Entrepreneur Robert Blackwell Jr. wants to uplift black community

The summer of 2020 was a difficult time for our nation. The COVID-19 lockdowns were creating tension throughout the country as people were being pushed to the brink. In the midst of all of this chaos, the nation was moved in a powerful way by George Floyd’s tragic death right in front of their eyes on May 25, 2020.

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, technology business leader and EKI-Digital CEO, Robert Blackwell Jr. could not sit on the sidelines. He had a personal conviction to provide an innovative way for businesses to help Black lives in a meaningful way.

“I saw the pronouncements of companies expressing their desires to be helpful to the Black community which mostly took the form of writing checks and making commitments to be more inclusive,” Blackwell Jr. said. “My passion became finding an innovative way for companies to do something that was truly life changing. This is how Alpha Mission came to be.”

Through his work at EKI-Digital, Blackwell Jr. has been saving businesses money for decades. The technology consulting company helps businesses and governments modernize the way they serve their stakeholders while eliminating wasted spend.

Blackwell Jr. decided to use his skills in saving companies money by launching Quant-16, which identifies vendor spend efficiencies. Quant-16 saves companies potentially hundreds of millions of dollars and as part of the program these companies must commit to using a Black-owned vendor. Then, the Black vendor must “Pull Others Forward'' by committing to hire Black employees.

“What makes this so unique is the Black vendors must commit to subcontracting smaller Black vendors and supporting microfinance efforts that pull members of their community forward,” Blackwell Jr. said. “This is a win for everyone involved. The companies save money. Black vendors get business opportunities they might not otherwise receive, and Black workers get a job and an organization dedicated to uplifting the Black community gets funding.”

Blackwell Jr. said his passion for creating a roadmap of success for others is something he learned from his father Robert Sr., a 25-year executive at IBM before starting his own entrepreneurial journey in the early 1990’s.

“My father taught me to see the good in people no matter where they came from. You don’t have to hate anyone else to love your own people is the lesson I learned from my parents,” Blackwell Jr. said. “As a result, I believe in freedom – political freedom, the freedom to associate with whoever you want to and the freedom of choice. These values are a fundamental part of Alpha Mission.”

Alpha Mission Initiatives includes assisting young people to find a path to entrepreneurship through the digital trades, digital innovation, startup businesses such as Alpha Mission’s Mowers and Blowers program and the Barbershop Engagement Network to pay neighborhood barbers to provide free haircuts in exchange for recruiting young people into the Alpha Mission entrepreneur digital pipeline.

One young man in the Chicago area needed a phone and so his father, David, suggested to his son, Micah, the idea of mowing lawns to earn the money.

Micah started cutting grass and was earning $40 per cut. It began as just mowing his family’s yard and a few lawns for family friends. That was the summer of 2020.

As the business grew, David heard Blackwell Jr.’s “Love is a Verb” radio show and learned about the Mowers and Blowers program. David and Micah reached out and Blackwell Jr. decided to invest in the mowing company. Today, Micah, who is 16 has about 6 employees and he manages the fast-growing business while also going to school.

“I don’t really do much of the mowing these days,” Micah said. “My focus is on growing and managing the business. At this point, I plan on keeping the business. There will always be grass to mow, and I will be there to cut it.”

Blackwell Jr. said people like Micah and his family are the people he is trying to reach and help through Alpha Mission.

“We need to get our Black youth focused on building businesses and creating wealth for themselves and their families,” Blackwell Jr. said. “Too often, our youth think sports is the only way out. It isn’t. Sports are great. I love sports but the grim reality is there are only a handful of athletes gifted enough to play professionally. We need to focus on other more attainable goals like building a business. This is where Alpha Mission can play an important role.

Alpha Mission has sustainability and will spur true economic growth to solve our nation’s disparities.”

Blackwell Jr. and his team are ready to prove the free enterprise system works for all.

“Our goal at Alpha Mission is to create $2 Billion in Black businesses and we want to see a 50% drop in Black crime,” Blackwell Jr. said. “We also are working to have 1,000 Black students pass a calculus test and we are building Modern Black Wall Streets to spur ‘Digital Innovation and Commercialization Campuses’. We are not looking for symbolic gestures. We are looking for real results.”

To learn more, visit https://alphamission.com/.