News — Black development

Africa feeds the World with it's abundance of Natural Resources! The reason the African Continent was carved up like cake at the Berlin conference was predominantly for it's rich resources. I put together a few of the resources that always has the West chomping at the bit for it's control of it.
(Via GLITTERATIEENT)

The Bussa Rebellion was the largest slave revolt in the history of Barbados. The rebellion took its name from the African-born slave, Bussa, who led the uprising. The Bussa Rebellion was the first of the three major slave uprisings that took place in the British West Indies between the U.S. abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and general emancipation by the British in 1838. The two other rebellions occurred in the Crown colony of Demerara-Essequibo (now part of Guyana) in 1823, and Jamaica in 1831.

Enslaved people began planning the revolt after the Barbadian House of Assembly discussed and rejected the Imperial Registry Bill in November 1815, which called for the registration of colonial slaves. Believing this registration would make their lives more difficult, enslaved people began to secretly meet in February to plan the uprising in April.

The organization and leadership of the rebellion evolved on a number of sugar cane plantations, with each estate choosing its insurrection leader. The Simmons Plantation, one of the largest on the island, had three leaders: John Grigg, Nanny Grigg, and an enslaved person known only as Jackie. The Bailey Plantation uprising was led by four enslaved people: King Wiltshire, Dick Bailey, and enslaved men, Johnny and Bussa. The revolt was named after Bussa. The planning and organization of the rebellion was accompanied by a propaganda campaign orchestrated by three free literate black men: Cain Davis, Roach, and Richard Sarjeant. Davis held meetings with slaves from different coastal plantations where he coordinated the rebellion plans and shared rumors. Sarjeant played a similar role, mobilizing rebels in the central parishes. The final day of planning took place at the River Plantation on Good Friday night April 12, 1816.

The rebellion started on Easter Sunday night April 14, 1816. It broke out with cane fields being burned in St. Philip parish, signaling to other rebels in the central and southern parishes that the rebellion had begun. It quickly spread from St. Philip to neighboring parishes which also experienced cane field burnings, but as yet the local militia had not confronted the rebels.  In the first days of the rebellion, over seventy estates were affected, forcing white owners and overseers to flee to Bridgetown, the colonial capital, in panic. Despite the scope of the rebellion, only two whites were reported killed.

The rebellion was short-lived. Martial law was declared on April 15, 1816. It was suppressed by local militia and British imperial troops which ironically included slave soldiers. The governor of Barbados, Sir James Leith, reported that by September, five months after the rebellion ended, 144 people had been executed. Seventy people were later sentenced to death while 170 were deported to neighboring British colonies in the Caribbean. Alleged rebels were also subject to floggings during the entire eighty days of martial law.

The curse of Breton Woods Institutions, the United Nations Organization and the Western Powers is their irritating habit of describing poverty and economic as well as social challenges of Africa, Asia, and South (Latin) America without offering a solution.

It is evident in the history of development economics that the Western Powers and the Breton Woods organizations have always perpetrated this irritating kind of communication about the poor world without making any effort to suggest a solution that is implementable in terms of pulling Africa, Asia and Latin America out of the mire of poverty.

Any keen observer will not miss inferring that the west derives sadomasochistic joy from the stand-offish description of poverty in the third world; and indeed it is true that the West and the UN have described Africa’s poverty for a century, but so far there is no feasible or user-friendly solution suggested by the West as a way of dealing with poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This observation is based on the recent UNFPA report that made an irritating statement about social problems of women in the third world by stating that, “Only half of women in developing world have body autonomy.”

The UNFPA report stated that “whether it’s sex, health care or using contraception, women in developing countries lack control over decisions affecting their bodies.” Yes, it is true. Women in Africa and other parts of the developing world lack choices over what happens with their own bodies, but does the UN have a good degree of moral authenticity to make public description of such preventable challenges that have been made unpreventable by dishonest political interactions across the world, a buck which stops at the table of the United Nations.

On April 14, 2021, UNFPA reported that half of women in 57 poor countries around the world are denied the freedom to decide on what to do with their own bodies. The report stated that women in the poor world don’t have autonomy of sex, contraception and health care. The report also stated that women in the poor world have no autonomy to prevent rape, forced sterilization, virginity tests and genital mutilation.

According to Natalia Kanem, the current head of the UNFPA’s sexual and reproductive health agency, “hundreds of millions of women and girls do not own their own bodies, their lives are governed by others, decision about their bodies are made by other people like partners, family members, society and government.” Natalia also reported that, “rape in the developing countries is not always prosecuted.”

In the report, Natalia further argued that COVID-19 pandemic has led to increasing sexual violence, more unintended pregnancies, and new barriers to health access, along with job and education losses in Africa and the developing world. Natalia’s UNFPA report also predicted that Africa and the developing world are going to experience an extra 13 million child marriages and another 2 million cases of female genital mutilation in the next decade as the pandemic stymies global efforts to end both practices.

However, Natalia’s UNFPA report praised in a glorious tone countries like Sweden, Uruguay, Cambodia, Finland and the Netherlands for achieving good level of gender equality. UNFPA praised governments of these countries for having had lead role to play by fulfilling obligations under human rights treaties, as well as altering social, political, institutional and economic structures that reinforce gender inequalities.

In a nutshell, the UNFPA report has just described, though by basing on very shaky evidence, how women in Africa and the developing world are prone to rape, FGM, early marriage, domestic violence, virginity test, forced abortion and other forms of gender-based oppression but it has not suggested any solution or institutional procedure that can be followed to prevent such kind of hostilities to the women of the poor world.

Critical outlook points out that UNFPA was also supposed to give a report on the social, economic and physical challenges of migrant women in America, Europe and other developed countries. And at the same time, UNFPA is also obliged to give us a reflexive report on the suffering of African women in countries like Congo as nothing else but the undoing of the UN and the developed world.  Maybe this article must also mention that poverty is at the center of gender based autonomy of women in Africa, yet poverty in Africa has been reinforced by unstable security. And it is also indubitable that the recurrent wars and endemic poverty in Africa are a reflex of the political behavior of the UN and the Western powers on the global stage. 

No one can doubt factual decorum in the argument that Poverty in Africa was solvable, but Western powers chose to play tricks with it. This is why China has been embraced after displaying evidence of being capable to help Africa fight poverty through improving the quality of infrastructures in Rural Africa. One good with China is that it has never wasted time describing poverty in Africa, but it has always been involved in practical warfighting poverty in Africa through building roads, hospitals, schools, dams, gabions, boreholes, irrigation infrastructures and electrical power generating infrastructures and so on. At least this will help African women to access food with dignity, a substructure on which they can base autonomy to make choices about their bodies. Otherwise, it is not easy for a woman to have autonomy of choices in relation to her body when she is operating on an empty stomach.

Hollywood star and former U.S. presidential appointee Hill Harper is on a mission to deepen financial literacy in underserved communities in a bid to drive financial inclusion. Financial literacy in underserved communities remains low and this situation has been attributed to the lack of financial inclusion and banks’ unwillingness to serve in deprived areas.

To this end, Harper has launched The Black Wall Street (TBWS), becoming the first Black person to own a digital wallet and cryptocurrency exchange platform in the United States. The actor intends to use TBWS as a major step in closing the racial wealth gap in the U.S.

The sole purpose of The Black Wall Street, unlike the traditional financial institutions, is to provide persons of color the opportunity to be involved in the transfer of wealth with cryptocurrency and decentralized finance. Also, the Black Wall Street DigitalWallet will connect financial services with the financially underserved populations, everyone from the disadvantaged “unbanked and underbanked” to the savvy cost-efficient consumer.

“Our technology seeks to replicate the brick and mortar Black Wall Street, as a digital ecosystem that will galvanize the financially excluded and directly stimulate the economic growth and spending in marginalized communities everywhere,” Harper said in a statement.

He added: “With the Black Wall Street technology, we seek to make obsolete payday lenders and other financial predators plaguing our communities, while simultaneously creating cross-generational wealth transfer, for people who have historically been taught to work for our wages instead of making our wages work for us…because Black Cash Matters.”

The name of the app was inspired by the original Black Wall Street in Tulsa, which was destroyed by White extremists 100 years ago. Despite the unfortunate incident which many believe led to the destruction of Black economic power, it is still the most successful Black economic community in the U.S.

In May, The Black Walk Street will embark on a 30-day financial literacy tour, “The Digital Financial Revolution” National Bus Tour, which will start in Los Angeles and end on Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, OK. It will visit 30 of the most densely populated and economically challenged communities across the U.S. to educate people about The Black Wall Street App & DigitalWallet.

Harper is an entrepreneur and an award-winning actor. The former Barack Obama appointee serves on the Board of Directors of the National Black Bank Fund and he has been named Honorary National Co-Chair of the Redevelopment of Black Wall Street by the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce.

He is passionate about technology, financial literacy, and social & economic justice. The entrepreneur is a graduate of Brown University. He also holds a Master’s in Public Administration, with honors, from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and holds seven honorary doctoral degrees.

Duane “Myko” Cheers, Danita Claytor and Jumoke Jackson founded Everything Legendary in 2019 in D.C. to create a healthy food choice for their mothers. Cheers and Claytor teamed up with Jackson, a chef, to create their burger, made of pea protein and other vegan ingredients and seasonings.

They started selling at local pop-ups and street festivals. Since then, their plant-based business has gained traction with a wider audience. “Once we had that, we took it to the streets with pop-up stores and street festival sampling, and let the community taste it for themselves,” co-founder Cheers said. 

“We all know that today’s consumers are demanding that their food be nutritious and supercharged with flavor.”

The trio took their business to the “Shark Tank” on ABC. They pitched their plant-based burger on season 12 of the show. “One of the largest vegan restaurants based down in Atlanta, they tried to buy us early on,” Cheers told the show. “But there weren’t any sharks. I don’t want to make deals with stingrays; we came here to do business with the great whites!”

After pitching their business, billionaire Mark Cuban was convinced about their business model and decided to invest $300,000 for 22% of the business. “Amazing, driven, smart entrepreneurs with a great product always make a great investment,” Cuban told the Washington Business Journal. “Duane really impressed me and has continued to impress me since we started working together.”

After striking a deal with Cuban, the trio sold $250,000 worth of burgers online within 24 hours of the episode airing. “This is a vegan, flavorful movement that we’re starting right now. And we’re revolutionizing the entire industry,” Duane “Myko” Cheers, co-founder of Everything Legendary, said. 

“I believe that our product is better. You guys heard it on Shark Tank. All five sharks shared that this is the best plant-based burger they’ve ever had.” 

The trio launched their business with $17,000 in personal savings and an additional $30,000 in credit, Cheers said. Prior to featuring on Shark Tank, they had made $165,000 in sales.

“Our only challenge now is to market the business more,” he said. “We have capacity to produce 400,000 burgers a day,” Cheers told Washington Business Journal. The company has now evolved to a six-person company and is now focused on global expansion and staffing.

Andrew Fusaiotti, as part of his routine calls to the cook of his former fraternity house, found out that the cook had not retired and was still working two jobs to pay off her mortgage. The former Louisiana State University fraternity brother then rallied 91 of his fraternity brothers (the Phi Gamma Delta brothers) to help pay off their cook’s mortgage as a birthday present and a testament to the love they have for her.

“They were my kids. They still are,” Jessie Hamilton of Phi Gamma Delta, also known as Fiji, told the Washington Post. “They used to tell me they loved me, and now, they’ve proved it.”

Hamilton received a check for $51,765 on April 3 as part of her 74th birthday celebrations in front of her Baton Rouge home. She was in awe of the turn-up and love from her boys whom she did not only feed but mothered during their stay in the Fiji frat house.

“That shows how they all felt about her,” Fusaiotti, who was a member of the frat back in the eighties, told The Advocate. “Jessie is one of these people that shows up to work and always has a smile on her face, eager to please and never complains.”

Hamilton worked in the Fiji house for 14 years from 1982 to 1996. During that time, she would be the first person to arrive at the house to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the boys all the while going above and beyond for them. Some say she never allowed any boy to go hungry and would save food for those who missed their mealtime. Additionally, she served as a mother figure and counselor for the boys who needed a listening ear and would drive some of them for grocery shopping or to their doctors’ appointments.

“I enjoyed doing it. They loved my cooking,” she told the Post. “I was always there to talk things through with them. They’d come in the kitchen and sit on top of the counter and tell me their problems.”

So when Fusaiotti, now 52, heard she still worked at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport and as a cook at a country club, he decided to set up a fundraiser for Hamilton. Each of the 91 Fiji brothers contributed an average of $560, according to the Post.

Hamilton had serviced her 30-year mortgage for 14 years and needed $45,000 to fully offset the debt. The Fiji boys made it happen and even outdid themselves by raising $6,000 more, which they gave to her as a check on her birthday or what they now refer to as ‘World Hamilton Day.’

 She was truly overwhelmed and humbled by the boys’ generosity. “This has been a blessing to me,” stated Hamilton. “I have been worrying about how I was going to pay my house off. I am grateful for what God has done and has led them to do for me.”

Acclaimed musician and business mogul Akon has set his sights on constructing a second futuristic and cryptocurrency-based city on the motherland, with the East African nation of Uganda being his country of choice this time around.

In a statement Monday, the Ugandan government announced they had reached an agreement to allocate the Senegalese-American singer a piece of land worth a square mile for the “Akon City” project, Revolt reported. The state-of-the-art project is expected to be completed by 2036 and transactions in the city will be done through his “stellar-based” AKoin cryptocurrency. The cost of the project was not disclosed though the one in his native Senegal is reportedly valued at around $6 billion.

Asked if the country’s locals would be able to afford the services the city would be offering once complete, the Freedom singer answered with optimism. “I know if I put it there, they’re going to find a way to afford it because it’s going to motivate them,” he said.

“But ultimately when you create an opportunity, people grow with that opportunity, people learn with that opportunity, people are motivated with that opportunity.”

The news of the Uganda project comes on the back of a similar $6 billion one in his native Senegal. In an interview with the Associated Press last year, the 47-year-old revealed construction was set to commence this year.

Born Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, the musician had earlier shared his plans of building the city in 2018, describing it as “a real-life Wakanda” in reference to the Afro-futuristic city in Marvel’s movie, Black Panther. He also said the city will similarly use the AKoin cryptocurrency.

The site for the Senegal project is in the village of Mbodiene. And the time this story was reported last year, the Locked Up singer said he had been able to acquire one-third of the $6 billion needed for it.

Akon also said he hoped the project would create jobs for locals in the West African nation as well as serve as a “home back home” for Black Americans and other people in the diaspora who are being racially discriminated against.

“The system back home treats them unfairly in so many different ways that you can never imagine. And they only go through it because they feel that there is no other way,” he told the Associated Press. “So if you’re coming from America or Europe or elsewhere in the diaspora and you feel that you want to visit Africa, we want Senegal to be your first stop.”

The underdevelopment of Africa has largely been attributed to the horrific slave trade, unfair trade practices, and lack of value addition of its raw materials.

The continent is well endowed with resources such as gold, cocoa, coffee, diamond, bauxite, among others. However, in monetary value, the continent does not make more compared to the countries that purchase these resources and add value to them.

For centuries, Africa’s economy has remained export-driven, and resources exported out of the continent are mostly in their raw state. This means that the continent loses millions of dollars in the value chain.

According to a former South African Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, Africa in 2014 exported coffee valued at $6 billion but after the coffee was roasted, blended, packaged, and branded, the final products sold abroad yielded $100 billion.

“In other words, 94% of the value chain of a primary product produced on this continent was captured abroad,” Davis said, citing a 2014 study by KPMG. The former minister was delivering the 2021 Adebayo Adedeji Memorial Lectures.

He said the figures are even starker in the case of highly knowledge-intensive products. “Take the case of the iPhone 6, that retails for $649 in the US. The cost of the mineral products used in its manufacture totals a mere $1,03 (0,16%),” he said.

Citing Adedeji’s seminal work, African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes for socio-economic recovery and transformation (AAF SAP), Davis said the AAF SAP has become a major beacon looked to by many then doubting that externally-imposed Structural Adjustment Programmes were the best, or only, way forward.

According to Davis, AAF SAP identified what it saw as the structural weaknesses in most African economies, including a “weak productive base characterized by low productivity and productive activities dominated by either subsistence or export-orientated primary product production.”

From this, AAF SAP identified the central task as the structural transformation of African economies, he said, adding that Africa has to “break the apron strings of structural and relational dependence on producing a limited number of cheap primary commodities for export.”

Davies noted that poor countries that have transitioned to become industrialized nations followed the path of earlier industrializers.

“Whether they were the East Asian Newly Industrialising Economies in the 1960s and 1970s (South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia) or, more recently, China, their governments pursued active industrial policies that promoted, nurtured and protected nascent industries,” he said.

According to him, the industrialization they experienced resulted in greater output and higher incomes for those involved in manufacturing and a host of related service activities that created higher quality, better remunerated, and higher quality jobs than those that existed before.

He, therefore, urged African economies to break the dependency ties with industrialized nations and begin to add value to their resources through industrializing their economies.

Touching on the Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which combines the economies of Africa into a single market of 1.2 billion people, Davies said AfCFTA’s real prize would be if it supported the emergence of regional value chains involved in the production of higher value-added goods and services.

“Such an outcome could expect to see components and other intermediate inputs being produced in a number of countries before being assembled into “products of Africa” consumed by the citizens of the continent and also exported,” he said.

“Under such a scenario we could expect to see not just a quantitative increase in intra-regional trade but a qualitative change in its character. This would involve a greater absolute and relative intra-trade in components and intermediate products – which is in fact the largest and fastest-growing part of global trade in goods.”

For Francis Akuamoah Boateng, there could be no better time in history than now to establish Ghana’s first solar panel factory. In international circles and the energy industry, there has been a consensus for a shift to solar energy as thermal and coal energies have not only proven to be costly but contribute to pollution.

Boateng’s solar factory, Solar Power Solutions (SPS), was constructed in 2016 at the cost of $50 million and produces all manner of solar electronics. Offering solar-powered solutions, it supplies and installs “off-grid and grid systems, photovoltaic systems and PV street lights.” The Ghanaian business mogul says his solar company was born out of his vision to light up the country as the nation could no longer depend on hydro and other gas plants for energy.

Born to a paramount chief in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana, Boateng said he saw his dreams and opportunity to make it in life right in Ghana.

For him, traveling outside Ghana to seek greener pastures was not something he entertained. “I never thought of leaving Ghana, it was something out of the equation for me,” he said.

On why he decided to venture into solar energy, he recalled traveling to his hometown in the Bono region and nearly hitting someone at a checkpoint because the place was dark due to lack of streetlight. “So I said to myself, ‘why can’t we have lights around and then I remembered that the national grid cannot extend to those areas,’” he told vlogger Wode Maya.

“So the concept of solar energy came to mind and that is how I started.” He added that he was also driven by his passion to ensure the rural areas of Ghana have light, a basic social commodity in the 21st century.

Fortunately for Boateng, the Ghana Cocoa Board also came up with a similar concept to start introducing solar street lights in cocoa-growing areas and shea nut catchment areas in the north of Ghana.

Initially, Boateng imported his solar panels from China and other countries but with time, he decided that it was time to have them produced locally and produced in such a way that it is suitable for Africa.

SPS is now managed by Boateng’s son Ofori, who was raised in both Ghana and U.S. Ofori told Wode Maya that SPS’s solar panels are designed for Africa and made in Ghana. “We are trying to push [ourselves] into the arena of being one of the product developers within the electronics,” he said, adding that they seek to expand the factory to increase production capacity due to both local and international demands.

He indicated that the entire company’s capacity is 32 megawatts and will expand to hit 150 megawatts soon.

For young Africans outside the continent and other entrepreneurs, Boateng has a message for you: “Don’t give up.” According to him, hard work is a key ingredient to success in life. “And when you lay your hands on something you think you can do, just go all out,” he said.

Globally, there is a gradual shift to clean energy and the automobile industry has also been caught up in this energy shift movement. Giant automobile companies are now producing cars that solely rely on electricity or solar.

According to a report by the Center for American Progress, more than 30% of the global passenger vehicle fleet is expected to be electric by 2040. Also, a report by McKinsey & Company notes that the electronic vehicle (EV) market in the US is expected to grow but at a slower rate compared to China and Europe.

The switch to electronic vehicles is still at the nascent stage as most economies do not have the capacity to power electronic vehicles. Many cities in developing countries do not have a stable power supply, and in countries that have stable energy, the cost of electricity is expensive, which makes EV less preferable.

The situation is not only dire in developing countries. An article by the Wall Street Journal said mass adoption of electronic vehicles has not materialized due to the lack of charging infrastructures. The article cited a survey of 3,500 in which half of the respondents reported having problems with public charging.

Thanks to mobile charging battery company SparkCharge, charging EVs could be less problematic. The company, in partnership with Allstate Roadside, is venturing into vehicle services by developing a mobile vehicle charger.

The mobile vehicle charger is the world’s first on-demand mobile electronic charging network, according to a press statement.

Electronic vehicle owners can now access this new network via SparkCharge’s BoostEV smartphone app and have a charge delivered directly to their vehicle with a push of a button.

SparkCharge, founded in 2017, is launching in 12 cities including New York, Chicago, San Diego, Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. It plans to open up in a different city every month after February and roll out the service in 25 cities by the end of 2021.

“We’re building a completely new type of EV charging infrastructure,” shared SparkCharge CEO, Josh Aviv, in a press release. “It’s mobile, on-demand and for the first time truly gives EV owners freedom and control to charge their car anytime, anywhere by ordering the service through the Boost EV app. Just like food delivery, EV owners can now have range delivered to them on the spot. When people think about EV charging, we know BoostEV will be top of mind for them.”

The company said Allstate Roadside, a roadside assistance service provider, and HONK Technologies, the digital platform connecting drivers and towing professionals, and the other partners will bring the portable Roadie charging system to charge vehicles that need a charge.

“Our relationship with SparkCharge supports our commitment to providing innovative solutions and a circle of protection for customers,” said Joan Trach, Allstate Roadside Chief Operating Officer in the statement.

Spiffy, a car-care service company, is joining BoostEV to offer charging as a service alongside mobile car wash, disinfection, tire changing, among other services, according to SparkCharge’s statement.

“Our goal is to basically be the fastest-growing EV charging network in the United States because we can be anywhere anytime,” SparkCharge founder Aviv told Insider. “With us it’s like take it out of the box, plug it into a car, and you’re charging the car.

According to Techcrunch, the company plans to launch 500,000 electric charging stations in four years.

Florida A&M University (FAMU) and Nike, Inc. forged an exciting partnership. According to News Onyx, the mega sports apparel organization will be the official athletic outfitter and equipment provider for the HBCU.

On Thursday, FAMU Athletics announced the deal on Twitter, saying, “@KortneG welcomes @Nike and @KingJames to the #FAMUly.”

The six-year deal will include “official athletic footwear, apparel and equipment.” The agreement goes into effect on July 1, the publication reported. There’s also an option for a two-year extension. Neither FAMU nor Nike has divulged the details of the payout.

According to News, FAMU’s Vice President and Director of Athletics Kortne Gosha spoke about the partnership between the No.1 public HBCU and Nike.

“FAMU is an elite institution with a rich tradition of first, and our student-athletes deserve a student-athlete experience that is second to none,” he said. “As we transition into a new athletic conference and the opportunity to engage apparel partners, the 23-year relationship with Nike and their commitment to culture, diversity, inclusion and innovation has never been clearer.”

“My executive team and I are focused on setting a new standard, and our top priority is to align with the best quality and most innovative products, brands and resources that position our student-athletes and coaches to compete for championships,” Gosha expressed.

The game-changing partnership serves as an example for other HBCUs to form lucrative alliances with major corporations.

“This partnership allowed us to reimagine, challenge the norms of our industry and be the model for leveling the playing field with the most significant investment in the American Jewels known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities by any footwear and apparel company,” he concluded. 

FAMU has its share of notable alumni in the sports world, including tennis legend Althea Gibson, Olympic gold medalist “Bullet” Bob Hayes, and football greats Ken Riley and Jake Gaither,the news outlet reported.

The prestigious university, which has 14 sports programs and a notable marching band– The Marching 100, will wear Nike apparel– on and off the field. 

The HBCU’s sports teams will also wear LeBron James uniforms, including sneakers and apparel with a custom-made design for FAMU.

According to News Onyx, Nike’s Vice President of League Partnerships for North America, Sonja Henning, is excited about the upcoming partnership with the HBCU.

“Florida A&M has a rich tradition of excellence on the court and field, which not only includes athletic success but equally important is academics, preparation for future careers and community engagement,” she said.

“Through our continued relationship with Florida A&M Athletics, we’ll have the opportunity to partner with some of the country’s preeminent student-athletes and the next generation of leaders.” 

Nike will also offer FAMU’s sports programs student-athlete development, internship and networking opportunities.

Yassin Hall is an entrepreneur who sells mainly on Amazon where she manages four successful six-figure stores. Her journey began after she took to selling clothes online following a difficult divorce.

She started Let’s Journey into Fashion after many of her social media followers showed keen interest in her business. Her website subsequently caught the attention of Amazon and she was offered the opportunity to open an e-commerce store on the platform.

One of her four Amazon stores belongs to her daughter Yamisha Young. Having become a successful seller on Amazon, she decided it was time to also share her expertise with others as the C.E.O of B.O.S.S. Amazon and Ebay Classes in a bid to help them increase their earnings or bring in extra income.

She teaches How to Set Up an eBay Store From Your Classroom to Earn Six Figures a Year; How to Sell on Amazon; Creating the Mindset for Being an Entrepreneur; and Understanding How to Manage Money.

As a mental health advocate, Hall also teaches students with learning disabilities how to be financially savvy, including her autistic daughter, who made some $155,000 when she turned 18.

“The lessons being applied in the curriculum are what I have created in my B.O.S.S. eBay and Amazon classes,” said Yassin. “Children are proving they are far more technologically advanced than we were at their age so it was no surprise that when I offered the class on August 31, within minutes about 60 students enrolled.”

Hall has made over $1 million selling online and believes that the coronavirus pandemic has taught many the need to create alternative incomes and home-based businesses. She is teaching middle and high schoolers at Genesis Preparatory Academy near Atlanta how to profit from Amazon and eBay.

“We are delighted to have found the BOSS CLASS LLC’s eBay course that aligns with our curriculum expectations that will bring awareness and exposure into entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and critical thinking,” said Iris Blevins of Genesis Preparatory Academy.

This may be Hall’s first time teaching at a school in Georgia but her bestselling book in which she chronicles her experience living with a violent bipolar schizophrenic mother has been on the curriculums of several schools as reading material.

Hall is a mother of four — three boys and one girl. She was born in the Virgin Islands as an only child. She completed Charlotte Amalie High School in 1988 and obtained her first degree in computers and fashion from the National Education Center for the Arts.

Her life journey has not been smooth but Hall has managed to weather the storm to be where she is now. God is always the center of what she does, she said.

“I firmly believe that God has been building and preparing me to be the mother, entrepreneur, business coach, teacher, speaker, writer and B.O.S.S. (Built on Self-Motivated Success) that I am today,” she told.

Besides being an entrepreneur, Hall is also known for her philanthropic activities. She made donations to hurricane victims and also supplied students in the U.S. Virgin Islands with laptops to help them attend online school amidst the pandemic.