News — development

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.

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.

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.

Marketing student Tahir Murray followed in his family’s footsteps by creating a clothing line focused on HBCUs. The Howard University senior designed HBCU apparel that has attracted the attention of Black NBA All-Stars such as Chris Paul.

Last year, Murray participated in Nike’s Air Max campaign. The company honored and celebrated individuals who have attended HBCUs.

“Before we launched in Fall 2019, I knew I wanted to primarily focus on HBCUs to help share our stories,” Murray shared with The Council of Fashion Designers of America. Murray hopes that his clothing brand will continue to bring more visibility to HBCUs.

Keeping the Power of the HBCU Legacy Alive

The first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were established in the 1800s, providing higher education opportunities for Black people. Admissions officers typically denied entry to Blacks who were seeking to attend traditional institutions due to segregation and discriminatory practices.

According to NBC, HBCUs are experiencing an alarming drop in enrollment that could threaten their future. “There is a distinct possibility that a number of HBCUs could cease to exist in 20 years or so,” Ronnie Bagley, a 1983 graduate from Norfolk State University shared with NBC. “If that were to occur, many low-income, first-generation students will lose out on an opportunity for a college education.

Penetrating the HBCU Market with Unique Clothing Designs

Murray is on a mission to re-energize the passion for HBCUs. Through his HBCU luxury brand, LegacyHistoryPride™, the college senior is combining his passion for fashion with the needs of the market to drive more attention to HBCUs.

“Before I started LHP, there wasn’t anyone else in the market shining this type of light on HBCU culture through something I grew up on, which is fashion,” Murray shared.

LegacyHistoryPride™ has secured multiple partnerships with HBCUs. The lifestyle brand has over 50,000 followers on social media and connects with thousands of students across the country. According to the website, the company is providing scholarships to current undergraduate HBCU students.

HBCU Student Continuing A Legacy of Clothing Businesses

Murray is on track to obtain his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Howard University this year. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has been in the fashion industry since the day he could walk. Growing up in a family of apparel entrepreneurs, Murray always had his eyes set on continuing the legacy that his grandfather started.

Ortner Murray, Murray’s grandfather, came to the United States from Trinidad & Tobago in 1966 to pursue the American dream. He lived his dreams through entrepreneurship, creating the iconic Von’s Sneaker store in Queens. Murray’s father created the School of Hard Knocks and the Queen’s 7 T-shirt. 

Now, Murray is using this opportunity to showcase what’s possible for the next generation.

In what seems to be an unprecedented deal for Nigerian-born creator Roye Okupe, his African superhero universe under his YouNeek Studios library has now found a new home at Dark Horse Comics. Okupe will be developing his superhero series set in West Africa with the backing of a multimillion-dollar production house and he couldn’t be happier.

The 34-year-old moved to the United States at the age of 15 with nothing but dreams and his love for comics and superheroes. He dreamed of bringing his own version of the superhero universe to life and nursed those dreams through George Washington University and even after graduating, Washington Post reports.

Now the young creative is living his dream after he took a chance on himself and has landed an exciting partnership with Dark Horse. Okupe did what most people are too afraid to do in 2015. He quit his job as a web developer to work full-time on his comics under his YouNeek Studios library and began publishing his own animated comics living off his $401,000 severance.

Like every new venture, it was tough starting out alone and seeking investors and a presence on TV. The world of superheroes was at its peak then, with Spider Man breaking records at the box office but Okupe found himself at the end of a dark hole when he was told his main character’s race would not cut it.

Obviously. Those investors lacked foresight because a fictitious African world Wakanda was about to make $1 billion at the box office in the near future and they had just missed the chance of signing what could ‘YouNeekly’ change the world of comics.

An unplanned meeting at New York Comic-Con in 2019 with the editor in chief at Dark Horse, Dave Marshall can be etched in history as the start of something new for Okupe.

Prior to the meeting, Okupe had built his own fan base on social media with about 90,000 loyal followers who have been enjoying his self-funded works. Prior to starting his own comics, he had to learn everything from scratch — publishing, marketing and publicity — and how the comic world works.

He did not have the following that Marvel, DC Comics or Dark Horse Comics have so he decided to deliver full comic novels to his audiences instead of the monthly issues. That worked for him largely due to the diversity he was pumping into the industry.  

His fans have come to love the three books in his African Superhero world that are interlinked and all authored by him. According to the Post, his book, “Malika: Warrior Queen”, is about a 15th-century superhero; “Iyanu: Child of Wonder” is about a teenage orphan with superpowers, while “E.X.O.” is an Afrofuturist superhero tale.

Africans believe it takes a village to raise a child and the same goes for the YouNeek novels written by Okupe. He enlisted other African creatives to help his work come to life especially with the illustrations. Bringing on board, Chima Kalu, Sunkanmi Akinboye, Raphael Kazeem, and Etubi Onucheyo, Toyin Ajetunmobi, Godwin Akpan, and Tarella Pablo. 

“I think the immediate impact with Dark Horse’s legacy is that you’re going to have a lot more people paying attention. It’s also going to shine a light on the African continent and what it has to offer when it comes to the entertainment industry, specifically comic books,” Okupe said.

Marshall respected Okupe’s market knowledge and the structure of his universe. “I was impressed by what Roye had accomplished having built YouNeek from scratch. Exciting artwork, compelling stories – just good comics.”

For the African comic universe creator, maintaining complete control and moving seamlessly into his partnership with Dark Horse remains his topmost priority. He is also appreciative of the chance taken on him to develop his universe.

“YouNeek Studios is unlike anything in American comics today. I hope to see the YouNeek acquisition prove to comics that there is absolutely a market for these stories, told by creative teams that have the knowledge to tell them right, and I see more publishers picking up books like these in the future,” said Mike Richardson, Dark Horse C.E.O. 

Dark Horse will be revamping the three books already published. “Malika: Warrior Queen” and “Iyanu: Child of Wonder” will be out on September 7 and 21 respectively whiles “E.X.O” will be released on October 19. 

There are other books set to be released that the Dark Horse and Okupe will work on. Okupe’s next move might be to get his works to Hollywood. “To me, this is an unprecedented deal. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. I’m just really excited to see what’s to come,” he said.

Tommie Smith, one of the Olympic Gold medalists who raised a black-gloved fist at the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City, in what has become known as the “Black Power” salute, is being honored on a limited edition of ‘The breakfast for Champions’, Wheaties.

The silent protestor, whose bold statement on racial inequality in America and a pioneer athlete activist is now a part of the many athletes that the General Mills brand has paid tribute to in the last 86 years.

Photos of Smith will be put on the limited-edition of the cereal box which will sell online at $5 and all proceeds will go to the NAACP, the nation’s long-time advocate of civil rights for Black Americans. Advance sales which opened last Friday are ongoing with shipments expected to be made in April.

Smith appears on both sides of the box. One side showing the iconic fist raised and the other showing the gold medalist in full sprint.

“As a world champion, I always wanted to be on a Wheaties box,” the 76-year-old Smith said in a statement released by the retail food giant. “To now be recognized by Wheaties and selected to grace the cover of their box, in the class with other great champion athletes, is an honor.”

On the morning of October 16, Smith won the 200m race, setting a world record of 19.83 seconds. Australia’s Peter Norman came in second, with American John Carlos coming in at third. As a custom, the three athletes went to the podium to accept their medals.

Smith and Carlos did not wear shoes on the podium. Instead, they wore black socks to represent Black poverty. Smith also wore a black scarf to highlight Black pride.

“While Tommie was a world champion runner, his work as one of the original activist athletes laid the foundation for champions to use their platform and stand for something extraordinary,” Wheaties executive Taylor Gessell said in a statement released by General Mills.

The photo of the iconic, black-gloved protest was taken by John Dominis, and still resonates heavily to this day. Smith said that the raised fists were not a Black Power gesture but a “Human Rights” salute.

The acts cost them a whole lot. They were met with abuse and death threats for their brave action and they were subsequently dismissed from the team.

Fast forward to 2005, the pair were honored with a 22-foot statue of one of the most iconic moments in black history in the United States. It was unveiled at San Jose State.

Then 51 years after receiving their medals from the podium in a silent protest, the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2019 inducted the duo into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame on November 1 that year for their “character, conduct and off-field contributions,” according to USA TODAY.

In 2019, Jaydyn Carr’s mom, Nina, gave him 10 GameStop shares that cost $6 apiece as a Kwanzaa gift. At the time, he was only eight years old. Fast forward to 2021, Jaydyn, 10, is in the middle of a stock surge.

Share prices of GameStop tumbled following bets placed by Citron Research and Melvin Capital that the gaming company will collapse but a group of social media users rallied and skyrocketed the prices of the struggling company from single to triple digits at the blindside of Wall Street.

As a result, GameStop stock rocketed from below $20 earlier this month to more than $400 Thursday. Amidst the GameStop trading frenzy, Jaydyn is reeling from excitement after selling his shares for about $3,200 on Wednesday, the San Antonio Express-News reports. 

“My phone was going off, because I have GameStop on my watch list,” Jaydyn’s mother Nina said of watching prices skyrocket. “I was trying to explain to him that this was unusual, I asked him ‘Do you want to stay or sell?'”

According to Nina, she has been teaching Jaydyn about trading. “Any time I learn something, I show him as well,” she said. “I wanted to pass on the knowledge I have now because I learned it late in life. I want to give him a step up.”

Commenting on how they plan to use the money, Nina said $2,000 of the funds will be kept in Jaydyn’s savings account while using the $1,000 for more investment. “I have to train him to let him know you can’t just buy anything, you have to read the charts,” Nina said.

Jaydyn has expressed more interest in trading after his big win. He is reportedly considering investing in Roblox, an online game hub set to make its market debut.

Meanwhile, online trading platform Robinhood has restricted trading in GameStop due to the rabid buying by small investors, thegrio reports. Per the restrictions announced, investors would only be able to sell their positions and not open new ones in some cases, and Robinhood will try to slow the amount of trading using borrowed money, thegrio added.

Also, Robinhood noted that trading in stocks such as AMC Entertainment, Bed Bath & Beyond, Blackberry, Nokia, Express Inc., Koss Corp. and Naked Brand Group would be affected by the latest restrictions.

Sara Coulibaly grew up playing with light-skinned dolls, and even as an adult, the idea of still seeing such dolls on shelves in Ivory Coast was unsettling to her, especially when Black people are claiming their roots now more than ever.

Every girl child at some time in their lives played with dolls and for African children, most of these dolls until recently were light-skinned.

Coulibaly decided to bring a much-needed representation to the children in her home country so she created her own doll company Naima Dolls which produces dark-skinned dolls for the local market.

Children are oblivious to the implications of not having dolls that looked like them to play with. Seeing how that shaped her social construct, this Ivorian decided to bring Black dolls onto the shelves so children can see themselves in the toys they played with.

Her office is in the capital, Abidjan, and according to Reuters, it is beautifully decorated with African masks and colorful wax prints.  

Naima Dolls currently has 20 employees and the company was birthed five years after Coulibaly conceived the idea of creating alternative dolls for children that looked more like them than their colonizers. The dolls received a lot of admiration and massive patronage during the holidays last December.

Inspiration for the dolls come from different ideas or people she has met. Coulibaly, who trained to be an architect, designs and styles the dolls, which are then produced in China or Spain. On average, she produces 150,000 a year. The young entrepreneur hopes to bring the production to her home country someday to cater to high demand.

The names of the evolutional dolls come from different regions of Ivory Coast and the most popular doll is a two-year-old girl with plump features that goes by the name Adjoba, a name given to one born on Tuesday in the Akan language of the southeast.

“Our hope today is to give children the means to make good decisions, Coulibaly said. “I want them to be conscious of the fact that they are beautiful, that their culture is beautiful and their culture is rich.”

Many people now appreciate the Naima Dolls and Black dolls in general as they are bringing diversity to the market.

Global giant doll company Mattel, producers of Barbie, have also in recent times leaned towards creating more dolls that drive diversity and inclusion. The first doll was created in 1959 and it was light-skinned. The first Black doll by the company was Christie, which was made ten years later. It took another two decades before another Black doll, “African-American” Barbie was released since Christie, People reported.  

As recent as last year, Barbie released a set of looks for its Black doll collection for Black History Month as part of efforts to bring the much-needed representation in the homes of the young ones who love the dolls.

Mattel worked with costume designer Shiona Turini, the creative mind behind the movie ‘Queen & Slim‘, to outdoor a set of Barbies in 10 different hairstyles, skin tones, and body types to create Barbies with braids, finger waves, and everything in between.

Mike Bellot cannot easily erase from his memory the tragic loss of his cousin in Haiti through a fire outbreak. Bellot’s cousin was then in the university studying to become a medical doctor. During a late-night study, by candlelight, he dozed off.

The unattended candle started a fire which consumed the home and killed him in the process. “After that, many parents in the rural areas in Haiti don’t allow their children to study at night because they are living in a constant of the house to be on fire,” Bellot said. “And it was not too long before some of the students started dropping out of school.”

Following the incident, Bellot, who was then studying global politics and international trade at Tamkang University, Taiwan, set out to create a solution that could lead to the provision of cheaper, accessible and cost-effective power in poor homes not only in Haiti but across the globe.

In Haiti, electricity is unavailable to many citizens. According to one publication, only about 40 percent of Haitians have access to electricity, with an average annual consumption of just 21 Kilowatts (KWH) per person. Although Haiti has substantial renewable energy potential, the country still faces significant challenges in gaining access to clean and renewable energy.

Bellot’s passion to create a solution to provide cheap, sustainable and accessible light was not limited to only Haitians but to the over one billion homes worldwide that do not have access to electricity to enable their children to study at night.

Bellot co-founded Solo Bag, which has integrated a solar panel, integrated battery, USB port, GPS tag for tracking, and an integrated LED lamp, enabling students who do not have access to electricity to safely and cost-effectively study and do homework during the night.

The bag also provides enough energy to enable families to charge their mobile phones or other electronic devices. According to Taiwantimes, the bag “can store enough energy from one hour of exposure to the sun for six hours of light and charge two mobile phones.”

Bellot was featured on Forbes as among ten Haitians helping to reinvent Haiti’s narrative. He was also among the 100 winners of Meaningful Business in 2020 and the Young International Chamber (JCI-Haiti) selected him as The Most Outstanding Young Person of the Year in 2019.

In 2019, a local school in Haiti, The Joseph School, announced that it will provide Solo Bags to its students and staff. “The Joseph School is investing in the Solo Bag for all our students and staff starting this fall. Since we know most of our students do not have access to regular electricity, we truly believe this will help our students be safer and more successful,” the school said in a statement.

The coronavirus pandemic, besides being a public health threat, has also negatively affected the global economy as it has reduced trade and mobility. At the micro-level, COVID-19 shutdowns have affected small business owners, particularly Black businesses.

According to research by the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 41 percent of Black-owned businesses have been shuttered by COVID-19, compared to just 17 percent of white-owned businesses.

“Nationally representative data on small businesses indicate that the number of active business owners fell by 22% from February to April 2020—the largest drop on record,” the report said. “Black businesses experienced the most acute decline, with a 41% drop. Latinx business owners fell by 32% and Asian business owners dropped by 26%. In contrast, the number of white business owners fell by 17 percent,” the report said.

The American government implemented a number of initiatives to support struggling businesses such as the Paycheck Protection Program. The federal government signature program for small businesses, however, left a significant gap. Coverage was only 20 percent for communities with a high Black population and less than 20 percent for communities with low population densities. 

“Weaker cash positions, weaker bank relationships, and preexisting funding gaps left Black firms with little cushion entering the crisis: even the healthiest Black firms were financially disadvantaged at the onset of COVID-19,” the report noted.

While many small Black businesses were going through a tumultuous phase, the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce led by Harrison L. Blair stepped up to address the disparity. Blair was appointed into the position a little over a year ago.

The chamber, which is the oldest in America, has helped advocate for Black-owned businesses in the North Texas area, and Blair knows he had to do more to save more Black businesses from further collapse.

Since the pandemic, Blair and the chamber have assisted over 300 businesses to gain access to over $5 million in funding to help these companies bounce back, according to dmagazine.

He also ensured the implementation of the chamber’s annual programs that honor Black-owned businesses like Quest for Success, a platform designed to promote Black businesses and nonprofits in the North Texas region.

Blair said he is honored to be named one of D CEO’s Dallas 500 2021, especially after only being in this role for a little over a year. “It really is a testament to the support I have received from the community in being able to service this role”, said Blair.

Throughout his life, Khalid Abdul Muhammad was tagged as a “racist hatemonger” and “anti-Semite” but to his followers, he was all for positive change and truth. While a top aide to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, he wasn’t widely known outside the organization until November 1993 when he gave a speech at Kean College in Union, N.J., where he called Jews the “bloodsuckers of the black nation” and described Black American leaders as “house niggers” who had sold out their people to the Whites.

He went on to label the pope “a no-good cracker” and suggested killing every White person remaining in South Africa. His speech was condemned by many, and the Congressional Black Caucus cut ties with Farrakhan. Farrakhan himself was forced to dismiss Muhammad, while the House of Representatives and Senate censured him for the speech.

But these actions or punishments rather kept Muhammad in the spotlight. Surviving an assassination attempt on his life, he went on to become the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party, a Black nationalist organization which modeled itself on the original Black Panther Party founded in 1966.

So, who really was this man “that not even a bullet could stop?’

Born Harold Moore Jr., in Texas in 1948, Muhammad was a preacher growing up. As a child, he delivered sermons from his aunt’s porch to drivers as their cars passed, a report by The New York Times said. He graduated from high school in 1966, before enrolling in Dillard University, a Methodist school in New Orleans, Louisiana to pursue a theological studies degree though some accounts state he didn’t graduate.

While at Dillard, he changed his name to Harold Moore Vann. It was also at Dillard that he became interested in the Black liberation movement after hearing Farrakhan speak. Farrakhan was then a top aide to the leader of the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, and had come to Dillard to give a speech. Farrakhan gave Muhammad the name Khallid, after the Arab general Khalid ibn al-Walid.

In the early 1970s when the Nation of Islam started losing strength following the death of its leader, Muhammad traveled to Uganda to help dictator Idi Amin outline a plan to overthrow the White government in South Africa. But he returned when he heard that Farrakhan was trying to re-start the sect and make it even more radical.

Upon his return, he rose quickly through the ranks, becoming minister of Mosque 27 in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and then later the leader of security for the Nation of Islam. That role got him closer to Farrakhan as he traveled with him for his speaking engagements. By 1991, Muhammad had become the national assistant to Farrakhan, and this position gave him a bigger role — the opportunity to speak before national audiences. As sources indicated, his position was held by both Malcolm X and Farrakhan under Elijah Muhammad, enabling them to have a “following” and “stature” of their own.

Muhammad would also remain popular in the African-American community, particularly among the youth. Excerpts of his fiery speeches even appeared in albums by Ice Cube, Public Enemy and X-Clan. In time, Muhammad became known as “the new Malcolm X”. As Farrakhan’s top aide, he was also seen by some as a leading candidate to replace Farrakhan as leader of the Nation of Islam.

But the two experienced a break in their relationship when Farrakhan was compelled to dismiss Muhammad after his 1993 speech which launched attacks against Whites, Jews, Catholics and Black civil rights leaders. Farrakhan, at the time of the speech, was moving toward “moderation” and making attempts to join with mainstream Black civil rights leaders.

Though Muhammad never spoke ill of Farrakhan, many later claimed he was trying to undermine the latter’s leadership. Muhammad denied such claims. “Minister Farrakhan is my spiritual father, leader, teacher and guide,” he said in Emerge. “And like any good son, I respect the discipline and judgment of my father, and I am not silly enough to run away from home…I am a soldier and I follow a divine chain of command, and I am going to complete my tour of duty.”

Muhammad did tour the country following his dismissal from the Nation of Islam, making public speeches at various universities. It was during one of those speeches at the University of California in Riverside in 1994 that he was nearly killed. A former Nation of Islam minister shot him in the foot but he survived, later establishing the New Black Panther Party and the New Black Muslims. In June 1998, he led armed members of his two groups to protest the death of James Byrd Jr., a Black man killed by who prosecutors said were members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Before Muhammad’s death from a brain aneurysm in February 2001, he led the 1998 Million Youth March in Harlem, which called for a war on racism. While alive, Muhammad never saw the need for any kind of harmonization between races. In a 1994 interview with Newsday, the African-American activist said: “I don’t have any love for the other side. It’s not in me. I don’t want no integration. I want independence for a nation of my own.”