Blacks typically don't qualify as accredited investors.

With that said, you probably have 2 questions:

1. What is an accredited investor?

2. Why don't we typically qualify?

I'll address the first question using an article from CNBC. It states that a person must make $200,000 per year ($300,000 for married couples) for 2 consecutive years with expectations of that continuing in the future. The other option is that one has a net worth of at least $1 million dollars whether single or married not including the asset value of their home residence.

To answer the second question, I'll need to ask a third. How many Black people do you know of that make at least $200,000 per year or have a net worth of $1 million?

I'll wait.

To bring in some raw numbers, about 10% of Black families have a net worth over $230,000 and less than have a net worth over $1.4 million. Compare that to White families coming in at about 37% for net worth over $230,000 and almost 10% for net worth over $1.3 million.

With that being said, a fourth question presents itself.

How do we build Black wealth?

A Howard University School of Business graduate, Rashaan Everett, seems to have a solution.

Thanks to President Obama enacting the new JOBS Act as well as changes to regulatory crowdfunding, Mr. Everett has now launched The Greenwood Project.

"For the first time in 83 years, it's legal for non-accredited investors to purchase equity in private companies," says Rashaan.

You read that right, private equity. Not public companies, but privately held ones.

For reference, "A public company is a company that has issued securities through an initial public offering (IPO) and is traded on at least one stock exchange or the over-the-counter market," according to Investopedia. Private equity just means that a company is not traded on an exchange.

Private equity has long been a loophole to keep Blacks out of wealth building opportunities, but no longer.

Fix it Jesus.

So how does one get started on this path to the paper? Anyone can invest with as little as $100.

Everett says this opportunity is like a "…socially good lottery ticket. We can now actually invest in other Black entrepreneurs and build generational wealth. Now, any form of investing is risky, but the stock you receive has huge potential.”

Economic empowerment is at an all-time high with Trump taking office. Let's put our money where our community is.

Eric Patrick

Writing since September 2016 · 1 story contributed