Black men entrepreneurs

Black men are increasingly playing a bigger role not only in business management and workforce, but also in the area of business ownership. This proved to be a very positive news especially in the employment of blacks, who in the past often find it hard to enter the workforce because of discrimination. Records from the 2002 Preliminary Estimates of Business Ownership by Gender and Race showed that about 94,862 businesses owned by black men entrepreneurs paid their employees close to $70 billion.

Successful black men entrepreneurs include Marcus David (restaurateur, The Breakfast Klub); David L. Steward (founder of World Wide Tech); Kase Lawal (CEO of oil and gas firm CASAC); Robert L. Johnson (founder of Black Entertainment Television); and Gerald B. Smith (CEO of Smith Graham & Company Investments).

Meantime, two black men stood out among the rest due to their amazing ability to use their their education and experience, coupled with a strong fighting spirit, to venture on their own. One of them is Aubyn Hill, the current CEO of Corporate Strategies Ltd., one of the biggest financial advisory firms in Jamaica. A graduate of the Harvard Business School in 1978, he opened a branch of the American Express International Banking in Sri Lanka in 1980, which became a success. He was credited in the turnaround of the National Bank of Oman and the Burgan Bank in Kuwait, as well as the National Commercial Bank Limited (NCB), one of the biggest banks in the Caribbean.

Another admirable black man is Albert R. Grace, Jr., the co-founder of Loop Capital Markets, one of the fastest growing investment banking firms in the U.S. today. His years of experience in law, money management and capital markets are key elements in his success. Among the previous business leadership roles he took on included being the vice president of Northern Trust Company; former president and chief operating officer of Selected Financial Services; and as a legal counsel for big firms CIGNA Corporation, Kemper Services, Inc., and American Express Financial Services, Inc.