Melanin Money: George Acheampong Is On A Mission To Help The Black Community Earn $100K Annually

What started as an E-commerce brand would catapult into a financial social network by 2017. Melanin Money tailors resources to people of color to help them build wealth. The platform offers classes covering topics such as personal finance, wealth building, and entrepreneurship each month. Courses are led by financial educators who will offer feedback to members in real-time.

The pocket advisor feature allows Melanin Money to democratize quality financial advice so members no longer have to spend a lot of money to obtain information or join a large network. The platform is creating a solution to strengthen the Black dollar and financially empower communities of color.

“For every dollar in wealth, a white person has, a Black person has just ten cents,” Acheampong shared with us. “There are a lot of systemic reasons for this, but we also know lack of financial literacy and access to information to improve the communities relationship with money is a big part as well. This is why we launched Melanin Money so we can do our part to close the wealth gap.”

Members can tap into more educational offerings including a learning library containing educational videos to promote financial literacy and an academy where members can receive a deep dive on more subjects. Melanin Money aims to encourage connections through accountability partners while members are on their financial journey.

Melanin Money plans to help at least 1,000 families improve their net worth by $100,000 annually within the next ten years. This goal will be spearheaded by targetted initiatives helping people of color in three fundamental areas.

First, the financial platform will provide classes and resources to teach members how to increase their monthly income. Melanin Money will then coach members to manage their finances through improved budgeting practices and overseeing the funds in their accounts. In the third stage, members will be encouraged to maximize their resources by attending bi-weekly courses on investments in the stock market.

“If you multiply 1,000 families times a $100,000, that’s $100,000,000 of new black wealth every single year,” he said. “That is our goal and fundamentally we believe that we’re going to be able to help people march toward that target with these three pillars.”

To collectively ensure dollars are circulating back to minority communities, Melanin Money created Black Wealth Friday to turn the largest consumer spending day of the year into the largest wealth creation day for the Black community.

“Black people spend about $1.4 billion on Black Friday. If we carve out just a small fraction of our budget that we normally spend on Black Friday, that could be a huge catalyst for people of color and help jumpstart or further their ability to build wealth,” Acheampong said.

Throughout November, Melanin Money provides classes to help empower its members to be confident about making investments on Black Friday.

In 2021, Black Wealth Friday generated investments totaling over $722,000 within a 36-hour timeframe.

For Acheampong, the gesture is proof that as Black people receive access to educational resources and a supportive platform, they will be in better standing to make investments into their future and others within their community.