• Technology

by cyprienm

January 28, 2020

Nigerian Inventor Creates Stove That Cooks Food And Charges Smartphones

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Max Chinnah is a 26-year-old Nigerian inventor and entrepreneur who recently invented a smokeless stove that doesn’t just cook food—the stove has the ability to convert that particular heat energy into electricity so you can actually charge your smartphone.

Chinnah, who is passionate about the world’s indoor smoke pollution problem, created The Genesys Cooker, which burns clean and generates enough power to both cook and charge cell phones, reports Next Billion. Chinnah, and his co-founder Godwin Attigah, won $10,000 and the Innovation Prize at Unite for Sight’s Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale University back in 2016. The startup also has received funding from The Resolution Project, Duke Energy, and the Iowa Renewable Energy Association.

In addition, Chinnah’s company, Terraoak, will produce this game-changing product on a massive scale. Terraoak is a tech company whose mission is to provide innovative, cleantech solutions in the renewable energy sector. “Our flagship product is a patented smokeless cookstove that is also able to convert heat energy to electricity. At Terraoak, we believe that access to clean energy should be the fundamental right of every person, regardless of class or socio-economic background,” reads the website.

Although the audience Chinnah mainly focuses on is one that does frequent outdoor recreational activities, since this is a product for camping, he is planning to give up to a thousand of the stoves to Kenyan farmers, according to BlackBusiness.com.

Chinnah’s journey began when he was pursuing his graduate degree in Computer Science. According to BlackBusiness.com, he aspired to be an entrepreneur and do something that could make a positive impact in people’s lives. Then, after attending the Clinton Global Initiative conference in Miami, he decided to become an inventor

Using this invention, Chinnah’s next steps are to continually help reduce the consequences of global warming and making this product available to every single person.

At only 8 years old, Victor “Beau” Tracy Shell surprised his parents by asking for an ice cream cart for his birthday in order to sell ice cream not only to buy his own toys but to help his family as well. Soon, his parents obliged and he received the cart on his birthday, giving it the name Lil’ Ice Cream Dude. Ever since then, his business has flourished. Shell recently opened up his first brick-and-mortar location in Athens, Georgia.

In terms of success, Shell has his parents to thank. They not only helped him get his business license and vendor’s permit, but they also helped him to design his cart utilizing old bicycle tires. According to We Buy Black, Shell’s father also built him a trailer so he was able to travel with his cart. The first summer he had it, he sold his product at just three events. But the next summer, Shell sold his ice cream at about 30 different events. He soon  needed a bigger trailer and made an agreement with his parents to customize an old trailer on his own.

According to We Buy Black, Shell decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign, which helped him raise $3,000, enabling him to customize the trailer and buy two additional carts. It wasn’t long before he decided to further expand his business by launching another crowdfunding campaign that would go toward opening his own ice cream shop.

By the time his 15th birthday came around on June 9, 2019, Shell officially opened Lil’ Ice Cream Dude’s Cool World and has been praised by Zagat as one of ‘Atlanta’s Top 30 Under 30.’ According to We Buy Black, he was also “named an honorary member of the International Association of Ice Cream Distributors and Vendors.” On top of all of that, Shell is now officially the youngest person to be a member of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce.

Ben Slayton, president and CEO of LEGACY Home Loans, has recently opened two new branch offices located in predominantly black communities. Slayton’s company is based in Las Vegas and is considered to be one of the most successful black-owned mortgage banking firms with a focus on building homeownership due to its unwavering loyalty to black communities throughout America.

Slayton has been a prominent community leader since he became the first African American realtor in America in 1964.

The reason behind Slayton’s use of the “legacy” lies in the fact that it has a special meaning to black Americans. Legacy is basically our desire to leave a large amount of wealth for our families. Homeownership is one of the main ways Americans gain wealth. However, African American homeownership is at an all-time low with only 41% of black Americans owning their own homes.

According to Slayton, “If we work together, we can increase that 41% to something close to where the White population is at 72%, which is over a 30% homeownership gap. We all need to do something about this, and one way is to start building sustainable wealth through homeownership and start leaving legacies for our families.”

The new branch offices are located all over the country including Hyde Park in Illinois, a suburb that was Barack Obama’s hometown and downtown Atlanta which is the hometown of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. According to BlackNews.com, the Illinois location is managed by Leonard Pollard, a 25-year veteran of the mortgage business while the Georgia location is managed by Tony Bryant who is also a 25-year veteran of the mortgage business.

What separates LEGACY Home Loans from other mortgage companies is that it uses the profits of the branches to not only open additional locations but to be able to hire people in predominantly black communities and donate to resources that serve the black community as a whole.

According to BlackNews.com, Slayton’s vision for the future of LEGACY Home Loans is to make it a household name in the black American community “when it comes to the purchase of a new home or a refinance of an existing home, by opening branch offices in every city in the United States that has 25% or more of African Americans in the population. And, by hiring local mortgage professionals in the black communities and giving them the tools, loan programs, and resources, they can compete head-to-head with any mortgage lender in the United States.”

• Lifestyle

by cyprienm

January 21, 2020

Family Bakes Biscuits To Help African Woman Become a Pilot

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A woman from Atteridgeville, a township in South Africa, is using her baking talents to help her niece attend flight school. Doris Temba is selling her biscuits to raise money for her niece, Tshepang Ralehoko, to be able to fulfill her dream of becoming a pilot.

Temba sees Ralehoko as her very own daughter and in an interview with News24, expressed that she did not want her to give up on her dreams. “From the age of 4, she had a passion for flying.”

Although Ralehoko is only on her second stripe, she has dreams that once she becomes a pilot, there will be more African female pilots taking off into the sky with her. However, flight school is quite expensive.

She needed R60,000 ($4,129.00) to complete her private pilot’s license, and then another R250,000 ($17,207.00) for her commercial pilot’s license.

Before Temba came up with the idea to fundraise, she and Ralehoko had been gathering their money for her to take flight lessons at Blue Chip Flight School in Wonderboom Airport.

However, when they began to run out of money, they discussed how Ralehoko can continue with her education. That’s when they realized they were both great bakers and decided to sell baked goods to fund her schooling. Temba offered baked goods to individuals and companies who want to treat their staff to some sweets.

Friends and family who heard about this goal helped them out by creating flyers and sharing Temba’s services on Facebook as well as WhatsApp. It didn’t take long for orders to start coming in.

As Ralehoko states, “I feel very grateful. My mom and my aunt started teaching me to bake when I was 4 years old. I’m not doing this just for myself. I’m trying to create the drive to fund other people in the future that are also black and female.”

• Lifestyle

by cyprienm

January 21, 2020

13-Year-Old Artist Paints Backpack to Honor the Exonerated 5

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Tyler Gordon, a 13-year-old self-taught artist, focuses his paintings on black history and culture. According to an article done by Because of Them We Can, the young artist has paid incredible tributes to Janet Jackson, Kevin Durant, Steve Harvey, Kevin Hart, and even the late Toni Morrison. His art has also been greatly inspired by the five black and Latino teenagers who were unjustly convicted in the infamous Central Park jogging case in 1989. Known as the Exonerated 5, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam each spent time behind bars before being exonerated years later. After meeting the Exonerated 5 at the BET Awards, Gordon was inspired to paint their images on a white backpack.

“I chose to paint them on my backpack so that kids at my school and other adults would be reminded of what happened to them,” he states.

In addition, Gordon himself understands the importance of persevering through challenges since he was born deaf and didn’t say his first words until he was 6 years old, according to Because of Them We Can. But now that he’s overcome that, Gordon now uses his paintbrush and love for people to make a positive impact.

Gordon’s mother, Nicole Kindle, said that she is very proud that her son is using his talent to inspire and encourage others. “I’m extremely proud of him. He took his gifts that he was blessed with and [is] using them to raise awareness for the things going on in the world.”

Last year, filmmaker Ava DuVernay released the series When They See Us, which gave a nuclear lens into the lives of the young men widely known as “The Central Park Five,” and the hell they experienced as young teens wrongfully accused and convicted of assaulting, raping, and sodomizing a white woman jogger, in New York City in 1989. The Netflix series went on to earn an Emmy Award.

• Uncategorized

by cyprienm

January 18, 2020

17-Year Old Teen is the First to Have Books Become a Requirement at School

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In addition to writing three books, 17-year old Essynce Moore’s books are mandatory for several school districts, including the Hillside School District in New Jersey and Charter Schools in Brooklyn, New York. Now, Essynce aspires to have her Middle School Chronicles book series in additional schools all across the globe in various countries as not only mandatory reading but a part of their curriculum.

Her books are a part of a series that she created called The Middle School Chronicles. According to BlackNews.com, when Essynce’s first book in the series was released in 2015, it immediately became an Amazon Top International seller.

According to BlackNews.com, Essynce’s books are often used to prepare students for the challenges of middle school by focusing on “self-esteem, bullying, how to handle certain situations with teachers/friends, encourage youth to live their dreams now, and so much more.”

Even parents learn many lessons from Essynce’s books which helps them to fully understand their children’s experiences in middle school. As she states, “They think they know the truth about what happens in middle school, but they have no idea!” In addition to publishing books, Essynce is also an incredible speaker who enjoys encouraging her peers to go their absolute highest at schools, in conferences, and workshops during her travels across the country. She empowers both teens and adults alike.

Essynce’s wish list is meeting her idols including Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Ellen DeGeneres, Steve Harvey, Zendaya, Rihanna, Ian Somerhalder, Michelle Obama, and more. She also hopes to visit schools throughout the United States to discuss entrepreneurship in the education system as well as other opportunities that are centered around children and teens.

Although Jalen Uboh is only 23 years old, he has constructed a multimillion-dollar business empire called Jalen Uboh Enterprises, a holding firm that includes Premier Medical Supply and All American Contracting Solutions, among other enterprises and investments.

The focus of All American Contracting is freight trucking and logistics. Uboh already owns a fleet of four semi-tractor trailers despite the company still being in its beginning stages—making him the youngest black entrepreneur to own his own fleet of trucks.

According to BlackBusiness.com, before this enterprise, Uboh was already a successful entrepreneur in the healthcare, real estate, and construction industries. What inspired him to create All American Freight was the desire as a federal contractor to provide transportation and logistics services to the U.S. Department of Defense. Now, he utilizes the trucks to deliver army tanks, army vehicles, ammunition, and food supplies.

The core of his company, Uboh states, is to go above and beyond the expectations of his clients while providing efficient and cost-effective solutions to the government, according to BlackBusiness.com.

Uboh’s interest in trucking initially began with the 2016 film War Dogs, based on the true story of two men who won a $300 million government contract. It was this film that inspired him to become a federal contractor and led to the success of his business.

Uboh and his team now use their experiences to teach others how to achieve similar business success. They have designed a two-day online workshop called “How to Start a Freight Trucking & Logistics Company Debt-Free,” in which students of the course can learn a variety of skills such as how to incorporate a business, how to obtain trucking authority, how to fight freight (locally and nationally), how to win commercial and government contracts, how to get licensing and Department of Transportation certifications, and how to determine the best places to start your business.

At just age 9 years old, Camden Myers is not only an entrepreneur but he is also the founder of Cam’s Coffee Creations. The North Carolina native just opened the coffee shop, debuting it to his community for the first time.

Myer’s journey to becoming an owner of a coffee shop wasn’t an easy one but it did serve as an inspiration for what makes Cam’s Coffee Creations unique.

According to BlackBusiness.com, when Myer was born, he suffered trauma to his brain and as a result, has had to overcome the challenges of having development issues with social and learning skills. Through his personal experience dealing with these obstacles, Myer had the idea to also provide job training opportunities to people who have special needs like himself.

The fact that the staff of Cam’s Coffee Creations is made up of students from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools who have disabilities is what sets it apart from other cafes. These students were trained by Myers and hired to serve customers in the community.

Cam’s Coffee Creations initially started as an online store before it became a pop-up shop that only sold coffee. It didn’t take long for the pop-up shop to become a shop with a grand opening at its first location at Green Tree Community Center in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Now aside from serving world-class brewed coffee, Cam’s Coffee Creations also sells delicious baked goods made from BeSpoke Confections, a company where employees all have autism.

Moving forward, Myers desires to open more locations as well as a mobile coffee shop.

As he states, “I like helping people. I like working. I like making money and I like donating money. I like donating money to people who don’t have houses or food.”

Kim Eboreime is not only the only black woman to own a 7-Eleven franchise in the Austin-Round Rock area in Texas, but her business has been active for five years.

Back in July, Eboreime celebrated the fifth anniversary of her business after opening the store in June 2014. “We opened the doors here June 23, 2014,” she told local ABC affiliate state KVUE. What initially made it so challenging was that Eboreime opened her store during a time when her competitors were at their peak. As she states during an interview with KVUE, “There’s a big competitor that came in and they’re big—they’re a big brand. They’re big and shiny.”

However, Eboreime refused to allow her competitors to deter her. Instead, she focused her energy on providing impeccable customer service, a method that worked well because she ended up gaining a large number of regular customers.

One of those customers, Donna Slawson, said, “The spirit is so high here. It’s the best place to come. They have great employees. They’re all friendly. We love each other here. I feel like I’m part of the family.”

What makes Eboreime’s achievement so commendable is the fact that, according to BlackBusiness.com, that although there are over 8,500 7-Eleven franchise stores across the United States, Emboreime managed to be the first black woman to own one in her area.

For its fifth anniversary, she decided to spend it by giving back to the community that was essential to her success by throwing a party at the store, giving away free Slurpees, and doing raffles.

“My community is very proud of me,” said Eboreime.

Four young entrepreneurs from Atlanta, 11-year old Joshua, 9-year old Isaiah, 7-year old Caleb, and 5-year old Micah Billingslea are serving up sweet success as the incredibly young founders of Yummy Brothers, a gourmet catering company with a particular focus on cookies.

Yummy Brothers offer more than 36 different types of cookies such as lemon white chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, turtle (pecan, chocolate chips, and caramel bits) in addition to classics such as chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. In addition, the brothers have recently added beverages to the menu and even dog treats.

According to BlackBusiness.com, Yummy Brothers’ catering services are mainly sold online. The brothers also sell their desserts at various events. A majority of their profit is invested in another business they own called Kidpreneurexpo, whose purpose is to teach other aspiring young entrepreneurs how to start their own businesses.

The secret behind what makes these cookies so delicious is that the recipes were handed down to them by their great-grandmother. Baking these cookies started out as a hobby for the Billingslea brothers almost three years ago. But when they started sharing their cookies with others and realized just how much people loved them, they sought the opportunity to start a business.

As Joshua told 11 Alive, “Everybody would say that our cookies are really good. So, we were just thinking we could make a living off of this selling cookies. We went to our dad, we told him that we wanted to start our own business selling cookies and we came together as a family and brainstormed on what the name would be and what the logo would be.”

Even more impressive is how the brothers use teamwork to operate their business. For example, Caleb shapes the cookies and Micah makes sure the taste and quality is there. Although the brothers take their business seriously, their family makes sure that they are also focused on their studies and other important parts of childhood.