This insightful discussion was with Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women and shares its $10 billion strategy to fuel economic empowerment for Black women. We delved into what's working for Black women and how this commitment is unlocking a wave of opportunity for Black women founders and leaders.
Helen Adeosun, Founder & CEO, CareAcademy Barry Givens, Founder & Managing Partner, Collab Capital Jessica Taylor, National Director, Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women
Moderator: Jabari Young, Senior Writer, Forbes and Editorial Lead, ForbesBLK
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Helen Adeosun, Founder & CEO, CareAcademy Barry Givens, Founder & Managing Partner, Collab Capital Jessica Taylor, National Director, Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women
Moderator: Jabari Young, Senior Writer, Forbes and Editorial Lead, ForbesBLK
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00For our next conversation, please welcome back moderator Jabari Young and
00:05panelist Helen Adiosin, founder and CEO Care Academy.
00:10Give it up for Kirk Franklin one more time.
00:12Mary Gibbons, founder and managing partner Collab Capital, and Jessica Taylor,
00:17national director Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women.
00:21I don't know if I'm going to be able to top Kirk Franklin, that was dope.
00:29But so last week, I had a chance to go to Goldman Sachs.
00:35And this is one of my favorite conversations that we've had.
00:38But there are one million black women initiative,
00:41which is I don't know how many people in the crowd know about that.
00:43Raise your hand if you know about it.
00:45Great. So for those people who don't,
00:47one million black women is Goldman Sachs, our proud sponsor.
00:50You saw that, right?
00:53But $10 billion in 2021,
00:56they invested $10 billion to invest in one million black women.
01:01And by 2030, they're going to take all of that data, right, to see what they found.
01:05And these one million black women are solopreneurs, right?
01:08One man shop, and the objective is to turn them into actual entrepreneurs,
01:13people who hire people, right?
01:15Brookings Institute says that if you hire one black person, I mean,
01:18one person for black business, the economy grows by $55 billion.
01:23Look at that. A black business, if they hire one person, right,
01:26if every black business hires one person, the economy goes up $55 billion, right?
01:30That's a big giant stat. Earlier in our program,
01:33we were talking about things that were wrong.
01:35This one is talking about things that are right.
01:37And with that, Jessica, I'm going to start with you because you work at Goldman, right?
01:40First of all, let me start there. What is it like working at Goldman Sachs?
01:44Well, thank you so much, Jabari. It's great to be here.
01:47Hello, everyone. I have been at Goldman Sachs now a decade,
01:51and I've been a year into this role of running One Million Black Women,
01:55which is such an honor. I think when I think about Goldman Sachs,
02:00you can go to the website and you see a list of business principles,
02:04which are kind of principles that employees kind of live by,
02:08so to speak, while they work at Goldman Sachs.
02:10And one of the ones that really resonated with me the most was Goldman Sachs saying,
02:15you know, we're not afraid to strive to be excellent.
02:18And we want to be excellent in everything that we do.
02:22And so I was taken aback by that, right?
02:26Because sometimes you hear the notion of let's do the best you can,
02:29which is true and good. Let's try hard, A for effort.
02:33Goldman Sachs says we want to be the best, and they don't back down from that.
02:37And so when I think about my 10 years at the firm, striving to be the best, right?
02:44Learning, asking the right questions, showing enthusiasm for the work,
02:47being a team player, all of those characteristics are,
02:51I would say, what's important to kind of be successful in a place like Goldman Sachs.
02:56I'd also say trust is another big piece, right?
02:59Your manager at Goldman Sachs wants to know that you're in it to win it.
03:02Yes, and that they can trust you and rely on you to do the hard work,
03:06to work the long hours, to try to push the vision forward.
03:10And so demonstrating that commitment to the mission and the history of the firm,
03:14it's a 154-year-old institution, is really powerful.
03:18So those are kind of the two things I've kept in mind over the last decade.
03:22Beautiful. Well, let's keep it there, right?
03:23Because I want people to understand your role as national director at 1 Million Black Women.
03:27Explain your role there and why people who didn't know about the program should maybe want to apply.
03:31Right. Well, first I want to say this is that everything that Goldman Sachs does is grounded in data.
03:39And in 2021, our research team launched Black Womenomics,
03:43which is a research report that said many things,
03:47but really underscored the 90% racial wealth gap between your median black household and your median white household.
03:54And it underscored that two-thirds of that wealth gap was driven by an earnings gap.
03:59So black women just not earning as much as their peers.
04:02And then when you looked at black women who were mothers,
04:0680% were breadwinners compared to 50% of white women.
04:10And so across some of those data points and others, our CEO, David Solomon, said we have to do something about that.
04:17And Goldman Sachs exists as an investment bank to grow the economy,
04:20whether that's working with your ultra high net worth individuals to help them grow their wealth,
04:25whether that's helping a company go public or, you know, do a merger and acquisition.
04:31It's all about economic growth. And so in order to continue to grow the economy,
04:36you have to invest in black women. Because if you do, you can create about 1.7 million jobs and grow GDP by $450 billion.
04:46So for Goldman Sachs, this is a business deal, right?
04:50This is an investment. This isn't just charity. And there's nothing wrong with that.
04:54But it's important to note that there's an economic case for this work,
04:58which is why our CEO said we are going to invest $10 billion to drive economic opportunity for black women.
05:06And in addition to that, commit $100 million in philanthropic capital.
05:10And some of that money went to institutions here in Atlanta, right?
05:13That's right. And Morehouse both receiving some of those grants.
05:16Barry, you're in a unique situation, right? Because Goldman, part of this program,
05:19Goldman takes money and they also invest in black run venture firms, right?
05:25And then you guys take that money and go and invest in black companies.
05:27Explain that process and what you're seeing, what is driving,
05:30what's moving the needle from Goldman's investment for you guys?
05:34Yeah. And so as we think about creating jobs,
05:38as we think about money going to black women entrepreneurs in particular,
05:42investing money into venture capital funds is almost a way for any limited partner,
05:48which Goldman Sachs is an investor in our fund, is a limited partner.
05:51It's a way for them to multiply that economic impact because once they give us the capital,
05:58then we go out and we find, particularly at Collab Capital,
06:01where we only invest in black ran technology companies.
06:05And so all of their money that they're giving us is now going into black founders.
06:10We have a portfolio now of 37 founders of which 19,
06:15over 50 percent of them have at least one black woman founder at the helm.
06:19And so a lot of times we talk about the trickle-down effect of investing in black or
06:25women-led general partners, which are the partners of the venture capital funds,
06:29and what that means to the economy,
06:32which then trickles down into investing in people that look like us.
06:35What sometimes we forget or don't talk about is that once you invest in diverse GPs,
06:41what that means for the people that we invest in.
06:44That means that we're going to invest into a more diverse set of business owners and
06:48entrepreneurs. And so the last part of that is that what are those entrepreneurs building?
06:54They're typically building products that are affecting our community.
06:58They're building things that are affecting other,
07:01that are affecting the women communities,
07:02that are affecting the things that typically get left out and underserved.
07:06And so we have a company in our portfolio called Backpack Health. Backpack Health? Backpack Health Care,
07:12which is focused on mental health for kids and families.
07:17This is something by a woman whose son was dealing with mental health issues,
07:20a black woman, and she went out to solve that,
07:22and now she's raised, she just raised a series A of,
07:25I don't know if it's public, so I won't say the exact amount of money.
07:29But we gave a very hefty sum of money to this company,
07:32and now her, us investing in her is going to lead to tens,
07:36if not 20, 30 jobs in that community,
07:39but it's also helping families. We invested in a company called Maya,
07:42which is helping women that have gone through mastectomies still feel comfortable in their body,
07:47and have undergarments that make them feel sexy.
07:50There's particularly for women that have gone through this traumatic experience.
07:54So by us investing in them, she's now pouring into her community.
07:57We invested in another woman company called Hairbrella,
08:00which hopefully many of you have, that has built products to protect the women's hair
08:05when they're going out and it's raining or it's humid in places like Atlanta.
08:08So all of these products that, and all these people that we're investing in,
08:13they're then pouring into their communities. And as you mentioned, this is not charity.
08:17These people are doing 10, 15 million dollars a year in revenue,
08:20which would then give us back a bunch of money,
08:23which would then give Goldman back a bunch of money,
08:25and everybody in the entire ecosystem is winning.
08:28And so that's how, that's why it's so powerful to invest in investors
08:33that are also investing in communities that are underserved,
08:36and into people that look like us.
08:38Helen, you're in another unique position too,
08:40because you're not necessarily part of 1 Million Black Women,
08:43but Goldman is an investor in your company in Care Academy, right?
08:45It's a training software to improve education in senior home professionals, right?
08:50For people who take care of senior citizens,
08:52you have a platform that trains them on how to do it more efficiently, more better, right?
08:55That's right. That's right. That's right.
08:57And I think everything, Barry, that was a perfect layup, right?
09:00I, you know, this is, this is perfect. I didn't pay you to say that, Barry.
09:03But everything comes full circle, I think, in a lot of ways to what Barry just talked about.
09:08I have been a direct care worker. Shout out to Atlanta.
09:11I grew up right here in this community. Thank you. Thank you.
09:15And, you know, as a direct care worker, I had lived experience.
09:19And I think the beauty of investing in black women is that we're coming from a place of difference
09:27and a place of understanding opportunity from a different vantage.
09:32That's the very vantage I approach this.
09:33I had a policy degree and thought about the future of health care.
09:38So at Care Academy, we say that caregivers are the very center of an equitable and accessible health care future.
09:45So we imagine the world as, you know, the 60 million or so Americans who are caregivers of older adults,
09:53folks who are, you know, meeting the needs of grandparents who have dementia,
09:57someone who may have COPD, any sort of issue.
10:00We want to be the very front door of them getting access to education
10:03that can help their communities, their loved ones, and themselves.
10:07And that's really the vision that Goldman shared with us.
10:10And, you know, what folks don't really appreciate is that the majority, of course, of caregivers are mostly women.
10:16It's 90 percent women. And 60 percent of those women are black and brown women.
10:20So in lies, therein lies the opportunity.
10:24That's really the vantage that Care Academy is sort of looking at.
10:27So from there, Goldman actually met us at our first million dollars.
10:32We think about this company as both mission and margin, right, in serving communities.
10:37And now tens of millions and nearly 100 employees and growing, and over 2,500 employers who use our software.
10:44So the beauty has been meeting us in the mission and the margin.
10:48So we're really excited about that.
10:49Over 30 million dollars raised for your company.
10:51Yes, 40 million at this point.
10:53Well, say it again.
10:5440 million dollars.
10:55So for y'all thinking you cannot raise money, you can.
10:58And it leads me to a perfect segue, but what's one trait that every CEO should have,
11:03especially when they're going out and need to scale and raise capital?
11:06Yeah, I was talking about this, and I think it goes really back to your point about excellence, right?
11:13Run with lions.
11:14That's something my dad was always fond of saying.
11:16Run with lions.
11:17Run with lions.
11:17They're not going to kill you?
11:18My parents are African, so, you know, we can't help ourselves, right?
11:21So run with lions.
11:23And what that really means is always find and surround yourself with people who are doing more or better or where you need to go or where you want to be.
11:32I'm part of a CEO group I pay to be a part of, because these are folks who are at 100 million in revenue, right?
11:38And so always find folks in every—that's, you know, not just in business, but in every aspect of your working life and your personal life, right?
11:47Who are where you want to see yourself and where you want to go.
11:50And be humble.
11:51Avail yourself and learn, because you'll surprise yourself.
11:55Barry, you want to chime in on that?
11:56Because I was talking to Dr. Youngblood in the back and asking him his philosophy, you know, Keelan Youngblood.
12:01And he said, invest more in the winners, cut the losers as fast as you can, right?
12:06What's one trait that every CEO should possess, especially, again, as they look into raised capital?
12:11So I invest in the early stage of companies.
12:15So typically seed stage.
12:18And we get into a little bit of Series A. That's why we missed Carrie Cameron.
12:21She was too far ahead of where we write checks.
12:24So we missed that boat.
12:26But as an early stage founder, you typically—maybe you have a product.
12:30Maybe you have some revenue.
12:33But what you really have is, like, yourself.
12:36You are selling yourself.
12:38And as an early stage founder, there are three things that I typically look for.
12:41And it kind of separates you from other people who really aren't built to be entrepreneurs.
12:46You have a vision, which I think a lot of people would say, well, I have a vision.
12:49I have a vision.
12:51The second thing is courage.
12:53And that courage is where a lot of people fall off.
12:55You have to be willing to go against the grain, particularly in very innovative ideas.
13:00You're probably too early.
13:02And so there are going to be a lot of people that tell you, oh, your idea is not good.
13:06There's not a market for your idea.
13:08And so you have to have the courage to know that you are the smartest person working on that problem
13:13and that you're seeing five years ahead of where everybody else is seeing.
13:16Because that vision was given to you.
13:18It wasn't given to anyone else.
13:20And so you have to have the courage to adopt that vision and to run with it,
13:24no matter what anyone else says around you.
13:26And sometimes someone can be your mom.
13:28It can be your spouse.
13:29It can be your best friend.
13:31It could be your pastor.
13:32Like, it can be people that you really respect and that you love, but that vision was given to you.
13:37And I think a way, the third thing, and why I think a lot of founders can move through that
13:42and gain that courage is because you have to have a why.
13:45And we kind of touched on it a bit on several of the questions,
13:49where there's a lived experience that you have had that no one else has had,
13:54and you match that with your vision, and it gives you this passion to push through brick walls,
13:59to go solve this problem.
14:01And when you do run into that brick wall,
14:03when you do run into that person telling you you're doing something that's not relevant,
14:07that's not a great idea, it's typically that why that is your battery.
14:11It's the thing that continuously recharges you, the thing that when you have a bad day,
14:15you wake up the next day, and you remember that why.
14:18You remember and you gain that passion to keep going.
14:21And when a founder walks into my office, or I'm going to say office, everything's virtual now.
14:25When a founder walks into a Zoom call, I'll ask questions about why.
14:31Before I ever even get into the business, I want to know why are you doing this?
14:35Because if you're doing this just to make a buck,
14:37the likelihood that you're going to make it through the hard things is very slim.
14:41But if you can start to tell me about your experience, what happened to your family,
14:44to everything that's a part of your journey growing up to get you to that point where we're talking,
14:50there should be something that pops out that makes me believe
14:53that there is nothing that's going to stop you from solving this problem.
14:57And then I pair that with the vision.
14:59So those are kind of the three things that I try to tease out when I'm meeting a new entrepreneur.
15:04Jessica, diving back into One Million Black Women, because when I was at that graduation,
15:10what stands out about this particular investment is the free, I'll say it again,
15:15free program that you guys have where you are basically giving or allowing CEOs,
15:22solopreneurs to earn a master's degree from Goldman, right?
15:24And they work with NYU to create a great business course, right, which is really impactful.
15:30It's teaching you scaling, it's teaching you your marketing.
15:32And in order to graduate, you have to have one growth idea, right?
15:36And you guys are also ready to improve your cohort.
15:39Confused, I was confused.
15:40I thought it was 300, but then I see David Solomon says it's six.
15:43How is that, what's going on there as far as that cohort?
15:47Take us inside.
15:48That's right.
15:48Well, first I want to give a shout out.
15:49We have a few of our Black in Business graduates in the audience.
15:52Yes.
15:52A couple of them walked up to me.
15:54Raise your hands.
15:55Yes, there they are in the back.
15:57Stand up.
15:58If you're a graduate of that class, stand up.
16:00Yes.
16:03Y'all know the next millionaires now, so make sure y'all know.
16:06That's right.
16:07And Sandra, I always tell your story.
16:08So Sandra, you were an HR lawyer, left that career, started your own business.
16:14And you told me earlier this year that you've grown your revenue enough to pay off your home mortgage.
16:21Right?
16:21So that's what we mean when we're talking about economic growth and wealth creation.
16:26But Black in Business, again, Goldman Sachs, we launched this program because we saw that Black women were growing businesses and starting businesses faster than any other demographic period.
16:38And so what an opportunity.
16:40And for Goldman Sachs, we take advantage of opportunity.
16:42We invest in opportunity.
16:44And so we launched Black in Business, an education program to help Black women who are sole proprietors, just them and their business, help them grow revenues and hire people.
16:54And so fast forward two years later, we now have 750 graduates across 41 states in the country.
17:01And to your point, Jabari, we're going to be doubling the size of our classes.
17:05So usually we have 150 businesses in one cohort, and we do two cohorts a year.
17:11We're now going to be doubling that this fall to 300 businesses in one cohort, and we'll be serving 600 businesses a year.
17:18So by the end of this year, we'll have 1,000 alums already of the Black in Business program.
17:23We're going to be opening applications this fall.
17:25So you all should keep your eye on our website for when that happens, if you think this could be applicable to you.
17:31And that's a paid trip to Goldman Sachs.
17:33That's exactly right.
17:34Pay for you to come to New York, fly there, put you in a hotel, and you're at Goldman Sachs.
17:38And also in front of people like Valerie Jarrett, CEO of Obama Foundation, right?
17:43Issa Rae, right, a part of that board.
17:45And the best thing about this is that you, the line that I opened up that video with, right, your network equals your net worth.
17:53Think about that.
17:54Your net worth equals your net worth.
17:56If you have a strong net worth, it's likelihood your net worth is going to go up.
18:00If you're not running with lions, well, you're a loser, and we got to cut you, right?
18:04Final words here, and I'll ask all of you, and Barry and Jessica, you probably are better suited to answer this, because, Helen, you got your money elsewhere, and you're rich already.
18:13If you had to describe—
18:16It's from your mouth to God's ear.
18:18Right, right.
18:19Let me stop. The IRS will be watching this like, she's a millionaire.
18:23But if you had to describe one black business, one million black women, excuse me, in one word, Jessica, what would that word be?
18:30I'll give you two, economic growth.
18:32Economic growth.
18:33Barry?
18:35Am I describing collab or the—
18:38You're describing one million black women, because if it wasn't for them, they wouldn't be getting the money.
18:42All right, all right.
18:43So one word, I would say transformation.
18:47Transformation, why?
18:50We've said it on stage.
18:51And this is literally not just changing the lives of the women that are getting the money, but particularly in the black community, when the woman wins, the entire family wins, and then the entire community wins.
19:03And so we have to continue to invest in and support black women, because this is the foundation of our community.
19:09Yeah, absolutely.
19:10And the final stat, Jessica, I thought you were going to bring it, but I'm glad you didn't, because I can end it on this now.
19:16But out of the people who did graduate, $22 million collectively that the revenues went up now.
19:21That's right.
19:22Phenomenal stat.
19:23And 65% of our alums have reported increases in revenues over the last 12 months.
19:2750% have reported creating new paid employees within their businesses over the last 12 months.
19:32So the growth is real, and that's why my word was economic growth, right, because that's what this is about, growing wealth and growing revenues for the folks in our programs and those that we invest in.
19:43Make sure that you look into it.
19:45I wrote an article on it.
19:46If you want to know more about it and touch and see the people who have actually been through it, we know two that's in the audience right now.
19:51Pick their brains on it, right, and prove your network so y'all can get more money.
19:56Thank y'all.
19:57Thank you.
19:58Thank you so much.
19:59Thank you.
20:00Thank you.
20:01Appreciate it.