• Contact
  • Privacy Policy
Blacksonrise.com
DONATE
  • Home
    • Caribbean
    • African American
    • African
    • Australian
    • Papua New Guinea
  • Videos
    • Blacksonrise Interviews
    • Blacksonrise News
  • Ecourses
  • Herbs
  • Consultation
  • Login
    • LogOut
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
    • Caribbean
    • African American
    • African
    • Australian
    • Papua New Guinea
  • Videos
    • Blacksonrise Interviews
    • Blacksonrise News
  • Ecourses
  • Herbs
  • Consultation
  • Login
    • LogOut
No Result
View All Result
Blacksonrise.com
No Result
View All Result

This Black Tech Founder Is Bringing the Whole Hood With Him as He Disrupts Financial Technology

blacksonrise by blacksonrise
December 20, 2019
in African American Business
0
This Black Tech Founder Is Bringing the Whole Hood With Him as He Disrupts Financial Technology
0
SHARES
25
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Tech founder Rodney Williams has a story that reads like a movie script: a black kid from Baltimore, born partially deaf, into an immigrant family of limited means. He got three college degrees by the age of 24 and had a cushy corporate job in marketing. But he left it to pursue his idea of a new technology using sound and started his company on a bus on the way to SXSW.

That technology—data transmission over audio—has disrupted industries such as proximity marketing, event ticketing, and mobile payments since Williams co-founded LISNR eight years ago.

“We had to recreate the way information is shared. So instead of using standard Bluetooth; or Wi-Fi, or what most use in the mobile payments sector, NFC; or QR codes, we decided to leverage the speaker and the microphone as a way to send and receive information,” Williams says.

“That’s really what we do, we are sending something and receiving something via a piece of technology that’s easily ported and lives in the applications. Consumers may never know it’s there. But what we’re doing is providing significantly more security. And we’re making it significantly more seamless.”

Williams is also making sure that communities of color and low-income communities aren’t left out of the advances that technology brings.

“When you think about paying with your mobile phone, or Apple Pay or Google Pay, it’s only the premium devices and the premium group of consumers that has access to doing something as simple as that. Where I grew up, I go to the convenience store and it says ‘cash only.’ Mobile payments isn’t a thing of that community,” he says. “But that’s the problem. No one cares about creating a universal pay. You should be able to pay with any phone, not just the newest.”

Democratizing financial technology is a mission Williams took even further when he co-founded SoLo Funds with CEO Travis Holoway and others last year.

Advertisements

“The story of payday lending was very personal to us both,” Williams explains. “Everyone thinks I made it because I got this company. And what happens? Everyone starts asking for money. It’s not that they don’t have a job. They’re just living check to check. So we thought, we’ve got to fix this.”

The solution was, of course, technology, in the form of a peer-to-peer lending platform: “Let’s connect people who want to lend to others with people who need money. But let’s create a platform that’s going to create all of the science and all of the security, so they can ensure that that money is repaid but they can also make money off of the transaction. SoLo is activating the community to lend to the community, so it’s redistributing wealth right back into the same community.”

Despite Williams’ track record of success as a tech founder, he still faces potential investors who doubt the sustainability of SoLo Funds.

“People have done peer-to-peer lending for forever. And they’ve all failed. Why are you guys different?” he’s often asked. “And I really just want to say, ‘Because I’m black and I’ve been broke. And I understand how to make this group borrow and how to make this group repay and how to make people make money off that. Because it’s the same group. You think people in that community don’t have discretionary capital. I beg to differ. Data shows to differ.”

What keeps Williams going is the drive to makes things more fair and equitable, and not just from a consumer perspective. “I’ve completely risked it all because I think the technology deserves it. I think someone that looks like me deserves leading it. And I think the story of that deserves to be prevalent,” he says.

“I’ve been doing this since 2012—before technology and African Americans was a thing, as founders,” Williams continues. “It used to be, come work for my big company. My story is different. The story that I think is important is no, no, no, they can work for you.”

 


The Profiles of Principled Entrepreneurship video series, presented by Koch Industries, focuses on companies that emphasize value creation, innovation, self-determination, and integrity to drive long-term success while developing products and services to help people improve their lives. 


Credit: Source link

Previous Post

No-pass entry, extended hours at African American History museum

Next Post

Combining Biogas and Solar, the Best Energy Deal in Brazil

Next Post
Combining Biogas and Solar, the Best Energy Deal in Brazil

Combining Biogas and Solar, the Best Energy Deal in Brazil

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT

HOT Updates

Kamala Harris’ Inauguration Fashion Honored Black American Designers
African American Business

Kamala Harris’ Inauguration Fashion Honored Black American Designers

January 20, 2021
PDP candidate condemns racism: Indo-Trinis support tourism
Caribbean Business

PDP candidate condemns racism: Indo-Trinis support tourism

January 24, 2021
Australia Day celebrations in Urana
Aboriginal Australia News

Australia Day celebrations in Urana

January 19, 2021
Young Tunisians clash with police days after revolution anniversary – SABC News
African News

Young Tunisians clash with police days after revolution anniversary – SABC News

January 19, 2021
Jamaal Bowman, Democratic lawmaker: Time to ‘stop spreading the myth of American exceptionalism’
African American News

Jamaal Bowman, Democratic lawmaker: Time to ‘stop spreading the myth of American exceptionalism’

January 19, 2021
Residents in KC metro watch inauguration, talk expectations for new administration
African American News

Residents in KC metro watch inauguration, talk expectations for new administration

January 21, 2021
Robbers kill policeman escorting Bullion Van
African News

Robbers kill policeman escorting Bullion Van

January 20, 2021
Armed Forces begins probe into alleged military protection of galamsey sites
Africa Business

Armed Forces begins probe into alleged military protection of galamsey sites

January 22, 2021
Aspiring DCE for Kadjebi, Alhaji Tanko Yakubu outlines his vision for the District
African News

Aspiring DCE for Kadjebi, Alhaji Tanko Yakubu outlines his vision for the District

January 22, 2021
Health workers among the first to receive COVID-19 vaccine – Oko Boye
African News

Health workers among the first to receive COVID-19 vaccine – Oko Boye

January 23, 2021
Kumasi lawyer links country’s under-development to bad leadership
Africa Business

Kumasi lawyer links country’s under-development to bad leadership

January 23, 2021
How To Show Your Support To First Nations Australians On January 26th
Aboriginal Australia Business

How To Show Your Support To First Nations Australians On January 26th

January 22, 2021
Don’t bury Rawlings in Accra — Anlo youth insist
African News

Don’t bury Rawlings in Accra — Anlo youth insist

January 25, 2021
December’s CPI rate slightly lower at 3.1% – SABC News
Africa Business

December’s CPI rate slightly lower at 3.1% – SABC News

January 20, 2021
People moves: Kina Bank, Mayur Resources, Newcrest Mining and Pacific Trade Invest
Papua New Guinea Business

People moves: Kumul Consolidated Holdings, Commonwealth Secretariat

January 19, 2021
Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States
Afro Latino News

Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States

January 20, 2021
Ambrose applies for coaching job with England team
Caribbean News

Ambrose applies for coaching job with England team

January 22, 2021
Health Ministry confirms 2nd covid19 case in TT
Caribbean Business

20 new covid19 cases

January 21, 2021
No increase in cooking gas prices
Caribbean Business

No increase in cooking gas prices

January 23, 2021
Caribbean American pols hail historic Biden, Harris inauguration
Caribbean News

Caribbean American pols hail historic Biden, Harris inauguration

January 21, 2021

BlackSonRise.com is an online news portal which aims to provide Caribbean News, African News, Business and much more stuff like that. Feel free to get in touch with us!

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • WakeMed COVID-19 vaccine clinic focuses on underserved communities
  • REGIONAL: Cayman Islands to reopen tourism stipend regulations
  • Africa: Covid-19 Death Toll Exceeds 85,000 Across Continent

Subscribe NOW

Loading
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 Blacksonrise.com is an online news, e-learning, and business website that caters to the global black community.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
    • Caribbean
    • African American
    • African
    • Australian
    • Papua New Guinea
  • Videos
    • Blacksonrise Interviews
    • Blacksonrise News
  • Ecourses
  • Herbs
  • Consultation
  • Login
    • LogOut

© 2019 Blacksonrise.com is an online news, e-learning, and business website that caters to the global black community.

USD $
  • USD USD $
  • EUR EUR €
  • GBP GBP £