0:02

I'm with Lucas and this is black tech,

0:04

green money. Culture

0:07

Wireless is a black owned Internet

0:09

service provider which delivers fast,

0:11

reliable, affordable Internet solutions,

0:15

and Jerome Howard is chief operating

0:17

officer, working to empower communities

0:20

with high quality and affordable

0:22

Internet service. Surprisingly,

0:25

at least to me, the digital

0:27

divide is still a thing. There

0:29

are still communities all across our nation

0:32

that do not have access to high quality,

0:35

high speed Internet service, and

0:37

the twenty nineteen COVID pandemic

0:40

exacerbated many of these issues,

0:43

disconnecting families from each other and

0:45

friends from community. Culture

0:48

Wireless and shies that won't happen again.

0:50

So I asked Jerome about the founding story

0:53

of this company and how the pandemic

0:55

provided an opportunity for these innovatives.

0:59

An idea that was born out of the pandemic.

1:02

Myself being a technologist, our CEO

1:04

being a technologist, and our

1:06

friend, our co founder, Bam Sparks,

1:09

being a culture innovator.

1:12

We saw how our community was

1:14

impacted by the pandemic, and then

1:16

we discovered that the fastest fiber

1:19

or Internet in Atlanta ran up

1:21

under this one particular Internet or up

1:23

under this one particular community, and

1:25

we said, hey, these are the kind of problems

1:28

that arose from the

1:30

pandemic, and this is what we should be solving. So

1:32

what does it look like if we provided internet

1:34

for the hood. And so from there, our

1:37

CEO went to work and started building

1:39

out the designs and saying, hey, this is

1:41

something doable.

1:42

I think we can do this, and that's how

1:44

culture Willis was born.

1:46

Yes, I want to start I want to start to talk with talking

1:48

about the digital divide. You know, is

1:50

that's still a thing in twenty twenty four, Like

1:53

what is the landscape like geographically

1:55

for connectivity in the United

1:57

States.

1:59

Yeah, so that is definitely something

2:01

that is still a thing. And you talk

2:03

about AI and all of these things that are being

2:05

introduced, and that the gap is just even

2:08

going to grow. So right now,

2:10

as you can imagine, even our colleges are in danger.

2:13

I'm sure you've seen the post that Robert

2:15

Smith made that eighty two percent of our HBCUs

2:18

are still in broadband deserts. And

2:20

then if we know the makeup of those

2:22

HBCUs, they usually sit in a

2:24

community that is full of you

2:26

know, our people. And so now you

2:28

think about that and growing out not

2:31

even just limiting to HBCUs

2:33

and urban areas. Think about

2:35

the rural areas of America, your

2:38

South Georgia's your Mississippi, where

2:40

things are even worse than we've

2:42

predicted.

2:43

You know, people having to drive to.

2:45

A local grocery store or McDonald's

2:47

just to have Wi Fi for internet.

2:49

So it's definitely still a thing.

2:52

How I mean, there seems to

2:54

be so many businesses and companies

2:56

that want to take advantage of the market

2:58

opportunity. How how is the digital

3:00

divide where you can get high speed internet

3:03

in so many places? How is that still

3:05

a thing these days?

3:07

So you have to look at the companies

3:10

that are providing internet right now.

3:12

So there are three major companies and

3:15

their focus is to find their their

3:18

their customer profile, so they have

3:20

to go where that bill makes sense. So if

3:22

you're looking at going to a fluent neighborhood

3:24

versus you know, a mixed income neighborhood,

3:27

you're going to make the best business decision

3:29

for your company. And that's kind

3:31

of what has driven us to this

3:33

this pandemic or this area that

3:35

we're in right now. It's

3:38

not just about providing and making sure

3:40

that access is available for everyone.

3:42

It's about the bottom line.

3:44

So by us being a smaller company

3:46

having the ability to be flexible with

3:48

technologies and not have such large

3:50

overhead, we can find opportunities

3:53

where these major, large corporations

3:55

can.

3:57

Is there is there a difference between being

3:59

able to connect to the Internet from

4:02

a cell phone versus like a laptop, And what I

4:04

mean by that is a difference in the opportunities

4:06

and how you're able to take advantage of resources.

4:08

And here's why I bring that up. I have

4:10

a small business and somebody who works in

4:13

my company, we were in a team meeting and we

4:15

were talking about how, you know, you can access a certain

4:17

app that we use, certain piece of software

4:20

that we use through you know, an

4:22

app or a laptop,

4:25

right because she was having a difficulty getting access

4:27

to a certain thing from her phone. I'm like, well,

4:29

just use a laptop. And she's like, you know, I'm not rich

4:31

like that to where I've got, you know, just laptops,

4:34

you know, sitting around, And I'm like, to me, like

4:36

it was it was I almost took for

4:39

granted that like everybody doesn't

4:41

have a laptop sitting around, and it

4:43

was just like revealing to me as

4:46

somebody who I try to be, you know,

4:48

understanding of what's happening around me.

4:50

It just never clicked that most

4:53

people don't have a laptop.

4:55

Yep, yeah, most people don't have a laptop.

4:57

And you think about now, most

4:59

of the kids that are growing up now probably

5:01

have never used a laptop outside of their class

5:03

where when we grew up, having a laptop

5:06

was necessary to do your classes and to

5:09

do anything.

5:10

But now that's not the case anymore.

5:12

And then when you go out to affordability,

5:15

most of these laptops are.

5:17

Not they're not cheap. They're not cheap.

5:19

So you know, without the ACP and

5:21

those affordable programs to help subsidize

5:24

that costs, the gap grows even

5:26

wider because our community

5:28

doesn't have the access nor do we have a

5:31

lot of those funds just to allocate to

5:33

buying all of these devices. If

5:35

you think about most of our community or most

5:37

of the people that suffer from the pandemic,

5:40

their their own subsidized living

5:43

or subsidized income.

5:44

And so that's been the challenge over the couple

5:46

of past years.

5:48

And so when you decide, hey,

5:50

we're going to go start a new ISP, like,

5:53

like how does like what's the first step you take. And

5:55

it's like because I'm thinking, like, okay, you

5:58

know, if I want to go create new app,

6:00

you know, I'll just you know, pull out, you know, a

6:02

text editor and start coding and just get

6:04

to it. Like it's super touper simple, because like nothing

6:07

to get started. But if you want to start at ISP,

6:09

like there's structural, infrastructural

6:12

things you got to do, I imagine, And so like

6:14

what's the first things you do when you try to try

6:17

to start a company like this?

6:18

Yeah, so this place was new

6:20

to me.

6:20

I came from security, I mean joined

6:24

you know, our co founders and building this company

6:26

and our CEO who comes from

6:28

the telecom industry and over thirty

6:30

years of experience from AT and T to

6:32

bail South to you know, the various

6:35

companies. And the first

6:37

thing he did was to look at the lay

6:39

of the fiber, seeing what's available

6:41

in the area, seeing where the towers are,

6:44

seeing where you know, the

6:46

last company has laid fiber, Where would

6:48

we be able to access it, and if we did, how

6:51

how far is that from the actual

6:53

community that we wanted to connect to. So

6:56

that's the first thing you have to do is just understand

6:58

the lay of the land. And then the second thing

7:01

you have to do is just get

7:03

your LLC. It's really

7:05

that simple. It's really that simple.

7:08

Like it's not a permit that you need to start an

7:10

ISP.

7:10

It's not like you have to have so many

7:13

certifications to do this

7:15

type of technology.

7:16

You just really have to start. And that's exactly

7:18

what we did.

7:19

And we said, you know, putting our

7:21

expertise together and putting out wheel and

7:23

you know how bad we want this to happen,

7:26

we can do it. And so it was just

7:28

that simple figuring out what was available, figuring

7:30

out and trying to find partners that were able

7:33

to help us, and then just doing

7:35

it and staying committed to the task.

7:37

We recognize in our community

7:39

that there's a value in having really strong

7:41

partnerships with companies that an't bigger, you know,

7:43

and they're more establishing, etc. I know,

7:46

you guys are partners with Verizon,

7:48

T Mobile and probably others. Can

7:50

you talk about, you know, some of the

7:52

critical things you needed to do to be

7:54

prepared for those opportunities when

7:56

those opportunities presented themselves.

7:59

Yeah, So first we had to show that

8:01

we had growth, we had an actual business,

8:03

and we had a customer base to

8:05

actually market to, and

8:07

then they wanted to see our marketing strategy.

8:10

How are we activating in the community, How

8:12

are we getting these customers to be

8:14

interested in culture Wirelens.

8:16

So that was the biggest thing.

8:17

Show our commitment and show our

8:19

actual numbers of you know, what

8:21

our predictions.

8:22

Were and just from all

8:24

of the groundwork we've laid.

8:26

So it had to be interesting to them in

8:29

order to even be interested in our

8:31

partnership. And then we had

8:33

to show them our commitment to just investing

8:35

into the community. So while

8:37

we do have those partnerships, we feel

8:39

that it is valuable for us to own the infrastructure

8:42

that we're laying into these communities. So

8:45

we're actually spending our own dollars and

8:47

not depending on these partnerships

8:50

our major networks to lean on their

8:52

infrastructure solely, but actually

8:55

developing and investing our own dollar

8:58

to have this infrastructure for ourselves

9:00

so that we can build upon that as well. And

9:02

I think that helps our message to show that

9:05

you know, these guys are serious, these guys

9:07

are committed to their goals, and

9:09

why wouldn't we want to partner with someone who's

9:11

from the community, knows the community

9:13

and it just the message

9:16

has traveled very well.

9:18

Where there certain programs that they had

9:20

or when you say, you know, well, look Verizon has this

9:22

one particular program. If we reach out to them

9:24

about this, we can find our way in. Like

9:26

what was that relationship introduction?

9:28

Like well, so.

9:30

They all have a sort of situation

9:33

or a partnership set up where any

9:36

small carriers can partner with larger

9:39

major carriers to resell their services.

9:42

So that is the thing it's called MBN or

9:44

where smaller companies can resell those

9:47

packages. But what most people don't

9:49

know is those connections

9:51

are many where you have direct

9:53

connections to like a T Mobile or Verizon,

9:57

those are very few where you have to

9:59

have some type they have to feel

10:01

connected to your brand.

10:02

In order to have a direct connection.

10:05

They'll let you resell all day, But to get

10:07

the wholesale numbers or to get

10:09

the best numbers that are very possible,

10:12

you have to have a direct connection

10:14

to the major providers, and for that,

10:17

your messaging has to align with their company

10:19

goals. And I think we

10:21

fit a lot of the things

10:23

and places that they're looking to expand

10:25

into. And I think, like I

10:28

said, the message has carried very well,

10:30

whenever we're out pitching cultural violence.

10:32

In solving the digital divide, I find this quote

10:34

that you had mentioned sometime ago in another

10:37

interview where you said, we know that solving

10:39

the digital divide is more than just about

10:41

having internet. We have to look a look

10:43

at this from a holistic approach. In order to solve

10:46

the divide, we have to create a pipeline,

10:48

pipeline for kids to enter into STEM fields,

10:50

even at an early age. And I want

10:52

to talk about that particular thing, because there

10:55

is one thing to get

10:57

them connected, it's another thing for them to be able

10:59

to see the opportun t unity that technology

11:01

allows them to have and not just be consumers,

11:04

which we over index as consumers

11:06

only internet and not building products.

11:08

Can you talk about what culture Wireless

11:11

is doing and what you guys as are serious

11:13

about in order to you know, make sure that

11:15

we're getting educated in STEM fields.

11:19

Right, so you know, we're

11:21

very passionate about this, just

11:24

because that's that's exactly what I experienced

11:26

growing up. So I'm from a rural town in

11:29

Georgia by the name of Alimo, Georgia.

11:32

I was I think I was the only kid on my block

11:35

that had a computer and if it wasn't for

11:37

my parents, you know, being educators,

11:40

I probably wouldn't have had the opportunities that I

11:42

had, just going to different camps and actually

11:44

experiencing different technologies,

11:47

and that's what grew my

11:49

my my excitement about the

11:51

field. And it's all about exposure

11:54

and so growing up knowing that

11:56

how can you start a company that is

11:58

about technology and not being able

12:01

to trigger them early to want to start

12:03

something, and so we had to find

12:05

partners in the community where we've gone

12:07

ahead and thrown these stem

12:10

labs where we teach people how to you

12:12

know, we teach them about technology,

12:14

but doing it in a way where it

12:17

is interesting to them. So for young

12:19

ladies having a STEM lab where you're making

12:21

lipsticking and you're building apps.

12:24

What you're doing dragging code,

12:26

but you're playing music at the same time and

12:28

to the app. You have to make it interesting for

12:30

them to be attracted to it. You have

12:32

to show them how it's connected to something that

12:34

they want to do. Like on the NBA

12:37

Games, there's a statistician that is

12:39

giving the person all of the numbers that stem

12:42

and so you have to make that connection where

12:44

you don't think of it or

12:46

technology or stem being an office

12:48

job.

12:49

Or someone in a lab in a white.

12:50

Cod doing running experiments

12:52

and you're never talking to anybody. Technology

12:55

is much more than that, but you have to give them

12:57

that exposure and so culture

12:59

Wildy we understand that and we have to

13:02

develop that pipeline very early. So

13:04

we seek out partners in

13:06

the community that are holding those type of

13:08

events so that we can bring in engineers

13:10

and it not be the first time that you

13:13

know, you see an engineer whenever

13:15

you get to college, but you see them when you're in elementary

13:17

school in the middle school, so you can expire

13:20

to be that person. And then

13:22

we also do the same thing with seniors, letting

13:24

them know that hey, you still can

13:27

have a bunty

13:29

for life and you

13:32

know, still be active with computer

13:34

skills. So we go from grade school

13:36

to the elderly, like, you know, you don't have to sit

13:38

in your home and just not be tech

13:41

savvy. We can teach you how to interact

13:44

with different games or how they interact with your

13:46

family, be a zoom or find

13:49

some type of remote job. So

13:51

that's the basis of how we connect to the

13:53

community, just finding different

13:55

partners on how we could get in there.

13:57

And actually let them.

13:58

Experience, have hands on labs

14:01

teaching them about ACP whenever it was

14:03

available. How do you get

14:05

those codes or get those discounts

14:08

to apply?

14:10

And what is the ACP like, talk

14:12

to me more about that.

14:14

So ACP was a program that the government

14:16

had called Affordable

14:18

Affordable Connectivity Program.

14:21

It actually ended yesterday and

14:24

hopefully the bill gets

14:26

passed that it is extended. But

14:28

that was a discount program for anyone

14:31

that qualified. Pretty much anyone that

14:33

seek government assistance would

14:36

get thirty dollars a month off of their

14:38

technology bill or out for their internet

14:41

bill.

14:41

And if you're on tribal.

14:42

Land that that cut down that

14:45

that discount increased to seventy five dollars.

14:48

So, like I said, that funding actually

14:50

ran out and so the end of that

14:52

program is able. But the last day to sign up

14:55

was yesterday, which was February seventh,

14:58

and we are waiting to see if that bill is

15:00

gonna be passed. But you

15:02

know, we use programs like that to

15:05

incentivize and get

15:08

people to come out. So you know, hey, participate

15:10

in the STEM lab. We can give your a

15:12

discount of device and then

15:14

you get internet service from that. And

15:16

so that's kind of how we drove engagement

15:19

to get people interested in the technology

15:22

and then connecting them and

15:25

then just showing them. You know, first of all,

15:27

they had to be about community service, you

15:29

know, helping them and and going

15:31

a little bit above the extra mile just

15:34

to get them connected and say hey, we're with you

15:37

through this entire process. We're not just gonna let

15:39

you give your device and throw you out there and call

15:41

us if you need help accessing that device.

15:43

We can do that and that's how we've

15:45

been able to grow throughout the community.

15:48

And so can you talk about where

15:51

the needs are when we talk about as you mentioned

15:53

AI and coding, we talked about you

15:55

know, when we talk about some of our most vulnerable

15:58

like because a lot of the times and brought up

16:00

seniors, they get left out of the conversation

16:02

when we talk about technology. Can you talk

16:05

about where the needs are and what you're seeing.

16:08

Yeah, So, as far as

16:11

in the industry, if

16:13

you're if you're like I said, if you're not aware, there's

16:15

a big push and

16:17

I'm just gonna talk about it from a for an

16:19

ISP standpoint, there's

16:22

going to be a lot of companies

16:25

going out and installing fighter

16:27

around the country

16:31

right now, So there's going to be a big

16:33

need for technicians

16:35

in the field to do this work, from

16:37

construction work to land

16:40

fiber optics, understand how fiber

16:42

options work works, and

16:45

then going to the communities installing

16:47

those fiber option services throughout the community.

16:49

So that's one a space.

16:50

If you have no desire to sit in the office, or

16:52

if you have no desire to be on a computer

16:55

all day, if you're an outside person, there's

16:57

a need for you in that space if

16:59

you're coming and you want to learn more

17:01

technical skills. One of the biggest

17:04

growing areas right now is security.

17:06

How do we secure these networks, how do we secure

17:09

their devices, how do we secure the

17:11

apps? How do we secure our programs

17:13

that are connected to credit

17:16

cards and financial institutions.

17:18

Security is one of the most the

17:20

highest growing spaces in now,

17:24

and so those are the real two big areas

17:26

that I see a need in AI of

17:29

course, but you know AI. Everyone is talking

17:31

about AI right now, but you're still

17:33

gonna need security on top of any technology

17:35

that is being released. So those

17:37

are going to be my two. And I'm always gonna leave

17:39

security because that's my background. But

17:42

I've seen that space is

17:44

spanning over time like crazy

17:46

man.

17:48

It was another quote I found from you where

17:50

you said, you know, America is made up of different cultures,

17:52

but our culture just so happens to be black.

17:55

But that's not the only culture that we're trying to connect.

17:57

When you think about the vulnerable people in

18:00

our country and

18:02

who could take advantage of the

18:04

things that you provide, where's

18:07

like, how do you direct the market opportunity

18:09

because this is culture wi, So do you

18:11

talk about we are building

18:14

for black people by black people, or this

18:16

is for just people. Talk to me

18:18

about how you think about that.

18:20

Yeah, so this is a black

18:23

company, but we're not a black company,

18:26

if that makes sense. We're not only

18:29

trying to connect black people. The connectivity

18:31

problem. Our issue is not just for black

18:33

people. We have rural America

18:35

where most those people don't look

18:37

like us. Those farming communities

18:40

are those communities that are not located

18:43

anywhere near city. All of those don't

18:45

look like black people, but they still

18:47

have culture.

18:48

That's their culture.

18:50

If I like going out and hunting and

18:53

being in a wilderness or farming,

18:55

that's a culture. That's not my culture,

18:58

but that is a culture. So

19:00

we wanted to make something a brand

19:02

that lets you know, like, hey, we're

19:05

all about culture is what makes us.

19:08

It doesn't have to be one specific culture,

19:10

but culture is what makes America. Culture

19:13

is what connects us. And so, you

19:15

know, while I'm very proud and supportive

19:18

but my culture, I recognize and understand

19:20

that other cultures have needs and it just

19:23

doesn't look like one thing or another. We

19:25

have connectivity issues in the hood,

19:28

but we also have connectivity issues in

19:30

the country.

19:31

It's all culture, and we're here to solve that

19:33

need. This is a black company, but

19:35

we're not a black company.

19:39

So so how does like a

19:42

remote workforce change the dynamic

19:44

when you talk about, you know, the digital divide

19:46

and our lack of connectivity in so

19:48

many areas, you know, because I imagine

19:50

it would widen the gap of

19:53

the digital guide.

19:54

So if you think about it, if you

19:57

have a community that is sixty eight percent black

19:59

and most of those guys are are most of those

20:02

people are want team or

20:05

only have available warehouse

20:08

jobs or working at the prison, they

20:10

have no option to even

20:13

apply for a remote job because one they

20:16

don't have the connectivity that supports it.

20:19

Two they don't have the device to even

20:21

apply for those jobs. Let alone hold

20:24

those jobs.

20:25

So that even widened this gap

20:27

and limits what income

20:29

they can have they have and

20:31

that speaks to my hometown as well.

20:34

Like most of the people there and

20:36

they are limited.

20:38

To working at the warehouse, or

20:40

working at the prison, or working at the factory,

20:43

and they don't have the option to apply

20:45

for a remote job. So what

20:48

does it look like if we go to that community

20:50

and now we provide four G cbrs

20:53

five G network called fiber network,

20:56

so that they now can apply for those

20:58

type of jobs.

20:59

They can sit at home home and.

21:00

Have a job that is above memum

21:03

wage without leaving the comforts

21:06

of their home. So it's very important that

21:08

we touch these communities and provide

21:10

the communications or the technologies for

21:13

them in order to just expand

21:16

the horizon.

21:17

And it's not and it's not the only

21:19

thing limit to them is where they live.

21:22

That that shouldn't be. That shouldn't

21:24

be, not an America, not in twenty twenty four, It

21:26

shouldn't be. So that's that's that's

21:29

that's why we feel our mission is so

21:31

important.

21:32

When you're doing the work that you're doing, you know,

21:34

community service, word, job training, you

21:37

know you're assisting in.

21:38

Areas like that.

21:39

How does a startup do so many

21:41

things successfully?

21:43

It goes back to partnerships. You know, we

21:45

understand that we're good at what we're good at.

21:48

We have to have great partners that understand

21:51

the makeup of the community. They know

21:53

the residents a little bit more than we would

21:55

in a particular area. So you

21:57

have to go where you

22:00

have to partner with people who know how to

22:02

do the things that you're not good at. And

22:04

so that has been a successful cultural Wireless,

22:07

making sure that we partner with organizations

22:09

that you know, are from the communities

22:11

that we're looking to serve, and then

22:13

asking them how can we be of help?

22:15

How can we be of service to you so

22:18

that we can help everyone in the community

22:21

achieve a goal. And so it's

22:24

all about it's all about partnerships. It comes

22:26

down to partnerships.

22:28

And you know, congratulations, you recently

22:30

started a fiber roll out. You know you're not

22:32

just mobile anymore. You

22:34

talk about what that means. I have an imagination

22:37

of what it might mean to be in the fiber, but

22:40

can you tell me about that.

22:42

Yeah, so fiber right now is the fastest

22:45

connection that you can get. But understandably

22:48

that is also the expensive the

22:50

most expensive technology or

22:53

expensive process in order to

22:56

deliver services or deliver technology

22:58

to a community.

22:59

So we've been lucky to one join

23:02

an.

23:02

Open access network down

23:04

in Clayton County where we partner

23:06

with an infrastructure company that recently

23:08

bought up one hundred and thirteen miles

23:10

a fiber and then they

23:13

wanted to connect the residents of

23:15

that area, so they actually

23:17

had the foundation and we came

23:19

on as the ISP to operate

23:22

as the service for that company. So we

23:24

didn't build in that way, but we also

23:26

just want a project in Crenshaw Destination

23:29

Crenshaw where they're

23:31

looking to connect twenty seven thousand

23:33

residents and businesses along

23:36

that development, where we will be rolling

23:38

out and building our own fiber.

23:40

And so.

23:42

Like again, that's one of those things

23:44

where we take pride and owning the

23:47

infrastructure of these communities so

23:49

that we can figure out the

23:51

best way to advance technologies

23:53

or advance that community. Maybe

23:56

it's providing sensor so that crime

23:58

goes down, or we can under stand the

24:01

air quality and the areas that we're living in.

24:04

Owning that infrastructure and laying that fiber

24:07

allows us the ability to

24:09

expand and really develop

24:12

some type of community as a service

24:14

and platforms that we could really

24:17

change our neighborhoods upon.

24:20

And you know, the fiber it allows

24:22

you to do so much.

24:24

It gives you the ability to do

24:26

so much in our communities, from smart

24:29

cities to you

24:31

name it, and so owning that infrastructure

24:34

and putting that in the ground has been

24:37

a great asset for our company.

24:40

You know, I want to talk about pivots

24:42

a little bit, because you know, almost every startup

24:44

has to. You know, we come in the game with a

24:46

certain idea of what might work in the marketplace,

24:49

and you know, you you you do a little

24:51

bit thing, a little bit different over here, you change a

24:53

little bit over there to find that product market

24:55

fit. Talk to me about things that

24:57

you guys assumed in

24:59

the be and things that you said, you know what,

25:01

let's let's kill this over here and focus more on

25:04

what's working over here.

25:06

Yeah, I'll say one

25:08

thing that we probably assumed is that,

25:11

you know, because we're going to

25:13

areas where no internet service

25:16

provider is that people

25:18

would automatically just signed up like Hey, this

25:20

is the fascinating that here, this is the thing,

25:23

this is the newest hottens. These guys are

25:25

you know, really a part of the community. We're

25:28

just gonna go ahead and sign up.

25:29

Yeah. Nah.

25:33

Now, so you know, we had to really

25:35

educate people. So you know, we had

25:37

to tell what is fiber, what does

25:39

fiber look like? What is the difference between

25:41

five grand wireless? Is

25:44

our network built by somebody else?

25:47

Or we are we owned by somebody

25:49

else? Those are the type of questions

25:51

that you know, we had to go

25:53

and really just sit in front of the community

25:55

and say, hey, you know, we are trying

25:57

to build this ourselves. We're not on by

26:00

anyone, We're not a face for anyone.

26:03

We're coming in the community and building

26:05

this ourselves. These

26:07

are the type of programs know, whenever

26:09

we sign you up from ACP, no, we're

26:12

not inviting the government into your home to

26:14

click on to see what you're watching and

26:16

clicking on.

26:17

We have to have those type of conversations.

26:19

So we really had to embed ourselves

26:22

and make sure that we were answering

26:24

those little bitty questions that we never thought

26:26

anybody would ask. We have to answer

26:28

those and make and show them like, hey, you

26:30

know, we're a part of the community. We're gonna

26:32

answer every question that you have. But we're providing

26:35

this technology for.

26:35

You because you're doing things

26:38

in communications. I wonder you

26:40

know what your experience has been like having to work

26:42

with governments and how that is navigating

26:44

it and getting support. Can you talk

26:46

about that?

26:48

Yeah, so, you know, I'm in Atlanta, so

26:51

uh so a

26:53

lot of our government officials look like us.

26:55

And you know, Atlanta is one of the few cities

26:58

where I feel like everyone support everyone,

27:01

you know, as long as you have a

27:04

good mission or right a good business.

27:06

I feel like Atlanta is one of those places where we

27:08

have a good mixture between business and

27:11

the government, the school system,

27:13

the entrepreneurs of the city, like

27:16

we all work together, and

27:18

just being able to have that one on one

27:21

relationship or knowing someone

27:23

that you went to high school with or

27:26

for Andre Mayor Dickens.

27:28

He was an advisor at Georgia Take while

27:30

I was there, so I had him prior to

27:32

being a mayor. So whenever he came

27:34

to our grand opening or our kickoff,

27:37

our lunch party, and so it's having

27:39

those type of relationships in the government

27:42

that you know, it's beneficial whenever

27:44

you're trying to grow a company or trying

27:46

to do something in the community. Because

27:48

they know you, they know they've seen

27:50

the work you've put in, they've known the.

27:52

Things that you've done in the community. So that

27:54

definitely helps.

27:57

On the federal side, we've started

27:59

working with this and what we found

28:01

there is it's all about relationships.

28:04

Making sure that your your face is seen, making

28:07

sure that your voice is heard, attending

28:09

those meetings, and actually being involved

28:11

even if it doesn't benefit you. You know,

28:14

hey, you might have to volunteer for something, or

28:16

you might need to go to an event that has

28:18

nothing to do with your business, be seen,

28:21

be an asset, and those are the ways

28:23

that you you know, you are able to partner

28:25

with the government. Now, the process is

28:27

long. You may not get paid

28:29

on something that you know for a while, but

28:32

that's that's procurement. That's the process

28:34

that they have. You know, it takes some

28:36

time to get paid by the federal government. You

28:38

have to build a business that you're not just solely

28:41

depending on that. But you just have

28:43

to make sure you have a good relationship, networking,

28:46

make sure you attend those events. Like I said,

28:48

make sure your face is seen and your

28:50

voice is being heard, and doing

28:53

positive things things throughout the community.

28:56

And that's the only way that you'll be able

28:59

to have some type of relationship

29:01

or some type of great partnership with

29:03

government entities.

29:05

You know, there's a quote

29:07

that I love, and maybe it's not a quote, but it's more philosophy

29:10

in that you can do well

29:12

while doing well. You can do good while

29:14

doing good. And you know a lot of what I

29:17

hear you talking about is passion for

29:19

you know, helping communities who deserve

29:21

and should have a right to be connected

29:24

and have an equal playing field like many

29:27

of us. Do you know you and I are on a high

29:29

speed internet right now. I assume you're on,

29:32

and so there are communities who are held down

29:34

because they don't have that access. At

29:36

the same time, you're building a business that hopefully,

29:39

you know, becomes humongous

29:42

in time, and so

29:44

can you talk to me and I guess talk to entrepreneurs

29:46

who are listening to this in your thinking

29:49

about doing well while

29:51

doing well?

29:53

Yeah, I think that, like

29:55

you said, you can do well while doing well making

29:58

sure that your money does good.

30:01

Good capital a good use of capital.

30:04

I let me see the best

30:06

way to ask this question from

30:11

from from our standpoint or from

30:13

how I look at it.

30:14

Our community has been one.

30:16

Of the least developed areas and

30:19

most oftentimes everything

30:22

that is associated to our community

30:24

or our group or our demographic. You

30:27

know, we get the last bit or we get

30:29

the last portion of it.

30:31

So we have the biggest room

30:33

to grow.

30:34

We have the best margins

30:37

that you can think of because we are the least

30:39

development and so there's

30:41

opportunity in that. But at

30:44

the same time, you have to make sure that you're

30:46

not using our people and

30:49

just trying to come and get money out of the

30:51

community and go do something else

30:53

with it. And I think when you have an

30:55

authentic message, our

30:58

community really sees that. We can tell

31:00

that, and we can tell who is really

31:02

just coming to take from the community

31:05

or who's really really

31:08

trying to invest and make

31:10

sure that the community as.

31:12

A whole does better.

31:14

And whenever you have that authentic voice

31:16

along with the good product, I believe

31:19

that the community sees that and

31:22

you can definitely do well once you invest

31:24

in your people or in these communities,

31:26

because we haven't we haven't had that

31:28

development I heard I had.

31:31

I went to a.

31:32

A

31:35

session where Ambassador

31:38

Andrew Young was speaking and he was talking about,

31:40

you know, look at everybody wanting

31:43

to have interest in Africa. Right now, everybody

31:45

is trying to move to Africa

31:47

or have some type of business set up in Africa

31:50

because it's been the least development. And

31:52

so now it's about making sure that

31:55

we have the right companies that are going to

31:57

Africa, we have the right partnerships that are

31:59

going to so that we can build

32:01

an actual connection and expand

32:04

the community there. But with

32:06

the right intentions and so there

32:08

are a lot of ways that you can

32:10

do well while doing well,

32:14

and you know, I feel like there's a lot of

32:16

margin, a lot of opportunity in our companies and we just

32:18

hope that everyone that comes or

32:20

tries to work in this space

32:23

has an authentic Going.

32:25

To

32:41

Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity

32:43

Afro Tech on the Black Effect podcast

32:45

network in night Heart Media. Is produced by Morgan

32:48

Debonne and me Well Lucas. Learn

32:50

more about my Guess and other technics. Up is the innovators

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at afrotech dot Com enjoying

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32:59

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