This piece originally published on November 6, 2018. As a child, Sheena Allen noticed that people in her community were either unbanked or underbanked. She would follow her grandmother to check cashing centers and her great-grandmother never even had a bank account. When she got older, she set out to find a technological solution to a problem affecting approximately half of Black households . Allen built CapWay, a mobile-first financial technology company focusing on building healthy financial practices for future generations. The fintech company is designed to address the financial needs of Millennials and Generation Z by delivering access to financial services to prevent negative generational cycles. AfroTech spoke to Allen about how she founded CapWay and how what she’s building will have an impact on underserved communities for generations to come. AfroTech: What is your background? Sheena Allen: I’m originally from a really small town in Mississippi. I double majored in...

Even though we’re aware of how much we contribute to the culture as Black people, many companies are just now learning how much we impact the U.S. economy. Black spending power is projected to reach $1.7 trillion by 2030, according to a report released by consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Still, Black consumers are significantly underserved, and the reality is that these inequities lead to human development challenges and cost the U.S. economy about $300 billion each year. For companies in the marketplace that want to do right by us, the opportunity to increase loyalty, grow the bottom line and meaningfully impact Black lives is vast. The 2021 consumer report “Black consumers: Where to invest for equity” provides a blueprint on how organizations can work to better serve Black consumers, and it details the social and economic benefits of doing so. Here are some key takeaways from the report. We’re still working to overcome economic obstacles Systemic racism has been part of our...

Mono, a Nigerian fintech startup, has announced that they’ve raised quite a bit of money to help with their quest to power the African Internet economy. TechCrunch is reporting that the company — founded by Abdul Hassan and Prakhar Singh — closed a $2 million seed investment round. This announcement came just nine months after the company raised $500,000 in pre-seed capital. Investors for this round of funding include Entrée Capital (one of the investors in Kuda’s seed round), Kuda co-founder and CEO Babs Ogundeyi; Gbenga Oyebode, partner at TCVP; and Eric Idiahi, co-founder and partner at Verod Capital. New York but Africa-based VC Lateral Capital also invested after taking part in Mono’s pre-seed. When all this money is combined with their $125,000 YC investment, their total investment moves to $2.625 million. Originally launched in August 2020, Mono is a company that prides itself on providing a streamlined financial data solution to Africa. However, in recent months, the company...

If you’ve been reading AfroTech for any period of time, you know about things like “investors” and “venture capitalists.” Specifically, you know that there are things these types of people look for before investing in a company. But these “types of things” don’t matter to Vin Rock or to Money Avenue’s Donahue Baker. They know, perhaps better than anyone, that not every professional businessman started out that way. “One of the things I hope to accomplish with my role as Community Outreach Officer for Money Avenue is to reach people that other people — other investment firms — don’t reach, or won’t reach,” he told AfroTech. “That’s one of our unique value propositions — to provide access to capital to people who otherwise wouldn’t have it.” Money Avenue is a 100% Black-owned and operated digital financial services platform that fulfills the residential mortgage, investment, personal finance, and life insurance needs of clients nationwide. The platform is designed specifically with...

Some executives at Arlington, Virginia-based Ingenious Financial are planning to raise $10 billion to provide more tech to unbanked and underserved communities. Ingenious Financial Founder Darnell Parker and COO Derek Taylor are leading this investment, the company shared in a press release. The pair decided to raise this capital after finding that many Black residents across the nation still don’t have access to computer tech in their homes. This technology gap leads to more financial insecurity, so Parker and Taylor are raising  $10 billion through the private Federal Reserve corporation emergency lending program to serve unbanked and underbanked communities. “All relevant policy narratives point towards an inclusive environment,” said Taylor in a press release. “But you cannot have an inclusive environment without African American controlled businesses and ownership.” Once they’ve raised the funds, Parker and Taylor plan to disperse the capital across four main initiatives: $4...

LeBron James gives back to his community continuously. Following the establishment of I Promise School, I Promise Village transitional housing, and other off-court initiatives, the LeBron James Family Foundation is now opening House Three Thirty, reports TIME. Announced this week, House Three Thirty is a 60,000-square-foot venue that will offer financial literacy advice, job training, and a variety of other services that the entire Akron community can utilize. “House 330 is going to be a sanctuary for our families,” said James of the venue — that will also include a dining space, coffee bar, private card room, and a museum dedicated to the NBA champion. “It’s going to be a place where all our families can grow and learn. This will be a hub for everything possible our families will need.” In addition to cool recreational amenities, students and families can receive training in areas like plumbing, heating and cooling, food service, merchandising, accounting, and event planning. The...

The financial struggles and needs facing Black and brown Americans have significantly increased in the wake of COVID-19. Outside of health concerns, financial shocks have altered life and our economy as we know it. In an April survey conducted by the Pew Research Center , 73 percent of Black adults and 70 percent of Hispanic adults said they did not have emergency funds to cover three months of expenses. In turn, it made it even more difficult to pay their monthly bills. To help alleviate the financial burdens of Black and brown Americans, Black-owned fintech company MoCaFi has announced the launch of an upgraded banking platform with “features and services designed to address financial inequality in Black, Hispanic, and historically disenfranchised communities,” a press release said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by MoCaFi (@mocafiapp) MoCaFi — which stands for Mobility Capital Finance, Inc. — serves American residents who exist between the economic margins as either...

The CARES Act stimulus checks may offer some relief to taxpayers amid the coronavirus outbreak, but distribution may pose a problem for the millions who don’t use direct deposit to receive their tax refunds. In 2019, 19.8 million taxpayers waited longer for their tax refunds to arrive via paper check. Today, these same taxpayers will have to wait longer again — potentially up to an additional three months — for their stimulus checks. MagnifyMoney looked at the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. to determine where taxpayers used direct deposit the most (and least) to receive their 2018 tax refund. Cities with the highest percentages of check-receiving taxpayers are where people will likely wait longer for financial relief to arrive. In this review, we’ll cover: Key findings Where taxpayers may have to wait longer for their stimulus checks What to do if you didn’t use direct deposit File your 2019 tax return as soon as possible Provide your banking information to the IRS online Open...