KWAME

John Coleman died the first day of May. He was a couple years younger than me – 34. John would come by the house asking to work on my yard from time to time, and I would decline. We never really engaged much beyond that. I would see him riding his bike around while holding his phone to his ear listening to music. We would acknowledge each other, but never had much conversation. Perhaps we could have engaged more and found a way to help each other. We won’t get that chance.

John’s death is emblematic for me of the potential that dissipates on a daily basis – less than two miles from the halls of Capitol Hill. People who clearly have value — creative, conveners, communicators — yet have not been able to tap into the opportunities this city and country have to offer. It is frustrating and does not have to be like this, in DC, Accra, London, or Medellin.

What should be is a world where black folks globally are doing well economically, politically, and socially. This is what I am working towards. Economically, black folks are building wealth that stretches beyond our lives. We are able to work jobs, build companies, invest and save in such a way that multiple generations are able to take the wealth their forefathers generated and continue the cycle of passing it down. Majority-black countries are able to operate off of tax revenues and are significant investors in other African countries and beyond. Politically, black folks are initiating and shaping policy from local government all the way to international governing bodies. Black candidates for president, prime minister and more is the norm. African leaders are influential on the global stage. A trip to a war zone to negotiate peace is not seen as a joke, but as reason for hope.

Energy

I keep thinking about the phone John would carry around listening to music. There’s lithium in that phone, one of the 50 minerals the US Department of Energy has listed as critical due to their importance to energy technology. Demand for lithium has skyrocketed over the past several years as we push deeper into this energy transition. There are all sorts of opportunities present in this shift — manufacturing, mining, supply chain management, and more. Investment in renewable energy surpassed $1 trillion in 2022, with projections that $4 trillion is needed by 2030 to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. How many of those dollars will find their way into communities like mine?

What’s the connection to John? Well, what if John and others like him had economic ties to industries like lithium mining — ones essential to life today and the future. What if those economic ties went beyond a paycheck, but expanded into stakes in mines, companies, real estate, the list goes on. What if I owned a lithium mining operation? What if my returns from that business went into other businesses closer to the consumer or worker in urban areas? What if John had a job at one of those businesses?

Herein lies my ambition. I want to control or be an investor in businesses from the mineral layer to the software layer and bring in underserved communities that are tied to these layers to be more than consumers or employees in these various layers, but to have ownership. As my balance sheet grows from building businesses in resilient industries developing the materials we need to build the future, I am reinvesting those dollars into my community through other companies I control – manufacturing, software, and more. I am also supporting leaders who can provide the leadership we need politically and socially to build this into a virtuous flywheel that lives beyond me.

What is cool is that I’m not doing this on my own. In my personal circle of friends, I have multiple who are working this very same journey with similar or complementary visions. I know there are at least thousands more with this same mindset. Part of my getting back to this writing is to find those folks.

Transfer Assets vs. Build Institutions

Damien Dwin gave a great podcast interview earlier this year outlining his vision for Lafayette Square Capital. He talked about how there are talented people in the corporate world who spend their time making money to be able to pay expensive tuition and purchase a vacation home. He challenged the audience to have a higher level of ambition than that – to stop trying to out white boy, white boys, and rather build institutions.

This is what I’m on. Since 2013, I have circled the private equity and venture capital industries looking for a way in. Ten years later, I am still on the outside. No matter, I am working with folks I respect to build institutions of our own.

A few things I’ve read or listened to recently touch on what needs to be done to improve the state of black folks in this country. My bet is that improving the state of black folks will have knock-on effects on the state of other underserved populations in this country.

My employer wrote a piece on how black-run nonprofits and foundations do not have the asset base that white ones do. They propose that white philanthropies transfer assets in order for black ones to effectively do their work.

I think there is a place for transfer of assets, but this is not what I’m betting on for building the asset base needed to do the work that needs to be done in our communities. Phil Knight recently gave the 1803 Fund $400 million to do its work. This sort of thing is great, but will not be the norm. What needs to be the norm is black folks building companies, securing land, and other assets that enable us to fund the work that needs to be done in our communities.

Another consultancy has developed work on what needs to be done to enhance black economic mobility in this country. This brings to mind the other reason it is important for us to build our own institutions. The consultancies putting out this research on what to do about the state of black folks have been advising an untold number of companies and nonprofits. Today, we are here in part due to the advice firms like these have provided. I don’t have an expectation for them to provide the wholesale strategy for companies to reimagine how they do business in efforts to build up communities like the one I live in. The institutions I and my contemporaries build can do that work without the conflicts of interest.

One may ask, what institutions do we need? There is a whole range – banks, investment firms, hospitality groups, chemical manufacturers, biomedical laboratories, cities, restaurant groups. The list literally could go on. The ecosystem developed by firms like this, built with our communities in mind could change the dynamics of what politics, society, and economics look like not just for black people, but everyone.

Replant Seeds

I love Felecia Hatcher’s image of us eating from the garden and replanting the seeds from what we’ve eaten. This aligns so well with my vision. I have learned so much, gained so many skills, delivered so much value, and developed so many relationships. I am building the wealth to then plant those seeds into my community and others where the risk seems high, but actually is not when you do it well. Let’s replant our seeds. I think John and the countless others who left this world too early would appreciate that.