for our next conversation, please welcome back moderator Jabari Young and panelist Helen Adios, founder and CEO of Care Academy, One More Time, founder and managing partner of Collab Capital, and Jessica Taylor, National Director of Goldman Sachs 1 Million Black [Applause] [Music] women. I don't know if I'll be able to top Kurt Franklin; that was dope. Good um, but uh, so last week I had a chance to go to Goldman Sachs, and um, this is one of my favorite conversations that we're having, but their 1 Million Black Women uh initiative, which is uh, I don't know how many people in the crowd know about that. Raise your hand if you know about it. Great. So for those people who don't, 1 Million Black Women is Goldman Sachs, our proud sponsor um, you saw that right. Make sure I do next uh, but 1 billion in 2021. They invested $1 billion to invest in one million black women, and by 2030, they're going to take all that data right to see what they found, and these

one million black women are solo preneurs, right? One man shot, and where the objective is to turn them into actual entrepreneurs, people who hire people, right? Brookings Institute says that if you hire one black, I mean one person for a black business, the economy grows by $55 billion. Look at that, a black business, if they hire one person, right? If every black business hires just one person, the economy goes up $55 billion, right? Right, that's a big giant stat. Earlier in our program, we were talking about things that were wrong. This one is talking about things that are right. And with that, Jessica, I'm going to start with you because you work at Goldman, right? First of all, let me start there. What is it like working at Goldman Sachs? Well, thank you so much, Jaari. It's great to be here. Hello, everyone. I have been at Goldman Sachs now a decade, and I've been a year into this role of running 1 million black women, which is such an honor. I think when I think

about Goldman SA. You can go to the website and you see a list of business principles, which are kind of principles that employees kind of live by, so to speak, while they work at Goldman Sachs. One of the ones that really resonated with me the most was Goldman Sachs saying, You know, we're not afraid to strive to be excellent, and we want to be excellent in everything that we do. And so, um, I was taken aback by that, right? Because sometimes you hear the notion of let's do the best you can, which is true and good, uh, let's try hard, A for effort. Goldman Sachs says, We want to be the best, yes, and they don't back down from that. And so, when I think about my 10 years at the firm, striving to be the best, right? Learning, asking the right questions, showing enthusiasm for the work, being a team player, all of those characteristics are, I would say, what's important to kind of be successful in a place like Goldman Sachs. I'd also say trust is

another big piece. Your manager at Goldman Sachs wants to know that you're in it to win it, yes, and that they can trust you and rely on you to do the hard work, to work the long hours, to try to push the vision forward. And so, demonstrating that commitment to the mission and the history of the firm, it's a 154-year-old institution, is really powerful. So, those are kind of the two things I've kept in mind over the last decade. Beautiful. Well, let's keep it there, right? Because I want people to understand your role as National Director at 1 Million Black Women. Explain your role there and why people who didn't know about the program so maybe want to apply, right? Well, first, I want to say this, is that everything that Goldman Sachs does is grounded in data. And in 2021, our research team launched Black Womenomics, which was a research report that said many things but really underscored the 90% racial wealth gap between your median Black household and your median White household. And it

underscored that two-thirds of that wealth gap was driven by an earnings gap, so Black women just not earning as much as their peers. And then when you looked at Black women who were mothers, 80% were breadwinners compared to 50% of white women. And so across some of those data points and others, our CEO David Solomon said we have to do something about that. Um, and Goldman Sachs exists as an investment bank to grow the economy, whether that's working with your ultra-high-net-worth individuals to help them grow their wealth, whether that's helping a company go public or, you know, do a merger and acquisition. It's all about economic growth. And so in order to continue to grow the economy, you have to invest in Black women because if you do, you can create about 1.7 million jobs and grow GDP by $450 billion. So for Goldman Sachs, this is a business deal, right? This is an investment. This isn't just charity. Um, and there's nothing wrong with that. Um, but it's important to

note that there's an economic case for this work, which is why our CEO said we are going to invest 10 billion um to drive Economic Opportunity for black women. And in addition to that, commit $100 million in philanthropic Capital, yeah. And some of that money have went to institutions here in Atlanta, right? K Senate and morouse both receiving some of those grants. Barry, you're in a unique situation, right? Because Goldman part of this program. Goldman takes money and they also invest in Black Run Venture firms, right? And then you guys take that money in and go and invest in Black companies. Explain that process and what you're seeing, what is driving, what's moving the needle from Goldman's investment for you guys, yeah. And so as we think about creating jobs, as we think about money going to black women entrepreneurs in particular, investing money into Venture Capital funds is almost a way for any limited partner, which Goldman TX as an investor in our fund is a limited partner. It's a way for them to multiply that economic impact because they once they give us

the capital. Then we go out and we find, particularly at Collab Capital, where we only invest in Black-owned technology companies. And so, all of their money that they're giving us is now going into Black founders. We have a portfolio now of 37 founders, of which 19, over 50% of them, have at least one Black woman founder at the helm. Wow. And so, a lot of times we talk about the trickle-down effect of investing in Black or women-led general partners, which are the partners of the venture capital funds, and what that means to the economy, which then trickles down into investing in people that look like us. What sometimes we forget or don't talk about is that once you invest in diverse GPs, what that means for the people that we invest in. Absolutely. That means that we're going to invest into a more diverse set of business owners and entrepreneurs. And so, the last part of that is that what are those entrepreneurs building? They're typically building products that are affecting our community. They're building

things that are affecting other uh that are affecting the women communities that are affecting the things that typically get left out and underserved. And so, we have a company in our portfolio called Backpack Health. Backpack Health, Backpack Healthcare, which is focused on uh mental health for kids and families. This is something by a woman whose son was dealing with mental health issues, a black woman, and she went out to solve that. And now she's raised, she just raised a Series A of, I don't know if it's public, so I won't say the exact amount of money. Um, but we gave a very hefty sum of money to this company. And now her us investing in her is going to lead to tens, if not 20, 30 jobs in that community. But it's also helping families. We invested in a company called Maya, which is helping women that have gone through mastectomy still feel comfortable in their bodies and have undergarments that make them feel sexy. There, particularly for women that have gone through this traumatic experience.

so by us investing in them, she's now pouring into her community. We invested in another woman company called Hairbrella, which hopefully many of you have, that has built products to protect women's hair when they're going out and it's raining or it's humid in places like Atlanta. So, all of these products and these people that we're investing in, they're then pouring into their communities. And as you mentioned, this is not charity. These people are doing 105 million a year in revenue, which would then give us back a bunch of money, which would then give Goldman back a bunch of money, and everybody in the entire ecosystem is winning. And so, that's how, that's why it's so powerful to invest in investors that are also investing in communities that are underserved and into people that look like us. Helen, you're in another unique position too because you're not necessarily part of 1 million Black women, but Goldman is an investor in your company and Care Academy, right? It's a training software to improve

education and senior home professionals right for people who take care of senior citizens. You have a platform that trains them on how to do it more efficiently, more better, right? That's right, AB. That's right, that's right. And I think everything bar that was a perfect layup, right? I, you know, this is this perfect. I didn't pay that bar, but everything comes full circle. I think in a lot of ways what Barry is just talked about. I have been a direct care worker. I'm shout out to Atlanta. I grew up right here in this community. Thank you, thank you. And, you know, as a direct care worker, I had lived experience. And I think the real, the beauty of investing in black women is that we're coming from a place, a place of difference, and a place of understanding opportunity from a different ADV Vantage. That's the very Advantage I approach this. I had a policy degree and thought about the future of healthcare. So at Care Academy, we say that caregivers are the very center

of an equitable and accessible Health Care future. So, we imagine the world as you know the 60 million or so Americans who are caregivers of older adults, folks who are meeting the needs of grandparents who have dementia, someone who may have COPD, any sort of ISS. We want to be the very front door of them getting access to education that can help their communities, their loved ones, and themselves. And that's really the vision that Goldman shared with us. And you know what folks don't really appreciate is that the majority of course of caregivers are mostly women. That's 90% women, and 60% of those women are black and brown women. So, therein lies the opportunity. That's really the Vantage that Care Academy is sort of looking at. So, from there, Goldman actually met us at our first million dollars. We think about this company as both Mission and margin, right, and serving communities and now tens of millions and nearly 100 employees and growing and over 2500 employers who use

our software. So, the beauty has been meeting us in the mission in the margin, so we're really excited about that. Over $30 million raised for your company. Yes, $40 million at this point. Say it again, $40 million. So, for y'all thinking you cannot raise money, you can. And it leaves me a perfect segue, but what's one trait that every CEO should have, especially when they're going out and they need to scale and raise capital? Yeah, I was talking about this, and I think it goes really back to your point about excellence, right? Run with lions. That's something my dad was always fond of saying, run with lions. My parents are African, so we can't help ourselves, right? So, run with lions. And 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. I'm part of a CEO group I pay to be a part of because these are folks who are at a $100 million.

in Revenue right and so um always find folks in every that's you know not just in business but in every aspect of your working life uh and your personal life right who are where you want to see yourself and where you want to go and be humble Avail yourself and learn because you you'll surprise yourself Barry you want to chime in on that cuz I was talking to Dr Young Blood in the back and asking him his philosophy you know keing young blood and he said um invest more in the winners cut the losers as fast as you can right what's one trait that every CEO should possess especially again as they look into raise Capital um so I invest in the early stage of companies so typically seed stage um and we getting into a little bit of series a that's why we missed K academ she was she was too far ahead of where we write checks uh so we missed that boat um but and in a as a early stage founder you Ty Al maybe you have a product maybe you

have some revenue, but what you really have is like yourself. You are selling yourself, and as an early-stage founder, there are three things that I typically look for, and it kind of separates you from other people who really aren't built to be entrepreneurs. You have a vision, which I think a lot of people say, Well, I have a vision. I have a vision. The second thing is courage, and that courage is where a lot of people fall off. You have to be willing to go against the grind, particularly in very innovative ideas. You're probably too early, and so there are going to be a lot of people that tell you, Oh, your idea is not good. There's not a market for your idea. And so, you have to have the courage to know that you are the smartest person working on that problem and that you're seeing five years ahead of where everybody else is seeing because that vision was given to you. It wasn't given to anyone else, and so you have to have the courage to adapt.

that vision and to run with it no matter what anyone else says around you. And sometimes that someone can be your mom. It can be your spouse. It can be your best friend. It can be your pastor. Like, it can be people that you really respect and that you love, but that vision was given to you. And I think a way, the third thing, and why I think a lot of founders can move through that and gain that courage is because you have to have a why. And we kind of touched on it a bit on several of the questions where there's a lived experience that you have had that no one else has had. And you match that with your vision, and it gives you this passion to push through brick walls, to go solve this problem. And when you do run into that brick wall, when you do run into that person telling you you're doing something that's not relevant, that's not a great idea, it's typically that why that is your battery. It's the thing that continuously recharges you, the things

that when you have a bad day, you wake up the next day and you remember that why you remember, and you gain that passion to keep going. And when a Founder walks into my office, or I'm say office, everything's virtual now. When a Founder walks into a zoom call, um um, I'll ask questions about why before I ever even get into the business. I want to know why are you doing this, because if you're doing this just to make a buck, the likelihood that you're going to make it through the hard things is very slim. But if you can start to tell me about your experience, what happened to your family, to everything that's a part of your journey growing up to get you to that point where we're talking, there should be something that pops out that makes me believe that there's nothing that's going to stop you from solving this problem. Absolut. And then I pair that with the vision, and then I so those are kind of the three things that I try to tease out when I'm

meeting a new entrepreneur. Yeah, Jessica diving back into one million black women because when I was at that graduation. You know what stands out about this particular investment is the free. I say it again free program that you guys have where you are basically giving or allowing CEOs, solar preneurs to earn a master's degree from Goldman, right? And he worked with NYU to create a great business course, right? Which is really impactful. It's teaching you scaling, it's teaching you your marketing, and in order to graduate, you have to have one growth idea, right? And you guys are also ready to improve your cohort. Confused. I was confused. I thought it was 300, but then I see David Solomon says it's six. So, what's going how? How is that? What's going on there? And as far as that cohort, take us inside. That's right. Well, first, I want to give a shout-out. We have a few of our black and business graduates in the audience. A coule ra, your hands. Raise your hands. Yes, there they are in the back. Stand up if

you're a graduate. Yes, yes, y'all know the next millionaires now, so make sure, right, that's right. And Sandre, I always tell your story. So, Sandre, you were an HR lawyer, left that career, started your own business, and you told me earlier this year that you've grown your revenue enough to pay off your home mortgage. Amen, right? So, that's what we mean. We're talking about economic growth and wealth creation. But Black in Business, again Goldman SA, we launched this program because we saw that Black women were growing businesses and starting businesses faster than any other demographic, period. And so, what an opportunity. And for Goldman Sachs, we take advantage of opportunity, we invest in opportunity. And so, we launched Black in Business, an education program to help Black women who are sole proprietors, just them in their business, help them grow revenues and hire people. And so, fast forward two years later, we now have 750 graduates across 41 states in the country. And to your point, Jabari, we're going to be doubling the size of

our classes. So, usually, we have 150 businesses in one cohort. We do two cohorts a year. We're now going to be doubling that this fall to 300 businesses in one cohort, and we'll be serving 600 businesses a year. So, by the end of this year, we'll have a thousand alums already of the Black and Business program. We're going to be opening applications this fall, so you all should keep your eye on our website for when that happens if you think this could be applicable to you. And that's a paid trip to Goldman Sachs. They pay for you to come to New York, fly there, put you in a hotel, and you're at Goldman Sachs and also in front of people like Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation, right, Isay Wright, a part of that board. And the best thing about this is that you, the line that they opened up that video with, right, your network equals your net worth. Think about that. Your network equals your network. If you have a strong network, it's likely your net worth is going

to go up, but if you're not running with lions, well, you're a loser, and we got to cut you right. Um, final words here, uh, and I'll ask all of you, and Barry and Jessica, you probably are better suited to answer this 'cause Helen, you got your money elsewhere, and you're rich already. Um, if you had to describe, it's from your mouth to God, right? Right. Let me stop. The IRS will be watching this like she's a millionaire. Um, but if you had to describe one black business, uh, one million, uh, black women, excuse me, in one word, Jessica, would that word be? I'll give you two: economic growth. Economic growth. Barry, am I describing collab, or you're describing 1 million black women? Because if it wasn't for them, they wouldn't be getting the money. All right, all right. So, one word, um, I would say transformation. Transformational. Why? We've said it on stage. I mean, 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. And so, we have to continue to invest in support for black women because this is the foundation of our community. Yeah, absolutely. And the final stat, um, Jessica, I thought you were want to bring it, but I'm glad you didn't 'cause I can end it on this now. But out of the people who did graduate, $22 million collectively that they have. The revenues went up now. That's right. Phenomenal stat. And 65% of our alums have reported increases in revenues over the last 12 months. 50% have reported creating new paid employees within their businesses over the last 12 months. So, 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. Yeah, make sure that you look into it. I wrote an article on it if you want to know more about it and touch and see the

people who have actually been through it. We know too that's in the audience right now. Pick their brains on it, right? Improve your network so y'all can get more money. Thank y'all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate.

How Goldman Sachs Plans To Invest $10 Billion In One Million Black Women  | ForbesBLK Summit 2024

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