Author and entrepreneur Angel Rich has a few explanations about how Black America’s broken economy can be fixed.
During a sitdown with “The Breakfast Club” Wednesday, April 4, the woman deemed the next Steve Jobs said group economics is the reason why Black people have failed to make their dollars work for the community.
“It would take us over 250 years to be able to catch up with our counterparts if we do not exercise group economics,” says The Wealth Factory founder. “It’s essential. That’s the only way that we’re gonna be able to close this wealth gap.”
Rich, who said her great-grandmother was adamant about shopping at Black-owned spots in Washington, D.C., said the difficulty for Black people to put our funds together comes from the Willie Lynch mentality, which says Black people can be pitted against one another over differences like skin tone, an effect that endures for hundreds of years.
“The solution would be, in other cultures, they start educating their children at a young age on group economics,” she says. “When the Jewish kids are going to school in the evening, they’re actually going to finance and economics school … We’re not doing that at all and that was the reason I created the [finaince] games, to be able to start a new generation for the world.”
One example of Black youth investing in themselves and the community early is 13-year-old Me & The Bees Lemonade founder Mikaila Ulmer. Rich praised the teen’s parents for instilling an entrepreneurial spirit in their child, who formed her company at age 10.
“They didn’t shut her down when she wanted to start her lemonade company,” she says. “They pushed her out there with her little brother and … they didn’t limit her. And I think that’s one of the most important things you need to be able to do for their children. You need to allow them to feel like they have limitless possibilities and if you teach them that at a young age, integrate it with economics, how to make money for yourself, you can be a millionaire at 9-years-old!”
