BEP Narrator:
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A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know
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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.
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Nsenga Burton.
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Dr.
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Burton, what do we need to know?
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Dr. Nsenga Burton: Hi, welcome
to Need to Know with Nsenga.
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Today, I'm going to pick up
where I left off the last time.
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We're going to talk
about entrepreneurship.
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I am the former National Executive
Director of the National Association
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of Multicultural Digital Entrepreneurs.
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And I am the former Southeast Regional
Director of an HBCU Entrepreneurial
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Institute that worked in Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, and the U.
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S.
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Virgin Islands.
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So this topic is really
important to me because I, too,
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am an entrepreneur.like Tony.
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So, um, I want to talk to
you about the Fearless Fund.
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I talked about that in the last segment
and how they have been basically
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told by, uh, the courts, um, that
they can not, uh, target or help.
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Black women become entrepreneurs, right?
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So the Fearless Fund was founded by two
black women, uh, who decided that they
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were going to put a dent in, um, the
challenges, the barriers that black women
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face, um, in becoming entrepreneurs, i.
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e.
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access to capital, i.
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e.
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access to resources.
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Uh, I.
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E.
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access, uh, to, um, talented staff,
um, because, you know, you have to
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be able to pay a competitive salary.
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You have to be able to pay the
benefits, all of those things.
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And so the Fearless Fund was like,
hey, we're gonna help, um, these
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women, um, who are ridiculously
qualified and credentialed.
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As are the women of the Fearless
Fund, um, you know, get a leg
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up, not a handout a leg up.
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And, uh, because of all the anti
black and anti black women, uh, racism
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that is happening in this country.
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Um, They have been denied, denied, denied.
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So, while we talked about that in the
last segment, I want to talk about in
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this segment, the importance of those
who are running entrepreneurial centers.
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We have to make sure that if we are
getting money, um, from various spaces, If
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you do have resources, and if you do have
access to capital, and if you do curate
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programming that is supposed to help,
um, you know, in my case, we were helping
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students, um, or trying to help students
and the community, then you have to do it.
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Because there are so many people who are
out here who are becoming disenfranchised.
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And one of the ways that you can counter
that is to build a successful center.
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So like we have the Rice Center in
Atlanta, they're doing amazing work.
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Amazing work, right?
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Every time they get something great, you
see them roll out something phenomenal.
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Right.
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So they can get 2 million from this
company or, you know, an investment from
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that person or donation from this person.
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And not even four weeks later, they're
like, this is what we're doing with it.
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This is how we're going
to help the community.
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This is how we're going to
have measurable outcomes.
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Right.
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So that's what we need to be doing.
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That's how we need to be moving.
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Um, we don't need to be scamming.
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We don't need to be, um, hustling
or having that type of mentality.
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Um, and if you are sitting on.
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These types of resources that can benefit
the community that can benefit these
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women who can no longer go to a place
like the Fearless Fund and we know how
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long it took to get a Fearless Fund
together to get these venture capitalists
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together to actually give money.
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You know, when I first started, nobody
was giving us money, like, no body.
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Nobody was giving us money.
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So the fact that people are actually
doing it post George Floyd, unfortunately,
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but doing it nonetheless means
that we have to be great stewards.
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Um, and the Fearless Fund
is they absolutely are.
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Um, the right center absolutely is,
you know, um, spellpreneur program
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is Spellman college is amazing.
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I mean, they're just lots of amazing
programs out there, but you have to make
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sure that they are run Properly, you
have to make sure that the money that is
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being invested is yielding benefits for
the community and for the populations
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that you are supposed to serve.
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Because if we don't do that, then
we can see what's coming next.
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If they're doing this to the
Fearless Fund, which is an
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outstanding organization.
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I mean, outstanding organization, then
imagine what they're going to do to.
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Your fund or your site or your Institute,
um, when you are delivering, uh, the way
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that you're supposed to be delivering.
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So I just say that to say,
I'm not calling any names.
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I'm just saying, this is not a hustle.
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This is no time to hustle.
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This is no time to engage scammers.
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This is a time to dig in and to make
sure that we prove these people wrong.
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While simultaneously
uplifting our community.
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Building more entrepreneurs so that we
can be self sustaining as a community,
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as individuals, as families, and
pass on generational wealth, which
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as you know, in this country is the
only way to have any type of wealth.
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They don't even want to help you when
you are qualified to build wealth.
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So you got to inherit it.
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You have to and that's how these
fools who I will not give any names.
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Um, who have been coming after
black and brown people coming after
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women coming after women of color
coming after LGBTQ populations.
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Um, this is what they have.
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They have generational wealth
so that they can keep you in
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court all day long, all day long.
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Um, and so we have to get that going too.
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I mean, we do have a little bit of
it mostly in the media space, um,
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but we got to get it in other spaces.
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So please, please, please, um, for
people who are listening, invest in
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your entrepreneurial centers and sites.
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And for those who actually have
the tools, you have the access, you
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have the money, you have the power
to help, um, your people and your
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businesses, please make sure you do it.
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And that is Need to
Know with Nsenga on BEP.
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I'll see you next week.
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BEP Narrator: A Black
Executive Perspective
