in New Jersey? You might have to shut me down!” Pinkett’s passion for economic justice originated more than thirty years ago as a teenaged college student and entrepreneur. He and three Rutgers classmates
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The Positive Community Winter 2021
Dr. Randal Pinkett on the Politics of Economic Justice “My advice: establish a strong identity and purpose… We think of identity being your anchor; it grounds you. …being proud, rooted, and grounded in your Black identity and culture —seeing it as an asset, not a liability. Identity is your anchor, it grounds you. Purpose is your compass, it guides you. So, when the winds are blowing, it’s one thing to be anchored, it’s another thing to say which direction are you going so when people say ‘No, you can’t go there,’ you say ‘Yes, I can go there.’” — Dr. Randal Pinkett began what would become BCT Partners. “Our first venture was selling compact discs and donating the proceeds to high school outreach,” he recalled. “I think about the challenges we’ve experienced... I think about the extent some of those challenges, if not many of them, are particular to the state we all love and have great fondness and affinity for, I cannot help but make it easier and better for the next generation of entrepreneurs who have the same dream we did and that the trails we’ve attempted to blaze have not been blazed in vain.”
Well-versed in New Jersey’s history regarding minority and women-owned businesses (MWBEs), Pinkett aims to pick up the dragging feet of local politicians’ and hold them to the fire regarding broken campaign promises and an abysmal record of support for MWBEs. “I’ve witnessed governors McGreevey, Codey, Corzine Christie, and now Governor Murphy and all of them just watched,” he explained. “The New Jersey MWBE set aside program was disbanded in July, 2003 because a lawsuit was filed that deemed the set aside program unconstitutional www.thepositivecommunity.com
