American Banker, June 25, 2018: Are black millennials a blind spot for fintech firms?
Around the time the retired Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant launched a venture capital tech fund, Mensa Pounds heard about BREAUX Capital — a fintech company that was just getting started on its big goal to disrupt financial services for black millennials.
Pounds knew he wanted in after a former high school classmate told him about the brand’s vision. He became a shareholding member in 2016, the same year BREAUX Capital formed. Pounds, now an elementary-school teacher in New Orleans, is one of 1,000 members who use BREAUX Capital to automate savings deposits and to network with one another on their entrepreneurial dreams and capital needs — online and in person.
It’s still early days, but the startup, with founders in Chicago and Brooklyn, sees an opportunity to make a mark and a profit on a market few fintech startups have specifically pursued.
“It seems counterintuitive,” said Ras Asan, co-founder and chief operations officer of BREAUX Capital. “The perception is they don’t have money [and] if they do have money, they aren’t trying to spend it on their financial wellness.”
But Asan — along with fellow Morehouse College in Atlanta alums Derrius Quarles and Brian Williams — saw something else: a business opportunity for a community that has been historically underserved and underrepresented in financial services.
