Access and Opportunity

Business
Investing
Entrepreneurship

Morgan Stanley
finance
Entrepreneur

Inspiring change through informed and inclusive innovation. On Access & Opportunity, host Carla Harris, Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley, explores the lived experiences of the people who face systemic inequities and sits down with founders, investors, developers, activists, and educators who are building a more equitable future today.

Coming Soon: Access & Opportunity with Carla Harris

Why are multicultural- and female-owned businesses overlooked as good investment opportunities? Join Carla Harris, author, singer and 30-year veteran of Wall Street, as she and her guests—entrepreneurs, investors and activists—explore how they’re connecting capital and communities.

The guest speakers are neither employees nor affiliated with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC. (“Morgan Stanley”). The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley. The information and figures contained herein has been obtained from sources outside of Morgan Stanley and Morgan Stanley makes no representations or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of information or data from sources outside of Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is not responsible for the information or data contained in this podcast.

This podcast does not provide individually tailored investment advice and is not a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument or to participate in any trading strategy. It has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive it.

From Harlem Corner to Household Brand

The path of a multicultural entrepreneur can be winding and frustrating, filled with challenges and barriers. How do you break away from the pack, distinguish your company, and get noticed by investors? From potions in Liberia and Sierra Leone, to soaps on the corner of 125th Street in Harlem, to beauty products in every name-brand store, Sundial Brands may have the answer.

In the inaugural episode of Access & Opportunity, Carla Harris talks with Richelieu Dennis, the co-founder and CEO of Sundial, about how he turned his grandmother’s traditional health and beauty recipes into a small community that grew into a multimillion-dollar beauty brand. Richelieu shares crucial advice for young entrepreneurs and discusses how he and Sundial are committed to giving back to communities by creating funding opportunities for, and partnerships with, women and multiculturally owned businesses that need it most.

A Master of Urban Renaissance

Urban development projects revive communities by bringing an influx of new jobs to areas in need, supporting crucial infrastructure projects and establishing a sense of community. But these remarkable developments take years to get off the ground and face significant logistical hurdles. Is there a solution to overcoming the perceived costs and risks of taking on such projects?

In this episode of Access & Opportunity, Carla Harris talks with Hope Knight, President & CEO of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation about how strategic partnerships can turn dream urban development projects into reality. Strategic partnerships bring public, private and nonprofit organizations together to promote change and to diminish the burdens traditionally associated with such projects. Hope walks us through the key steps of a successful strategic partnership in an urban and economic development project and shows us how these partnerships help communities, investors and entrepreneurs alike.

A Seat at the Table for All Entrepreneurs

“I want everybody to have an opportunity to sit at the economic table,” says Marc Morial, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League, the largest and oldest civil rights organization in the country. Morial, who previously served as Mayor of New Orleans, notes that while entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups have boundless talent and drive, they don’t always have access to the right connections to open doors.

Studies by the Department of Commerce show that women- and minority-owned businesses in the U.S. have growth rates that beat the Standard & Poor’s 500, the general benchmark of the American market. So why are investors so tentative to finance them?

In this episode of Access & Opportunity, Carla Harris talks with Morial about common misconceptions around the risks of investing in women and multiculturally-owned businesses, and some of the hurdles they face as a result. In discussing how the National Urban League — together with partners like the National Development Council and Morgan Stanley — is breaking down the barriers of access to capital and helping fund incredible entrepreneurs, Morial sheds light on some of the easy fixes that governments, investors and nonprofits can make to open up access to all.

Calling the Play Where Everyone Wins

The Super Bowl, the NCAA Final Four, concerts by Taylor Swift, Jay Z and Beyonce — the roster of events past and future at the new U.S. Bank Stadium makes it far more than a home-field advantage for the Minnesota Vikings.

But fans who flock there probably don’t know that the stadium, which opened in 2016, was the largest public-private construction project in Minnesota’s history. Nor do they know that Kevin Warren, the Chief Operating Officer of the Minnesota Vikings, led the effort which set important precedent for how major public works projects can be completed both on time and on budget. For Warren, beyond all the headliners, the stadium has proven transformative for the local community, where offices, hotels, apartment buildings, restaurants and retail have all sprung up around the complex — bringing jobs and widespread economic gains. “I try to create opportunities that are one-plus-one-equals-eighty-five,” says Warren, explaining that he believes his role at the Vikings is to act as a “change agent.”

In this episode of Access & Opportunity, Carla Harris talks with Warren about the role that the U.S. Bank Stadium project has played in bringing an influx of jobs to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and how the affiliated Viking's Tech Accelerator is committed to giving young entrepreneurs opportunities to learn and grow.

In Atlanta, a Haven for Women-Owned Businesses

“If you want to improve your communities, you improve conditions for women,” says Theia Smith, founding executive director of the City of Atlanta Women's Entrepreneurship Initiative, which provides office space, mentorship, educational resources and access to capital to start-up companies owned by women.

The initiative, begun in May 2016, graduated its first class of entrepreneurs in 2017 and now hosts a new cohort of 15 women. Over fifteen months, they will work together in the Flatiron Building in downtown Atlanta, growing their businesses while they learn from one another and outside experts. “Isolation is the enemy of entrepreneurs,” notes Smith, who herself is a recent graduate of Leadership Atlanta, a nine-month executive-level training and development program.

In this episode of Access & Opportunity, Carla Harris talks with Smith about the model that the Atlanta Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative has established for empowering women-owned businesses and how that model could be replicated in other cities. A key element of the Atlanta program is its diversity: the women in the incubator are as racially and socioeconomically diverse as the city where they live, and they range in age from their early 20s to late 50s. “We know the talent is equal,” says Smith. “It's the opportunities that are not.”

Addressing Silicon Valley's "Leaky Tech Pipeline"

“Most people in the Silicon Valley tech ecosystem… believe that institutions are meritocracies,” says Freada Kapor Klein, a founding partner of Kapor Capital. “If you believe that self-serving nonsense then you believe that if there's no diversity in your circles, it's because whoever's outside isn't good enough, and it's an incredibly dangerous and inaccurate belief system.”

In the season 1 finale of the Access & Opportunity podcast, Carla Harris talks to Kapor Klein about how her Oakland-based venture capital firm, which she co-founded with her husband, the computer visionary Mitchell Kapor, is breaking down the investment barriers for startups run by women and multicultural entrepreneurs. To date, 56% of Kapor Capital’s investments have gone to startups with a founder who is a woman or a person of color from an underrepresented background. “We’re often the first money in, and our investment has signaling value—that we believe in this entrepreneur, in this business model, and we’re going to help them succeed,” says Kapor Klein.

Taking it a step further, Kapor Capital has also invested in startups with a social justice angle that look to help underserved communities. One such venture—Pigeonly—helps families find affordable ways to keep in touch with incarcerated relatives. It’s all part of Kapor Klein’s evolving approach “to both identify leaks in the pipeline and to plug them.”

Re-envisioning Urban Real Estate

“If you connect the right people with the dollars, great things can happen.” Neville Rhone, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Arc Capital Partners, talks about seeing beyond inherent bias while assessing investment decisions. His tip for other entrepreneurs: put in the time to learn the market and build relationships on the ground.

Rhone is the first guest for the second season of the Access & Opportunity podcast with Carla Harris. In season one, we spoke with entrepreneurs, investors, and developers about how and why multicultural and women-owned businesses are overlooked as viable investment opportunities. In this new season, Carla is shifting the spotlight to focus on entrepreneurs. Rhone takes us through his journey to co-founding Arc Capital Partners and what he’s doing to create opportunity in diverse neighborhoods today.

Back with playbook points and engaging stories, Carla’s guests in season two share their experiences and advice on how to connect capital and communities. For Neville Rhone the question has been, how does an investor identify untapped potential in the world of real estate, especially in demographically diverse areas? Leading the charge at Arc, Rhone and his partner focus on investing in undervalued and underutilized properties to revitalize diverse neighborhoods. From downtown Austin, Texas, to Chapman Plaza in Koreatown, Los Angeles, Rhone shares his experience transitioning into entrepreneurship and why urban communities and inclusive investments are the future of real estate.

The guest speakers are neither employees nor affiliated with Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. (“Morgan Stanley”). The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley. The information and figures contained herein has been obtained from sources outside of Morgan Stanley and Morgan Stanley makes no representations or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of information or data from sources outside of Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is not responsible for the information or data contained in this podcast.

Becoming Self-Made

Nely Galan is the definition of self-made. She began her career selling Avon to her friends at age 13 and became the first Latina president of entertainment for the television network Telemundo. She's also an Emmy Award winning producer of over 700 episodes of television in Spanish and English, including the Fox hit reality series The Swan. On top of her TV successes, she's a real estate powerhouse, a Doctor of Clinical Psychology, a serial entrepreneur and a New York Times best-selling author.

In this episode of Access and Opportunity, Carla Harris sits down with Ms. Galan to discuss how she made a name for herself in media among industry titans and became a media mogul in her own right, and where she learned her most valuable lessons including how to find your niche in the business world.

Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur

After selling her first company at the age of 27, Rose Wang went on to found four other companies, pioneering ideas in technology and government. By 2013, she was one of Fortune Magazine’s ‘Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs.’ Today, she’s the founder and strategic advisor of The Binary Group and a thought leader, paving the way in Washington D.C.’s small business and government markets. She sits down with Carla Harris on this episode of Access and Opportunity.