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National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA): Creating Intellectual Wealth for Black Canadians

January 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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Leading in the creation of economic and intellectual wealth for black Canadians MBA. It is a coveted moniker for any professional. To managers, entrepreneurs and CEOs alike, the Master of Business Administration degree signifies professional excellence and leadership acuity. The National Black MBA Association exists specifically to unite and support those who hold MBAs and those who aspire to. NBMBAA’s Toronto chapter, founded three years ago by Damon Knights (who is already looking to launch new chapters in Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton), is a powerful network which encourages black business professionals, entrepreneurs, and MBA professionals and students to educate, mentor and empower one another and the broader community. Knights is a Senior Manager at a financial services company; he completed his International MBA (IMBA), specializing in Finance, through the York University Schulich School of Business. Black Ink Magazine: What led to you getting an MBA? Damon Knights: I left my hometown, Montreal, to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Ottawa, where I had the opportunity to study for a year in Italy, and completed a work term in Paris for six months. I decided to get an MBA while in Paris, after a few Schulich alumni convinced me that I would be an excellent candidate for the Schulich International MBA (IMBA) program. Upon my return to Canada, I moved to Toronto, and shortly after, I was registered in the IMBA program! BIM: How has having … [Read more...]

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The Urban Financial Services Coalition: Changing the Face of Finance in Canada

January 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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According to Invest in Toronto, this city is Canada’s financial capital and North America’s third-largest financial services hub. Many Canadians aspire to a career in finance here; but non-white professionals have found an industry “glass ceiling” prevalent in the bank towers dominating the city skyline. The Urban Financial Services Coalition (UFSC), headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia, aims to assist in the professional development of minority financial services professionals. The former President of its Toronto chapter is Marlon Reid, MFin. A TD Securities Vice President, Mr. Reid also sits on the Visible Minority Committee of TD Bank Financial Group’s Diversity Leadership Council and co-chairs the Black Community Subcommittee. Black Ink Magazine: Why did you choose a career in finance? Marlon Reid: I didn’t choose the financial services industry, the industry chose me. I completed an undergraduate business degree [planning to attend] law school and practice criminal law. After my first year at law school, I discovered that I had no real passion or stomach for criminal law, but I excelled in my business law courses. [Ironically] . . . law school helped me rediscover the world of finance by seeing it through another lens. BIM: What are UFSC’s mission and values? MR: UFSC’s mission is to change the face of the financial services industry by being the link between business and the community. We are dedicated to the professional … [Read more...]

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Black Daddies Club (BDC) – A Movement Built On Love

June 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Brandon Hay

“We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child - It’s the courage to raise one.” President Barack Obama – Father’s Day Speech - June 2008 on his campaign trail. For Brandon Hay, the founder and Executive Director of the Toronto-based men’s support community, the Black Daddies Club (BDC), a typical day goes a little something like this… “I get up in the morning sometime around 5 a.m. to drive my wife to work, get home and check my email for 15 minutes. Get my kids in the bath, prepare breakfast and lunch ,get them dressed, drive them to school and daycare get home around 9 a.m., return emails and phone calls, at 11am I then pick up my middle son from school and bring him to daycare.” “ I head out to do any BDC related business such as meetings, speaking engagements, drafting press releases, phone calls, etc. until 3 or 4pm (depending what part of the city I have to go), I then pick up my wife, then my kids from daycare or school. I take my kids to the library then play in the park (if its summer), do homework with my oldest sons, Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays my eldest son plays football with the Scarborough Thunders from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. I make dinner, get them ready for bed and do the whole thing all over again the next day.” To the unassuming spectator, it would be hard to fathom this devoted family man was once a young … [Read more...]

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Paying It Forward – Empowering Community

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Nova Scotia’s Black Business Initiative (BBI) aims to improve the economic and business opportunities available to the African-Nova Scotian community. Here, BIM talks with the BBI’s Chief Strategist and CEO Rustum Southwell about the organization’s purposes and strategies. Southwell migrated to Canada from St. Kitts in 1972 and settled in Halifax. A devoted contributor to African-Nova Scotian community initiatives, his current board posts include the Halifax International Airport Authority Community Consultative Committee, United Way of Halifax, and the Board of Waterfront Development Corporation Ltd., to which he was recently appointed. In 2010, Southwell received the Black Business and Professional Association’s inaugural Distinguished Men of Honour award for his indelible contributions and leadership among black entrepreneurship and for raising the community’s economic empowerment. Since Southwell’s appointment as a founding Executive Director to the BBI in 1996, the BBI has assisted to create over 300 black businesses and nearly 700 jobs in Nova Scotia. BIM: What is the purpose of the BBI? RS: The BBI is a province-wide business development initiative committed to fostering the growth of businesses owned by members of Nova Scotia’s black community. We are committed to growing the black presence in a diverse range of business sectors including high-tech, manufacturing, tourism, and the cultural sector. BIM: How did the BBI come to … [Read more...]

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BreadFruit Lane Charity: Serving as a Catalyst for Change for Communities in Need

April 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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In December 2006, Mike Slocombe and a collective of friends embarked on a cross-Atlantic voyage from Canada's largest metropolis, Toronto to the remote village of Baro in Guinea, a West African nation with a complex history and a rich culture. They embarked on their globetrotting adventure to learn and culture themselves to the traditional African rhythms and dances, indigenous to that region of the world. Slocombe, who has a deep rooted passion and admiration for the art of African drumming—so much so, he is a founding member of the Toronto-based percussion ensemble Baro Dununba, which is rooted in cultural music from West Africa and the Diaspora (individuals of African ancestry living outside of Africa )—was ecstatic at the opportunity to commune and apprentice under the masters of the art forms on African soil—a homecoming that would prove to be life changing. “I was so excited and nervous at the same time, as I had always felt that if I visited Africa I would not return,” recalls Slocombe. “I had mentioned this to a spiritual guide before I left and she said that it did not necessarily mean that I would be harmed or stay there but that I would most likely find a part of myself, or have an awakening, making me a different man. She was so right.” Upon their arrival in Baro, Slocombe’s and his friends’ excitement about their pilgrimage was eclipsed by the sight of human suffering through poverty, disease and sickness. “Tetanus, leprosy, and … [Read more...]

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BBPA to award 14 winners at the 28th Annual Harry Jerome Awards

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
2010 Harry Jerome Winners

There is an abundance of excellence amongst the black Canadian population and this year the Black Business & Professional Association will be presenting awards to 14 of those black Canadians who represent excellence in business, education, academic, community, technology, arts, athletics and more. The BBPA introduced the winners at the Harry Jerome Awards media launch on Tuesday, March 23 at the Scotia Plaza in Toronto, ON. The winners in each category included: • Academics – Mr. Kwesi Johnson • Athletics – Mr. Aaron Brown • Arts – Mr. Michael Chambers • Business – Ms. Dolores Lawrence • Community Service – Mr. Winston La Rose • Health Sciences – Dr. Lisa Robinson • Leadership – Ms. Saron Gebresellasi • Lifetime Achievement – Mr. Stanley G. Grizzle • Media – Mr. Ron Fanfair • President’s Award – Mr. Hamlin Grange • Professional Excellence – Mr. Akwatu Khenti • Technology & Innovation – Dr. Abdullah K. Kirumira • Trailblazer – Dr. Andrew Knight • Young Entrepreneur – Mr. Thomas Tewoldemedhin The BBPA Harry Jerome Awards celebrates and pays tribute to the outstanding, inspirational and great achievement in the black Canadian community. The awards were established in memory of Harry Jerome, an Olympic athlete, scholar and social advocate. One of the premier track athletes of his time, Harry’s athletic achievements were partnered with scholastic excellence and social consciousness. … [Read more...]

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No Small Feat: Celebrating Our Legacy An interview with Robert Small

February 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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“I believe history is the blueprint for the future. Through this poster, I would like to give the next generation of African-Canadians the hope that the future will be brighter than the past…” Robert Small - Black History Month Poster Unveiling, 2007 Toronto-based visual artist, owner of The Small Gallery and the man behind Legacy Enterprises, Robert Small has made it his life’s ambition to ensure that African-Canadians gain ‘full knowledge’ of their rich, indelible contributions and their powerful legacy to Canada—our home and native land—through his artwork, and he has made a lucrative career doing it. The creative mastermind behind The Official Black History Poster™, aptly renamed to Legacy Poster™ in recent years, Small is a self-taught artist who embarked on a creative journey 16 years ago to gain recognition for Black History Month and his posters, which proved to be a successful marriage between art and enterprise. The poster is a visual juxtaposition of diverse, successful and inspiring, contemporary and historic African-Canadians that showcase Smalls’ artistic signature of bright vivid portraits. His posters can be found mounted on the walls of classrooms, libraries, community organizations, churches, banks, homes and a variety of places across Canada, which is no small feat. Viewed by many as a leading and prominent Black History Month ambassador, Small has accumulated an expansive list of accomplishments as one of Canada’s most … [Read more...]

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The Real McCoy

January 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Elijah McCoy

The term “the Real McCoy” is more than just a catch phrase. Since it first started being used more than a century ago, it has also been a signal of quality as well as an affirmation of the intellect and perseverance of Elijah McCoy, a man whose legacy is a source of pride not only for black Canadians, but for all descendants of North American chattel slavery. Elijah McCoy was a famous inventor and engineer who was born in Canada, grew up in the United States, studied in Scotland, and made great contributions to manufacturing and locomotive industries around the world. The third of twelve children, he was born in the mid-1840s (historians cannot be certain whether his year of birth was 1843 or 1844) in Colchester, Ontario, to George McCoy and Mildred McCoy (née Goins), two escaped slaves from Kentucky. When Elijah was a young child, the McCoys returned to the United States. They settled in Michigan, and his father found work in the logging industry. Blacks in the United States had a hard time obtaining mechanical training, so Elijah, who exhibited an aptitude in that area, went to Scotland to study Mechanical Engineering. When he returned, despite his qualifications, he was unable to work as a mechanical engineer in either Southwest Ontario or Michigan, and so he began working for the Michigan Central Railroad as a fire man and oiler. As a fire man, his main job was to fuel the steam engines of trains; his duties as an oiler included lubricating the train’s moving … [Read more...]

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Helping Hands

January 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Helping Hands

In this issue, we meet an actor, singer and dancer from Toronto whose breadth of talent is matched by her desire to help others. She has been taking humanitarian trips to underdeveloped countries since she was a teenager with Third World Awareness, the not-for-profit organization that she helped to create. Looking at her background and education, it seems that she was meant to travel, to learn about different cultures, and to bring smiles to people’s faces.Bridget Olufunke Ogundipe was born to a Nigerian father and a Guyanese mother. The two met in Canada and made their home in Lagos, Nigeria, where Ogundipe was born, then moved back to Toronto when she was two years old. As a student at Brother Edmund Rice High School, Ogundipe joined her drama teacher and basketball coach, John Calaghan, on a humanitarian trip to Trenchtown, in Kingston, Jamaica. Calaghan organized these trips on a yearly basis, going to places like Jamaica and Nicaragua during March break and leading his students in helping others who were born into less-fortunate circumstances than themselves. Calaghan retired when Ogundipe was in the twelfth grade. None of the other teachers at Brother Edmund Rice were planning to continue the trips, but Ogundipe and a number of Calaghan’s other former students were reluctant to stop them – and so, as it turns out, was Calaghan himself.  “So we found a way,” says Ogundipe. “We got support, we did it, and after we got to university there was still a small … [Read more...]

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