From Cyriacus Nnaji, Lagos
After six years of keeping its membership doors closed while developing its systems, platforms, intellectual property and community structures, the Black Wall Street Community has announced the reopening of membership, unveiling an economic vision centred on African economic independence, wealth creation, shared prosperity and the development of a new generation of millionaires and billionaires.
In a release, the community said that what now stands behind its reopened doors is a developing economic ecosystem built around a claimed $1 trillion intellectual property, a money-sharing community, 28 mobile applications, 100 economic programmes and a network of Pan-African centres designed to connect Africans to jobs, contracts, businesses, capital, projects and professional opportunities.
The release further disclosed that the reopening also comes with a stated commitment to building an economic system that differs from what the community describes as exploitative models that continually extract money from people without creating sufficient value in return.
According to the organisation, many communities across Africa provide familiar examples of how recurring charges, economic pressure and exploitative practices can leave people feeling used rather than served.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Black Wall Street, King Charles Nwabuikwu Lambert, said that the organisation’s model is intended to take the opposite approach by building around participation, development, opportunity and giving back to the community.
He said, “A central feature of the reopened membership structure is that membership is not a recurring fee. Instead, membership is based on a one-time purchase represented by the purchase of a Black Wall Street Portrait, with no annual membership renewal.”
The press release also revealed that the contemporary Black Wall Street initiative draws its inspiration from the historic Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, once widely known as Black Wall Street because of the economic ecosystem developed there by African Americans.
King Lambert said that the historic community supported businesses, institutions, employment and wealth creation within the African-American community before the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre destroyed homes, businesses and much of the economic ecosystem.
He added that while the physical economic infrastructure was devastated, the idea that a people could build, own and circulate economic value within their own community survived.
For decades, the ruins of Black Wall Street remained a symbol of what had been destroyed. In 2002, however, entrepreneur and Pan-African economic advocate King Charles Nwabuikwu Lambert stood on the historic ground and made a commitment to rebuild what had been lost.
The organisation says the vow was carried quietly for nearly two decades before becoming a broader public initiative.
Under the newly reopened structure, individuals seeking membership are required to purchase a Black Wall Street Portrait. The organisation says members have already begun receiving their 20 portraits and that membership can also be extended to an individual’s entire family.
The membership proposition is designed to give Africans an opportunity to participate in the Black Wall Street economic ecosystem while supporting the development of its intellectual property and 28 applications.
According to the stated membership model, purchasing a pack of 20 philosophical portraits for $250 provides the physical products, alongside 200 Investment Points and two corporate-sharing slots, with each slot valued at $100.
The organisation stated that the two slots provide $200 per month for life, while also presenting a possibility of cashing out as much as $30,000 after approximately three years, subject to applicable terms and conditions.
Beyond the financial proposition, members are expected to gain access to a growing Pan-African community through which they can access jobs, contracts, business opportunities, capital, projects, professional networks and other community services.
Membership, the organisation says, is ultimately about becoming a participant in an African economic movement built around Compassionate Capitalism, Educate, Trap and Invest, 28 applications and 100 economic programmes, with the objective of creating and sharing wealth within African communities.
Members can also purchase more than one membership entry or slot. According to the organisation, additional entries help sponsor the deployment of the 28 mobile applications that constitute part of the digital infrastructure of the Black Wall Street system.
The organisation therefore maintains that membership goes beyond purchasing a portrait; it represents participation in a community under construction, support for the deployment of its infrastructure and involvement in an economic system intended to create opportunities and wealth.
The vision extends beyond individual membership.
Black Wall Street says it is working towards establishing 14,000 Pan-African Centres across Africa and 1,000 Job Centres in the African Diaspora, creating a network through which Africans can connect with employment, business opportunities, development initiatives and one another.
The proposed network is intended to provide a continental and global structure for economic participation while strengthening links between Africans on the continent and members of the diaspora.
Since the resurrection initiative, the organisation says Africans have not merely observed the movement but have participated in its development.
According to Black Wall Street, thousands of Africans from different professional and social backgrounds, including people across the diaspora, have supported the movement through their participation, resources and belief in what it describes as the African Ubuntu system.
The organisation views this participation as part of the foundation upon which the wider economic ecosystem is being developed.
Black Wall Street says the six-year closure of membership was deliberate, adding that the period was used to develop its systems, platforms, applications, intellectual property and community structures so that when membership reopened, prospective members would be entering an ecosystem that had already undergone substantial development rather than an unfinished concept.
The reopened membership drive is targeted at what the organisation describes as serious, productive and intellectually committed Africans interested in contributing to the continent’s future.
The target community includes professionals, entrepreneurs, academics, scientists, engineers, innovators, creators, development practitioners and disciplined young Africans with the capacity and willingness to create genuine value.
The emphasis, according to the organisation, is on people who build, solve problems, create jobs, develop knowledge, strengthen institutions and contribute to Africa’s economic and social advancement.
It says the initiative is not intended for individuals whose primary interest is exploiting or recruiting others.
Membership is also described as limited rather than unlimited. Black Wall Street says there is a defined membership target and that recruitment will stop once the expected number of members is reached.
At the centre of the initiative is what Black Wall Street describes as a single overarching objective: Africa’s economic independence.
While African countries have achieved political independence, the Black Wall Street vision focuses on strengthening economic independence by creating systems through which wealth, opportunity and economic value can circulate within African communities.
The organisation describes the Black Wall Street Community as a money-sharing community, where members come together, prosper together and share the proceeds of their collective efforts.
The model draws on the African principle of Ubuntu, which emphasises community prosperity, shared responsibility and the belief that nobody should be left behind.
The economic model identifies several proposed economic engines, including the redirection of capital that leaves Africa, 100 need-based programmes addressing basic human needs, 28 mobile applications and a Pan-African franchise model intended to scale the system across the continent.
The 28 applications are described as the digital infrastructure of the system, while the need-based programmes are intended to create jobs, generate revenue and produce economic value within the community.
The wider execution structure also includes the CEO Forum, Pan-African Job Centres, the 14,000-centre network, 1,000 Job Centres in the diaspora, eight franchises and projected participation from the African diaspora.
The economic structure presented by the initiative is expressed as:
$1 trillion in intellectual property → $20 billion from the diaspora → $4.2 trillion in African buying power → 2.5 per cent potential market capture → $100 billion in potential annual economic activity → profits shared back into the community.
At the centre of the Black Wall Street Community is an economic concept called Compassionate Capitalism, which the organisation describes as intellectual property valued at $1 trillion and owned by the community.
Compassionate Capitalism is presented as an alternative approach to capitalism based on three principles: Educate, Trap and Invest.
The first principle, Educate, positions knowledge as the foundation of development.
The second, Trap, involves redirecting economic activity into a controlled ecosystem intended to strengthen local businesses and industries.
The third, Invest, involves converting earned value into opportunities, employment, business ventures and investments, creating what the organisation describes as a continuous cycle of growth.
The organisation identifies this framework as the intellectual property at the heart of its economic system and maintains that it belongs to the community.
Black Wall Street also draws a distinction between its community model and conventional investment or securities structures.
According to the organisation, Black Wall Street does not sell shares or deal in securities, and its membership structure should not be confused with such arrangements.
Instead, it describes itself as a community based on sharing profits among its members.
The vision is modelled in part on the economic philosophy associated with the historic Black Wall Street, where wealth creation was connected to community participation and circulation.
One of the most ambitious declarations of the Black Wall Street Community is its stated commitment to producing the millionaires and billionaires of the next generation.
The organisation says the ambition is not merely to make a small number of individuals wealthy but to create a generation with access to systems, opportunities and economic participation through a community designed to share the value it creates.
The objective is therefore presented as broader than individual financial success, focusing instead on building an economic generation capable of participating in and benefiting from African wealth creation.
Despite its strong emphasis on economic participation, Black Wall Street says the initiative is not fundamentally about displaying wealth or pursuing material status.
The community identifies Integrity, Empathy, Diligence, Patience, Courage, Persistence, Contentment with Progress and Wisdom as its core values.
