Closing the Wealth Gap

Casselberry: We’ll be successful here not solely because of what we’re creating, but because of the sheer amount of talent and capability that exists but often goes overlooked in these communities. As we set out to build an economy for the New Majority, we’re doing it in a very specific and nondilutive way that allows the best and brightest to execute and excel.

Parrish: There is an immense amount of talent and capability out there, as evidenced by the many companies in all industries that are led or financed by BIPOC founders and investors. What Known is doing is helping these companies and individuals scale, and providing more ready access to capital, connections, and talent. It’s about scaling together and collaborating across multiple areas of financial services, which creates a multiplier effect for everyone involved.

Casselberry: We want to support and assist our partners and companies in ways that allow them to operate in what we call their “genius lane.” It’s not just about providing financial backing. For example, not every firm is going to be great at managing human resources, plotting communications structures, or designing more productive workspaces. We’ll help them apply learnings and best practices and we’ll provide support services that can help them more effectively grow and operate their companies—allowing them to focus on what they do best. 

Parrish: I’m a big believer in capitalism as it inspires innovation, fiscal discipline, and hard work. But I believe that capitalism in the long term is only good if it goes toward serving all of society, and not creating massive structural imbalances in terms of who benefits. 

I think it’s imperative that business leaders focus on becoming inclusive for a few reasons. One, we hold a massive amount of power and influence. Two, it’s more efficient to think about where value creation for capital holders can align with value creation for other stakeholders, such as employees and customers. And three, you make better decisions and smarter choices when all people involved in a venture bring a unique perspective grounded in their personal and professional experience. 

Being more inclusive should be table stakes going forward for business leaders: it’s not about giving back to the community—it’s actually about just doing things the right way from the very beginning.

Casselberry: What we’re hoping to do is create the BIPOC-owned equivalent to Vanguard or BlackRock, these massive financial institutions. We want to help create better outcomes. When we do so, we’ll see the wealth gap shrink. We’ll be able to more effectively attack the problems that we encounter within our communities, because many issues we face aren’t political but economic. You know the quote, “Greed is good?” It’s not true, because it’s led to many of the economic and societal concerns that we’re seeing now. There are already a lot of like-minded investors who want to do better and create better outcomes—they just don’t necessarily know how. If we can partner with them and help model that change, others will come along with us on the journey and help narrow and eliminate the gaps that we’re addressing as a society today.

When it comes to transforming our financial system to serve all of society, not just wealthy capital holders, we need more critical thinkers and problem solvers—professionals with strategic wisdom and technical skills. That’s why I came to Booth! The rigorous multidisciplinary curriculum—and how deeply inherent critical thinking is to it—has really played a pivotal role in everything I’ve been involved in, including Known. It taught me that you need to have cross-sector skills and collaborations in place to be effective at solving significant market failures, real-world issues, and social problems. 

Parrish: We need to structurally change the way things are done in the financial system to create systemic change. There have been many past efforts to steer more dollars toward Black and brown entrepreneurs and investors, but these represent very small pools of capital. Those talented investors and entrepreneurs start with less funding, and so it’s harder for them to compete.

We want to help businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs from every angle in every subsector of financial services, to support real BIPOC-owned firms that are large category leaders. To do that, we have to be able to leverage relationships, and Booth’s network spans every type of investor, from endowments and pensions to sovereign wealth funds. Through the work I do every day at Impact Engine and through the collaboration with you on Known, we’re tapping into this network to build a new ecosystem. We are creating not only a more balanced economy, but also a more efficient economy: one that’s beneficial not just for a small subsector of the world, but for many more people, starting with the New Majority.