By Ariyana Griffin
AFRO Staff Writer
agriffin@afro.com
The Generational Wealth Diversity Summit celebrated 10 years of providing resources to minority communities on Sept. 28 at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore.
This year, the free event’s theme highlighted the importance of successfully passing down minority-owned businesses and keeping them in the family.
According to the Howard Business Review, “70 percent of family-owned businesses fail or are sold before the second generation gets a chance to take over. Just 10 percent remain active, privately held companies for the third generation to lead.”
The summit and conversation, led by Sharif J. Small, CEO and founder of S.J.S Financial Firm LLC, was a platform for several business owners to engage in a panel discussion.
The discussion, which focused on the importance of succession when passing down a business, was a key part of the event. The panel shared insights on how to build a successful family business, life insurance and tax planning, real estate investing and more, all of which are essential for the next generation.
Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper, publisher and chairwoman of the AFRO-American Newspapers, was recognized as this year’s pioneer and trailblazer. She engaged in the discussion on behalf of the paper, a publication successfully led by the fourth and fifth descendants of founder John H. Murphy Sr.
The AFRO has continued to bring news and information to the community for over 130 years, a testament to its enduring success.
Attendees also heard from a thriving group of entrepreneurs who have taken over family businesses: Andrew E. Johnson, CEO of Goode Foods—Canned Beans and Vegetables; Ashley Ivey, executive director of I-CARE Home Health Care; Selena Britton, vice president of Class Act Catering and CEO of Aura Events and Décor, and Brandon M. Wylie, CEO of Wylie Funeral Homes P.A. The panel was co-moderated by Perneita Farrar, CEO of Farrar Legal Services.
They each shared their journey of taking over the businesses that were passed down to them from their family, but they also talked about the struggles and tribulations that they had to help others prevent making the same mistakes.
Dr. Draper stressed the importance of having a business and a succession plan no matter what. “If you’re at the top of your company and something happens to you, the question is what happens to your company?” she said
Draper shared that people should think about the future and obtain some “insurance that says if something happens to me– even if I do not have a clear succession plan– what happens to my company and how are my assets going to be protected.”
Even with making mistakes, they spoke about the importance of pivoting, taking risks, and building connections.
“I think something I’m still learning today is the power of connections and branding yourself,” said Johnson, the second-generation owner of Goode Foods. “Really putting yourself out there, as opposed to only pushing your company or your company name.”
He shared that since taking over the family business, he has had to be more public because he is now the face of the company, which was once led by his late father, Emile Johnson. Since doing so, the company has garnered over 400k views and likes across social media platforms.
Hundreds of attendees left the panel feeling motivated by their new perspective on starting and passing down a business.
“Being a former business owner, I didn’t think about some of the things on the panel, like succession,” Glenn Smits told the AFRO.
Smits expressed that it is important to pass down Black-owned businesses and for Black Americans to have a plan. “We need to pass everything to the younger generations—we need more events like this to get the word out,” he said.
Eugene Redfern, CEO of Fernland TV, shared that he was excited to come out and get information about how to pass down businesses successfully because he had recently started his own.
“For a young Black man, this is huge for me,” Redfern told the AFRO. He shared that he enjoyed hearing from like-minded people and “getting insight to doing it right.”
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