BLACK OWNED DIGITAL BANK

my graduates from my school being forbes backdrop backdrop backdrop [Applause] all right guys welcome back eyl atlanta edition this is our second home for sure we spend so much time out here so um this is gonna be a dope episode because it's something that we have never covered as far as the banking industry child to killer mike we had the honest beginning killer mike and um obviously everybody knows that he's involved with greenwood bank and uh he gave us like kind of an overview of the whole situation um but we never actually spoke to like somebody that's actually running the bank yeah um yeah we got questions he was like i gotta ask ryan yeah i gotta get ryan on here i gotta ask ryan okay so ryan glover is the co-founder and chairman of greenwood bank if you're not familiar with greenwood greenwood bank is greenwood bank is a black-owned fintech bank that is launching very very soon um and he's the founder of it so this is the first time that we've actually spoken to somebody that's actually running a bank um so we have a lot of questions and he has a long history outside of the banking industry he um started bounce tv yeah i think that's what makes this even more impressive it's like he doesn't have a banking background but has a bank yeah yeah so he was gracious enough to invite us in his home and we're here to do this interview i'm sure it's going to be a legendary uh situation so thank you for having us appreciate it man thank you for coming to my home man and uh spending some time with me to talk about greenwood and my long history uh in the entertainment um in the media and now in the banking world yeah we forgot one thing what's that he's an hu guy oh yeah howard universe [Laughter] shout out to howard absolutely the bisons that's right should i say the real hd yeah hampton's gonna guys that went to hampton musk couldn't have gotten into howard shout out to envy yeah there you have it all love all right so let's get into this sure so you're the head of the bank but before that right you you find you found uh bounce tv right so how do you make your way from going to howard bounce tv banking it's like a lot of different parallels here that's not really yeah and that's important to kind of get into it's a great question um because i was as i was mentioning if there wasn't my if i didn't enter my past chapters in different industries there would be no green wood so you know just to be um clear from the bay area uh in california went to howard university uh graduated from howard uh actually at howard i was bitten by the entertainment bug right so there's a at howard university as you guys know there's a long history in lineage of successful black entrepreneurs right um and i was a a part of the culture of successful black entrepreneurs that were born at or came out of howard university so howard university graduated um i have a degree in accounting ironically uh you know and i i knew you know after graduating i wasn't cut to be an accountant right love business but accounting just wasn't i believe my calling uh so relocated to atlanta georgia started a a studio called noon time um so we made records uh from everybody from mary j blige aaliyah uh sean p diddy combs a good friend of mine who i met at on howard's campus and a litany of other uh hip-hop and r b uh artists uh that was super popular uh in the in the 90s in the early 2000s so that's kind of where i cut my teeth from a business perspective is in the is in the music music business right so i started noontime publishing and production company and from there i knew that it was important to create content um that mattered to our culture and i realized that if you create content that means something that matters uh it'll stand the test of time so that's kind of where i got my start so we we went from noon time to bounce is that how it because i mean we're talking about greenwood and the first time we're actually talking about somebody who has their own bank but we've never spoken to anybody who had their own broadcast network yeah yeah i mean so there's a lot of firsthand no no without a shout out so spent 10 years in the music business noontime uh was an incredible journey for me um from a music perspective um then i transitioned from noon time into television media okay so i worked at a television network uh turner entertainment network uh tbs tnt adult swim cartoon network created uh programming scripted and unscripted programming uh for those networks um you know spent six years there at turner and really learned the media business utilize my resources and relationships uh to kind of broaden at the time um turner's uh involvement in understanding of our culture and then from turner in 2010 i started a bounce tv african-american broadcast network um started off just me and my partner grew that that network to over 250 um um employees we uh bounce tv is in over 110 million households across the country um and i got to tell you guys really what i prided myself on with bounce is listen i got five children from 22 all the way down to uh zach is eight that's how many kids like but i prided myself with creating responsible programming that was entertaining that all of my children could watch and i did not have to change the channel if a show that i programmed actually um was on right so so credible content responsible content um entertaining content uh for the for the culture is really what we prided ourselves on at bounce tv and it resonated with the community what kind of shows did we bring first to turner and then obviously to bounce what what are some of the shows that you know the audience might be familiar with yeah so so you know i didn't program um um tyler the tyler perry slew of shows but i was a part of on the executive side um identifying that that that kind of content will resonate within our community so before i was at turner um there was no tyler perry there was no ice cube and joe roth there was there was no jada pinkett and will smith but while i was there that programming existed um because i helped the turner entertainment networks understand that our culture in our community is not a fad it matters and and you know we are uh we come in many different shapes sizes colors and have many different interests um and you know turner should broadcast content that kind of spoke to a culture that was diverse so so i was instrumental in helping the network understand really who we are as a as a why culture i'm thinking like without you there's no uh young golgi [Laughter] you said it not me shout out to tracy morgan yeah that's right that's right that's right so um how do we get to uh starting greenwood so you know sold bounce in 2017. you sold out sold bounce tv so launched a network can we say how much we we sold it for 302 million dollars i wrote that down two scripts yeah and you know quite candidly speaking guys i thought about retiring uh you know i love sports i love my family um and you know i i wanted to do something that didn't necessarily um force me to have to wake up at 5 30 in the morning and work all the way through 10 o'clock at night right yeah so a good friend of mine because so you know i'm not a you're speaking of greenwood i'm not a banker nor a technologist right i am an individual who's built businesses multiple businesses in multiple industries for our culture in our community that i believe um have always i've always created uh content that has resonated um and been consistent educational um and has helped our community advance so a good friend of mine got a name paul judge who is actually a technologist said you know i know you just sold a a bounce tv for 302 million dollars you just can't just ride off into the sunset you have more resources more life more energy that you need to lend to the culture it's like listen man i don't want to do anything right um and he said listen you've got a ton of resources relationships you you you need to look into another avenue another another way to uh you know kind of help our people advance you should think about the neo banking space didn't know much about the space in any way shape or form but what i did know um troy and rashad is that i had built multiple businesses over the course of my life and i never utilized banking resources to build any of those businesses and to me that was an atrocity uh when you say that you mean like so you didn't get a loan from banks you know not only did i not get loans from banks my first thought about building business was not to go to banks to get loans i never thought about hey any ulterior or alternative lending facility to build a business it's always been utilizing personal resources to build brands and businesses unlike um unlike my my friends who are in counterparts who are non-african americans the first thing they think about is going to banks or lending institutions right to further their ideas and their dreams i never thought about that um and the reason why i never thought about that rightly or wrongly is because we know generationally um you know banking resources have not been kind to to individuals of color have not been kind to us for a number of reasons um and in my my thought process was you know at the point where i decided to um start greenwood was not to look at all the atrocities that have occurred but more so to look at how i can be a part of the solution versus talk about the problem right so you know again not a not a not a banker nor a technologist but i build businesses and i know what business owners need and what they and what they want what they deserve to have and i want to be at greenwood a conduit for that yeah so when you when you're doing this i can imagine you like you said you had sold the company and obviously upper hundreds of millions uh and they might i'm assuming there might have been a little bit of pressure there like i have to do something uh because i've accumulated this i've had more resources than the average person in my community um after after that happens right what's the next step do you find a team once you paul convinces you now sure yes i need to do this who's the team and how do you go about finding them no that's right so so just to be clear you know greenwood is a digital um digital company providing banking resources for the community that's that's who we are um we are uh um gonna roll our products out in this fashion a debit spending card a credit products lending products lifestyle products we will be a full service banking platform for our community um you know we're full service banking in your in our in our consumer's hands apple and android pay mobile deposits atm services across across the country two-day early pay so all of the resources and the in in the uh functionality that traditional brick and mortars have greenwood will have as well as i mentioned not a banker not a technologist but all the businesses to answer your question troy all the businesses that i've built have been built on an idea hard work uh um strong prayer right i'm a family man love love the lord um but also surrounding myself with people who are professionals and who know what they do in their areas of expertise right so my record company um that we built noontime i'm not a rapper singer can't dance my way out of a paper bag right but i can identify talent and if i and i identified of some of the top producers writers in the industry to create the platform and the uh the success that noontime enjoy um bounce tv same thing uh you know it's all about building a media company with professionals that have done uh uh that have worked in the media business for for decades same thing with banking right um you know i won't go into detail but there was a myth that that there were that there is not enough or a lack of banking talent that exists in the african-american community that work in traditional finance not the case when i decided to launch greenwood i had talent coming from traditional financial institutions um and from other banking sources that wanted to participate with greenwood as a mission so so that's kind of what we did yo made no mistake i started out just like many of you a nine-to-five worker at this school right behind me this is where it all started for me but i learned skills over the years and i want you to learn some too i want you to learn how to become financially free i want you to set a legacy for your family i want you to build generational wealth you can do all that and more check out invest fast swipe up all right so let's let's let's get into this conversation to meet potatoes all right so how do you start a bank all right what's the first steps um board of directors what is the first steps to start a bank so in order to start a bank one you've got to have capital so you know this same time last year ironically after i decided after i decided that i was going to start greenwood um digital banking for our community um i decided that one i'm going to utilize my own personal capital to start the bank but i'm also going to raise capital from angel investors um and not just capital from any one you know for me i wanted to partner with people who one understood our mission and just so we clear um you know greenwood is in place one to uh eradicate predatory lending i'm gonna put all check cashing businesses out of business two uh uh greenwood is going to recirculate capital in the community um uh you know an o2 to greenwood which is you know to the greenwood district in tulsa oklahoma right in the um 1920s the greenwood district was a hotbed for african-american and minority businesses that thrived and the reason why those businesses thrived is because capital recirculated in the community so one dollar recirculated uh uh dozens of times before it left it left the community unfortunately in today's community one dollar recirculates in our community recirculates only six hours right so my my one of my missions at greenwood is to recirculate capital in the community um the third mission that we have uh is um to deploy capital to deserving borrowers i mentioned earlier that i uh and in all candor some of some other african-american business owners that i know um don't have the same access to capital that others have from other communities we want to eradicate and extinguish um that fact of the matter so one you've got to raise capital so how much how much money so we raised three million dollars that's it we raised three million dollars initially so that's all it took initially that's all it took all right so we announced october 8th greenwood after we after we raised 3 million bucks right i kid you not the day that we announced that we were launching greenwood the next day 10 000 folks signed up on our waiting list the next day after that another 10 000. at the end of the month there was a hundred thousand folks in our waiting list at that point i knew that we needed more resource to scale and if we were going to service the community the way clearly the cert the the community said they needed to be serviced so i had no um idea that i was going to go into and move into a series a round of funding this soon in our lifespan we don't we have a product that launches at the end of this summer you know our goal was to raise three million dollars raise capital for uh our our angel round and then launch our digital our digital bank um and then slowly but surely um acquire customers to participate right in in our in our process we have 500 close to 600 000 folks on our waiting list at the moment that's scale so so i knew that we had to raise more capital we had to scale internally we had to raise capital to market our product we had to raise capital to higher as well so we started off rashad and troy with three employees we now have 15 by the end of the year we'll have 25 employees by the end of next year we'll have close to 100 employees running or assisting me and running uh a greenwood digital bank so all right so three million was initial but then you realize that that definitely wasn't gonna be enough for 600 000 customers um so you go in you take money from venture capitalists and other angel investors yes um and how much money did you raise yep so i'm proud to announce uh so i'm proud to announce the amount of money that we raised but i'm more proud that we raised it from a wide mosaic of investors right so to answer your question we raised 30 million dollars to our balance sheet for greenwood series a um but we raised that capital from six of the seven top us banks in the country all led by truest ventures um other entertainment companies other media companies venture capitalists and individuals as well all individuals companies and corporations who are one passionate about our mission uh who believe in what we're doing and who have agreed to in lockstep um join arms with us to close this wide wealth gap that exists in america green was not going to do it all by itself by ourselves right um you know and the wealth gap that exists in america is not going to be closed in one year or in two years or in five years for that matter but we are a part of as i mentioned earlier going to be a part of the solution versus the problem that's interesting because you have jp uh you have bank of america trust like you said wells fargo's involved pc pnc bank all financial institutions that are now supporting your financial institution when you presented it to them what made them say you know what we're not we could do this ourselves what made them believe in your vision for greenwood yeah so i think one um they saw the team that we put together we have a world-class banking team um i think two they understood the mission they understand that we're passionate about deploying capital into our community recirculating capital and closing and closing the wealth gap three i i really believe rashad and troy that that they understand that you know although we're providing digital banking services but the guys that are running the the digital bank in greenwood are not bankers right we are business people that that authentically understand um the plight the situation and where the community as businesses want to want to go and grow um you know i understand where pinkie cole from vegan was where she is and where she wants to grow right i don't know if another financial institution um um or even another challenger bank understands where pinkie wants to go and grow i can give you a number of different examples in atlanta alone of of minority business owners that that have great ideas that have a a wealth of talent but just don't have the access to capital and the resource to uh become as big as they we know that they can be but i do i know i know those individuals so they're looking at you like it's not a competition you actually have a pulse on a community that they don't have a reach to um i look at myself as robin hood okay i look at myself as robin hood i don't look at and i get the question all the time well why do you think all these institutions now you know want to participate in the message in the movement and you know my answer to that question is i don't have the bandwidth to think about what happened yesterday and 100 years ago my goal and my mission is to solve help solve the problem now and in the future and if these banking institutions want to utilize greenwood as a conduit to do it and ryan glover and paul judge and our our world-class team at greenwood to do it so be it we are here to be that conduit and and to spread that good will and mission and capital the other thing i want to mention too is um there's a ying and a yang there is having access to capital right but there's also a financial education component to our mission as well it's one thing to know or have access to capital but it's another thing to also know what to do with it right so so our mission is to give access to capital but also help and educate our community to understand what they can do and what they should be doing with the access to capital utilizing the resources that we have so was there any hesitation as far as having the other banks that traditionally have not given loans to people of color to have them involved in your bank did you ever did you ever think like this might be a conflict of interest or it might you know be looked at as something that is not you know in line of what we're trying to do not in any way shape or form richard um i have a very old school mentality on the way business at any level should work and operate and i and i believe that it takes a village to raise a child right i believe that it takes a well-oiled conglomerate of resource to um to to affect a culture a generation a a a or a thwart an issue or a problem that has existed for generations right so the non-access of capital in our community has existed for generations for hundreds of years you know one digital bank with a great mission with tons of personal resource isn't by itself going to thwart and solve that problem um i looked at it as not only will we need you know the six out of seven top banks and the other companies i think we're going to need not just more resources on our own um kindly speaking i believe that there needs to be more green woods right you know you know when i started uh bounce tv you know there was you know bet existed there are other african-american networks that that existed um but that we also had at bounce had a lane of our own and you know you guys have cable there are a thousand channels that you can pick up on cable right there's only six or seven african-american networks still to this day right that exists on cable right um but there should be more right so so so greenwood is existing and i believe a pioneer in the digital space the digital banking space for black and brown people and allies right so so i don't want my consumer just to be of of color i also want our consumer to be um allies individuals who aren't uh necessarily african-american or latino or of color but individuals who understand um our struggle um and are compassionate to our struggle so i i want there to be other greenwoods i want to i want to inspire other folks to build to build green woods after us all right so you guys obviously had the the financial firms that are backing you but you also have fintech companies mastercard and visa that are involved in greenwood as well what was that process like in getting them on board great question so strategically i wanted to partner with both visa and mastercard um you know as i mentioned earlier you know we could have gone to one or two banking sources um to raise our series a capital but strategically i wanted to create a mosaic of of of partners that had different resources and relationships that could help us go and grow right as we growed um with mastercard and visa same process so so we have a relationship with mastercard um um on the debit side and we have a relationship with visa that will roll out a credit products with with greenwood strategically okay so we have debit products that we're partnering with mastercard on and in credit products we're partnering with visa on and and the reason why we did that is because i understand that mastercard they have their own relationships right for example mastercard has relationships with the uh major league baseball right visa has relationships with the nfl right so having multiple relationships with multiple institutions gives greenwood the opportunity to have multiple partnerships right in in the country and in the world so so strategically um you know that's kind of how i think and and how i operate so as far as um okay so having a bank is still a business right so the business model of banking is that they charge interest and they invest the money in the capital markets and they make money on your money sitting in the bank um that's like the third grade explanation right that's right is that is that that's the business model that's the model so yep so at 30 000 feet we are launching a div a debit and spending card at the end of the summer that's the first product that we're rolling out and there's what's called interchange right that exists when customers utilize or swipe their card there's interchange that's exchanged that we get a small piece the fdic insured bank gets a small piece the merchant also makes a small piece piece so that's the interchange model okay um we also as i mentioned will launch credit products where interest comes comes into play and we'll have cr we'll have um um competitive credit rates uh on on those products as well we'll also have investment products uh that will roll out as well so so they're in in lending products um so all of the products that greenwood will will roll out they'll all be a create a creatively priced um that our consumers will be able to take advantage of but our our biggest asset i believe assets over liabilities is that we have the ability to identify credible insolvent borrowers in our in our community uh individuals that wouldn't have the same opportunity to have that access to capital um that that others in other communities well how do you so all right this is interesting because it's like you walk in a thin line i'm assuming because you have to make money that's right we never apologize for making money that's what we're in business for that's right but you also don't want to be a predatory lender you don't want to take advantage of people that's correct but then when you don't want to lend somebody money that can't pay it back that's right but then you also want to give people opportunities that doesn't necessarily have opportunities somewhere else that's right so great question how do you walk that line all right so let me give you a quick analogy so i come from the media space television media space you all are familiar with the nelson ratings right and nelson ratings really you know you know kind of identify the important or the successful shows that exist across the country right do you guys know anyone anyone that has an actual nelson box in their house right well you know i don't either right so that is a metric that media uses to identify qualified incredible content but we don't know how those programs are identified or rated okay in the banking space we're judged on credit right now credit is a good barometer to use for you know 90 of the community on whether you pay your bills how often you pay your bills you pay them on time but i think me personally there are other metrics that we should in the banking industry be using that we plan on using to identify qualified incredible uh um sources that we would say hey rashad greenwood will stick their neck out on the line to loan uh earn your leisure x number of dollars to build a a bigger and broader media business that you're building okay there are other things that i believe that bankers should look at outside of purely credit to identify qualified borrowers and we are going to to to kind of do that at greenwood it feels like there's a social responsibility in what you're saying and so is part of the products that you said like you say we have spending and savings products as part of the products and education component uh when people are applying to get these loans so so content as you as you guys know is a part of our dna um you know i come from the the media space so creating content to educate is is important for us um you know looking at earn your leisure as an example which i believe is a bible to educating our community um you know and a resource for me um that is untraditional compared to you know some of the other programs that you may see on linear television for for our community right um i think utilizing content to educate folks uh in a entertaining um but but but uh educational way is absolutely a way to to kind of educate our our community um on on money well thank you for those kind words [Laughter] so um all right the board of directors board of directors conversation uh who is your board of directors how important is it to have a board of directors it's very important so so i sit on the board paul judges on our board uh bo young ambassador andrew young son is on the board um and there are two other individuals a part of our board that are part of our series a investment investment community and we selected those individuals not just because they are in the banking community but because they have resources in the digitals in the digital banking space as i mentioned earlier in our in our series in in our um angel investment round in our series a round it wasn't just about receiving a check um from certain individuals it was money is always important as you mentioned rashad that um you know we're running a business so money you need capital to run the business but it's also about um partnering with the right individuals who have resources that can help your business grow and develop so our our our board of directors not just are include individuals who have capital and access to capital to help our business grow but also have resources as well so it's always selecting the right partnerships in my personal opinion that's as equal as important as as the capital uh so our our board of directors are important not just to to help the business to start the business but also help it grow as well um all right so you guys are online bank uh what is the difference between online and physical obviously physical locations but i'm assuming that you didn't want to do the physical bank because it's a lot more overhead and it's a lot harder to manage than the online situation with that without a shadow of a doubt so so you know we look at what we're doing at greenwood as as a bank in a box okay a digital bank in a box where where you know we're providing the same um digital experience or banking experience as traditional banks but we believe that we're providing a more authentic service for our community without the overhead without the brick and mortar overhead that traditional banks um traditional financial institutions have so those additional expenses um drive the cost of doing business up right so you take a look at at your business earn your leisure as an example you guys um gather and create content um from my understanding not necessarily in a set structure that you have hundreds of employees that you where you gather the content um and other services that you provide in a brick and mortar space you you guys go and you go get the content and go craft the content and go to the people where they are that's what we're doing we are meeting our customer where he or she is not necessarily having our customer come to where they think we should be um so to me to us that's a more important way of providing banking services so you guys obviously you started with the capital to get the bank and series a's funding uh then you had your uh the board that you put together burns what's going on traditional universities are outdated and don't teach you how to become an entrepreneur they just teach you how to become an employee you go to school for four years and you leave with nothing but debt but here at eyl university our curriculum is much different our university teaches you real world skills that you can use to gain financial freedom right away in traditional universities you learn from professors that have never did what they teach and they teach you how to become an employee at our university we use instructors that are currently successful in specific field that they teach and they teach you how to become an entrepreneur for a limited time only you can join eyl university for 25 off of the annual membership learn about stocks credit real estate crypto and more go to eyluniversity.com right now and sign up to become an earner don't wait don't hesitate head over there now every business that i've built as i mentioned earlier has been built around best in class um executive talent there's you know there is no sustainable business that will thrive without um individuals one who are best in class and have done what you are paying them to do um um for for some time so so you know i knew that there is there is competent incredible banking talent that worked at traditional fis they worked at other challenger banks um that um understood our mission and our motive and i i make folks offers that they can't refuse can at least weaken so so you know i you know i i sold the fact that that we're authentic um that we're providing a service that hadn't been provided to our community um that we were going to make history uh and um and you know i i i believe that there was a community of minority banking individuals and talent that that wanted to participate in our in our mission and what we were building and that's what happened so like the debit card um will people be able to use that atm machines and how does that work since you don't have an atm machine like they go to like chase and then they get charged like a fee for using a chase yep so so so we have partnerships um atm partnerships with truest um with pnc with wells fargo uh with all point and money pass so i'm proud to announce we have the widest broadest swath of free uh uh service use of atms across the country so so the you you there are no charges for any of our customers at those um locations locations um so and and that those locations are growing uh weekly so we are making other deals with other banking institutions to even grow that that service in that web from a technology standpoint what kind of technology can we expect from greenway it i know like some some banks they have where you can take the picture of the check and it's directly deposited i know we can use uh zell and we you can use cash up by these things that'll all be part of the greenwood situation as well yep yep so so from the technology side to where we're starting uh best in class uh full service banking in your hand um uh as i mentioned apple and android pay will have uh we'll have over a thousand um uh atm locations at the moment um two-day early pay so all of the digital services that uh our competitors have green will have as well yeah so how do you see people using so obviously it's not open yet when it's open i'm definitely gonna have an account but right now i have chase is my main account and i have capital one i was like online savings just a slightly higher interest rate um that's kind of like how i have like my banking set up how do you envision for people to use greenwood do you use do you envision them using that as their primary bank as a bank that they have some money in as i think that they have a online savings all of the above like what is your idea of how greenway can be used in a banking portfolio yep great question so we're building green wood for users in our community an authentic digital banking experience for our community um we don't envision the entire minority community to um leave right there their banking institutions that they currently bank in i personally have three banks that i that i bank at but greenwood is a more authentic banking experience for our community greenwood is a a a a banking institution that will provide other opportunities mainly for uh african american and minority um business owners right to have access to capital to build personal and professional goals and dreams that their other financial institutions more traditional banking institutions don't currently um they don't currently utilize uh those relationships for so so i we envision for our community to look at us as an additional resource right from a business perspective um to have access to capital um personally and professionally um so i i know you spoke about the spending and savings product the landing product and credit products but um i was intrigued because you said that there's gonna be investment products and so i'm thinking and i've seen a lot of financial institutions do this now where you can invest directly into the stock market through your account or even i'm thinking now what is the role that crypto will play in greenwood is that something that you guys are looking to include and when you fully launch yep not not when we fully launch no no so we will start with as i mentioned a debit and spending account right and then we'll roll into credit right um then lending and crypto is a what we call a fast follow uh so we're we're building our crypto products now as we're uh building our our credit right products um and our investing our our our credit in investing in lending products as well yeah one of the things that you uh said that you were going to do is this community involvement i know that's a big part of what you're doing and i was reading that uh every time every person that signs up there's going to be five meals that's given out and you're partnering with gooder that's right our girl jasmine crow shout out to uh alumni that's right but also i think i believe 10 000 a month is going to go to a small business can you talk about that yeah the recirculation of capital as i mentioned is one of our major missions i mentioned earlier that the reason that the greenwood district in tulsa oklahoma thrived and was so successful is because capital recirculated amongst multiple businesses multiple times in that community so we have at greenwood a give back program where our customers have the opportunity to round up their their change right they make a purchase their rounded change can either go to the naacp uncf gooder or a combination of all of those um organizations um per per swipe so our goal is to uh create even a water wider swath of of businesses that we want to participate in that program um the second thing that we're doing is we're identifying uh every month as i mentioned african-american businesses that we want to deploy capital to in ten thousand dollar increments uh so we have a program that will start this fall where we are deploying ten thousand dollars to that identified business um and in fact we gave our first check to we could have checked the t's barbershop in tulsa oklahoma um last month as the inaugural uh um minority business uh to start that program is that something that you plan on doing continuously uh we were actually intel so we spent some days out there on the 100th anniversary of the massacre and uh we got to speak to the locals and one of the things that they were saying is like we need more people to come back we need is that something that greenwood obviously being the name is you're making concerted efforts to make sure that that is those people are taken care of as well without a shadow of a doubt i mean that that that community is at the core in the heart of what we represent it's not just from a namesake perspective it's also to um uh john rashad a part of our dna the recirculation of capital again i can't harp on that enough is really um the life threat of what of what greenwood is all about deploying capital in the community is is what we are we all about you mentioned rashad uh predatory lending you know thwarting predatory lending is what is what we are all about um and those three nuances all existed in greenwood uh and it was the reason why that community was successful and the reason why i believe we will be as well so when it when is it gonna launch and um i know a lot of people was on a waiting list right now you're talking to me on camera about the different phases that you have to go through the launch so yeah what's the what's the what's the phases for the launch yep so so we have close to 600 000 people on our waiting list currently um so we have three separate phases there is a a an alpha release where we uh test our product to a certain number of people there's a beta process where we um test our product to a wider swath of individuals in our community and then there's there's a limited release where we basically open the rest of the community up to our our product so by the end of this year oh we should have um our um our community fully engaged in our greenwood products next year stock the start of 22 is when we'll open up greenwood to the community um as a whole and that that's true for you united to the united states right right now it's it only is it the continental united states it's kind of the united states okay that's great that's a that's a good question right right because i know we i mean it's not just african-american but the latinx community so i'm thinking puerto rico i'm thinking dominican republic a lot of these places that would need this type of service is that something that we're looking forward to in the future without a shadow of a doubt so you know we are as a culture and a community a global culture in community that i believe um needs access to capital um you know globally just as we need access to capital from a continental united states perspective so as as we as we go and grow so will our products um across across the pond if you will um you know across the globe right what can you say to people that you know you know people we have a hard time trusting each other um especially when it comes to money so like what kind of reinsurance can you give to people everybody's gonna it's never gonna be an issue where it's not issues there's always gonna be issues problems sure things that's just part of the game but um you know to try to let them know that you know you're here to help and you're not going to be you know part of the problem as far as like predatory lending high interest that's a great question i think to answer that question i have to let my personal history and track record um in business kind of speak for itself um as i mentioned earlier on you know i started my professional career um in the entertainment in the music entertainment space and i prided myself on creating consistent quality products um in the in the in the music business then that dovetailed into creating products in media um my stint at turner broadcasting and balanced tv where i created uh credible and quality um media content for the african-american community which then in turn dovetailed into um me launching a greenwood a platform a technology company that will release digital banking services for our community in each of the chapters of my life i have created con content that has been credible that has been consistent um and i think that has resonated authentically with with our community say what i've done in my other chapters is what i plan on and i'm going to do do at greenwood so as you mentioned yes there are there are hiccups you know there are there are hiccups at bank of america there are banking hiccups at other african-american banks and other challenger banks so you know problems occur um but know that that i have over 25 years been consistent and stood behind every product that i've i've created and that i have released to my community and greenwood is no different there you have it there's an honor um what would you like to leave the people with social media for greenwood how can they get on the waiting list what's what's uh all that information website all that stuff yeah yes www.banggreenwood.com um you know you know we are a growing digital bank that will grow um you know i i want you know our community to understand that we are compassionate and passionate about our mission um that that we are sincere and that we're going to continue to create products that we believe resonate with with our community um authentically consistently um and i want to also mention that we're all about partnerships so it's an honor and pleasure to be again in business with earn your leisure and to partner with with the products that you guys are are working on and and growing because you know it what you're doing is important um and i think that the more that african-american and just minority companies um band together and work together which doesn't happen that often but the more we can sit down in in in and create that bonding the better i think we are as a community and a culture as a whole there you have it ladies and gentlemen uh troy how's keeping it yeah well congrats congrats and thank you for opening up your home for us and congrats to ambassador andrew young and uh killer mike a former ui alumni uh on this amazing endeavor that you guys have taken on and uh thank you for the partnership man we're looking forward to it and uh shout out to everybody on patreon.com that is our proud to pay program obviously tf5 members you have access to eyel university with over 10 000 members that's a lot man i remember doing this and it was 500 and now we're at 10 000 which tells you that the community is growing not only because of the information we're given but the information that you are also providing to each other so shout out to all the earners shout out to the merch team uh we got some new stuff coming uh so be on the lookout for that love is love y'all peace thank you for rocking with us we'll see you next week my graduates from my school being forbes backdrop backdrop backdrop [Applause]

Channel: Earn Your Leisure

Views: 44,980

Keywords: earn your leisure, business, finance, Greenwood bank, Online bank, Fintech, Neo bank, Ryan Glover, Bank

Id: uNVb8A5voOs

Length: 61min 2sec (3662 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 24 2021