Dedicated to enhancing educational and economic empowerment for African Americans, the National Black MBA Association is leading the way in uniting professionals and students to share common experiences, career goals, and aspirations.
With 40 local chapters across the United States, the National MBA Association is helping people from all walks of life achieve their dreams. LauRyn Williams is the president of the Detroit chapter, where she is looking to serve professional colleagues, organizations, and associations needing financial advice at various economic levels.
How is the National Black MBA supporting members to narrow the wealth gap for Black professionals?
[When I became president, there was no financial empowerment series for the National Black MBA Association… Based on my background and passion for closing the racial wealth gap… I developed] what is now a 32-month running series in the Detroit chapter […] going towards publication. It’s called the National Black MBA Association Financial Empowerment Series. [It addresses issues like advanced financial literacy for professionals, buying your first home, investing in real estate, managing credit, establishing business credit, and understanding various asset classes…] There are nine different asset classes and most of the professionals that I speak to […] are not aware [of these classes’ varying liquidity and volatility… When I assumed the role of Detroit chapter president, I focused on] bringing financial literacy, empowerment, and information to the forefront for my membership, as well as sharing it with our members in other chapters.
What are some things that the Detroit chapter is doing?
[Black people are] the most creative people that humanity has ever seen, [and leveraging this creativity is crucial. Currently,] Detroit is piloting an angel investor program. [While not exactly a spinoff from our financial empowerment series, angel investors represent one of those asset classes…] They are individuals who provide seed capital to entrepreneurs [after personal and family investments have been made… These angels allow the entrepreneur to scale up in ways they otherwise couldn’t. To support this,] the Detroit chapter is piloting an angel investor education program […] to train Black angels to support Black founders from the Detroit market.
