"Pooling Our Resources to Foster Black Progress: An Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing Framework"

WASHINGTON - April 28, 2014 - PRLog -- In his new book, "Pooling Our Resources to Foster Black Progress: An Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing Framework" (available at Amazon.com), author Michael J. Isimbabi, Ph.D., a finance and energy industry professional and a former finance professor and banker, provides a blueprint for pooling resources on a large scale to address critical economic and social problems in the black community. The need for such resource-pooling has been a common refrain in the black community for decades but it has yet to materialize on a scale that could have sustained transformational impact.

Isimbabi shows how this can be accomplished by harnessing the great potential enabled by the nexus among: the strong culture of philanthropy in the black community; resource-pooling; black earning/buying/investing power; entrepreneurship; business development; impact investing; and job creation. This powerful nexus could foster wealth-building and alleviate poverty, particularly in underserved communities.

More than mere commentary or a presentation of problems, this book delivers concrete solutions and a path to greater economic empowerment through self-reliance.

Isimbabi argues that the current noxious political climate is likely to persist for several years, and therefore it would be largely futile to wait for public investment on a large enough scale to transform distressed communities. Thus, self-reliant resource-pooling, to the extent possible, on a large scale is the most realistic strategy for creating more economically vibrant and thriving communities, even as advocacy and other efforts to boost public investment in job creation and anti-poverty initiatives continue.

Isimbabi shows that the time is right for like-minded people who believe in this approach – evidently a substantial segment of the black community – to make it happen, and thereby help to finish what remains, as President Obama recently noted, the “unfinished business” of the civil rights movement.

He writes:

“Imagine the captivating and galvanizing impact that would reverberate through the black community if:

- Five to ten highly-respected, high-profile African Americans got together and convinced 1000 affluent African Americans – successful entrepreneurs, top corporate executives, entertainment, sports and other celebrities, etc. – to invest, on average, $20,000 each, thereby generating $20 million as seed capital for establishing an “impact investment fund” that could provide the “patient capital” to help foster entrepreneurship, business development, and job creation in underserved communities; and then

- The 1000-plus pioneering investors in turn helped to galvanize some of the over 10 million blacks who make $25,000 or more per year to invest – that is, with the expectation of some financial return, not just give away – an average of $600 per year in the fund (i.e., $50 per month on average--individual investments could range from as low as $5 per month to hundreds of dollars per month). Even if only one-third of those 10+ million people were able to make such investments, the fund could raise at least $2 billion per year. And, even if only one-tenth, i.e., about 1 million people, were able to do so, it would result in $1.8 billion or more over three years.

The capital raised could be leveraged even further to mobilize additional billions of dollars to finance businesses that could provide needed products and services in underserved communities. This would create jobs, help people get out of poverty, foster the entrepreneurial spirit and wealth-building, and uplift and transform communities.”

Wishful thinking? Hardly. Isimbabi lays out a comprehensive and credible framework for establishing such a fund, and explains how this fund – the “Excellence and Ventures Transformation Fund” or “EXCEL-TRANSFORM Fund” (http://www.poolingourresources.com/the-excel-transform-fund/) – can be socially and economically uplifting. This framework is a business plan rather than a social program.

The framework specifically addresses a fundamental challenge: engendering enough trust and confidence to enable the galvanization of millions of African Americans (and non-African Americans) to invest in a fund that can have a sustained transformational impact.

The book discusses recent developments and trends that indicate that, with innovations such as impact investing and crowdfunding, as well as the galvanizing power of online and social media, the black community’s financial, intellectual, entrepreneurial and other resources – which are considerable – can be potently harnessed and leveraged to accomplish this goal.

It then outlines how the visionaries, entrepreneurs, and innovators who take up the challenge can overcome the barriers that evidently have hampered the creation of such an initiative to date, particularly the “trust barrier”—credibility, leadership, accountability, and innovative and effective implementation strategies to mobilize and galvanize the black community.

For more information, please visit: http://www.PoolingOurResources.com.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR - http://www.poolingourresources.com/about-the-author/

Dr. Isimbabi is a Washington, D.C.-based finance and energy industry professional and consultant. A former professor of finance, banker and engineer, he is co-author of the investments book, “Contemporary Portfolio Theory and Risk Management” (West Publishing), and author of articles and scholarly papers in finance and development published in the Journal of Banking and Finance, the Atlantic Economic Journal, SAIS Review: A Journal of International Affairs, and other publications.

Isimbabi’s professional career includes consulting, research, analysis, writing, teaching, and management experience spanning: Financial Markets; Investments; Banking/Financial Services; Energy Markets; Electric Power & Utilities; International Finance & Development; Emerging Markets; Technology; etc. He has worked on consulting projects for business/consulting firms, U.S. Government agencies, financial institutions, international development organizations, industry associations, and nonprofit organizations.