“You’re a good seed. Even if you happen to’re broke.”
That’s the unapologetic affirmation Bishop T.D. Jakes is delivering to the Black group, entrepreneurs, and aspiring entrepreneurs, by way of the Good Soil Discussion board—a three-day gathering occurring June 12–14 in Dallas, Texas, that’s half pitch competitors, half networking hub, and half masterclass in constructing Black wealth.
In an unique interview with theGrio’s Natasha S. Alford, Jakes made one factor clear: this isn’t simply one other convention—it’s a motion with actual cash ready to be poured into individuals’s desires. “Good Soil Discussion board offers you entry to capital,” Jakes stated. “It connects you with the sources, the grant monies– the data that you simply want is sort of as highly effective because the capital that you simply achieve.”
Backed by the T.D. Jakes Group and Wells Fargo Financial institution, this yr’s Discussion board will characteristic a dwell pitch competitors providing as much as $500,000 in funding, small enterprise grants beginning at $5,000, and entry to a newly launched app, Good Soils XP, to attach contributors past the occasion. However as Jakes defined, the Discussion board’s true worth lies in altering the trajectory of our communities.
“We’ve got constructed a coalition of companies which might be keen and all for pouring into these which might be having a tough time combating their companies,” Jakes stated. “The cross-pollination of all of these feats—proper right down to coaching youngsters to be entrepreneurs—could change the trajectory of the group and be our quickest approach ahead.”
The Discussion board couldn’t come at a extra pressing time. Because the U.S. continues to reckon with layoffs, inflation, and company backpedaling from DEI commitments, Jakes is sounding the alarm—significantly for Black girls. “We’ve got over 300,000 Black girls who’ve misplaced their jobs within the final three months,” he instructed theGrio. “That’s horrifying. That’s three stadiums full of individuals. Three extra stadiums of relations who don’t have meals to eat, who’re having struggles, who should push to get forward.”
The place some see despair, Jakes sees alternative. “Ninety-two % of African American companies are girls, are accelerating however they’re not staying in enterprise as a result of they don’t have entry to capital,” he stated. “Good Soil Discussion board offers you entry. It connects you with the sources. The grant cash. The data. And generally that’s simply as highly effective as the cash itself.”
Jakes additionally spoke on to the grind many know too nicely—working a number of jobs, making an attempt to show facet hustles into one thing sustainable. “Your passion might be a enterprise. Your cake designs might be a enterprise,” he stated, shouting out platforms like Solid Iron and Nourish, which assist flip passions into earnings. “To get the additional cash, you’ll have to do further work initially to get your self to a spot the place you may spend money on your self. It’s exhausting within the brief run, I cannot lie.”
Funding, Jakes stated, is a essential mindset shift. “It doesn’t should be large cash. It must be good cash,” he defined, noting that investments can result in freedom in all areas of life. “You make higher decisions while you’re self-sufficient. You date higher when you find yourself self-sufficient. You marry extra correctly while you self-efficient. Your youngsters have a greater probability at training while you your self adequate. So if you happen to’re not doing it for you, you should do it in your youngsters.”
Past the {dollars} and cents, Good Soil is rooted in legacy—an idea Jakes embodies each as a father and non secular chief. “I instructed my daughter, my touchdown area is your launching area,” he stated, referencing his current transition of church management to his daughter, Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts. “We’re descendants of Nigeria. Igbo individuals. Recognized for enterprise acumen. It’s genetic. It’s a propensity to take one thing that appeared like nothing and switch it into one thing and make a enterprise out of it.”
That’s why the Discussion board’s speaker lineup is full of visionaries who’ve constructed empires from the bottom up: Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Lorenzo, John Hope Bryant. “I picked them as a result of they began with nothing,” Jakes stated. “Oprah was making mud pies in Mississippi. John Hope was raised within the hood, okay?”
Jakes says his work with the Good Soil Discussion board is a part of his bigger legacy. Even after stepping down from the pulpit, he’s obtained new initiatives within the works, launching a podcast, My Subsequent Chapter, by way of iHeartRadio this fall. “I gonna get to speak about issues that weren’t pulpit conversations,” he stated. “We didn’t all have fathers, we didn’t all have advisors, we didn’t have mentors, and thru my podcast, I need to make a distinction within the lives of the folks that hear it.”
For many who really feel burned out or are tempted to take a look at given the state of the world, Jakes places his non secular hat again on and presents this encouragement: “Everyone has a distinct breaking level. I believe when your physique tells you you’ve had sufficient, it’s worthwhile to hearken to it. That doesn’t imply that you simply stop. There’s one thing between cease and go and it’s referred to as pause. Pause, regroup your self, redefine your self, reinvent your self, recreate your self, however get again within the sport once more.”
The next Black entrepreneurs have been named finalists within the Good Soil Pitch competitors and prizes shall be given out subsequent week in Dallas:
Kia-Shun Voltz, Shampoo Time of Crimson Oak, Texas
M-T Strickland, Metric Mate of Atlanta, Georgia
Paden Sickles, SickFit, Arlington, Texas
Lamanda Ballard, FloEver Well being, Austin, Texas
Orleatha Smith, Sip Herbals, Gresham, Oregon
Joseph Hamilton, 4 Second Soccer, Fairburn, Georgia
Rozalynn Goodwin, Confidence by GaBBy Goodwin, Columbia, South Carolina
To be taught extra concerning the Good Soil Discussion board, go to https://www.goodsoilforum.com/.
