Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Olowo-n’djo T’Chala discusses making Shea Butter in a mobile home with his two daughters to owning one of the most successful fair trade beauty companies, Founder & CEO of Alaffia

Transcript

Olowo-n’djo T’Chala discusses making Shea Butter in a mobile home with his two daughters to owning one of the most successful fair trade beauty companies, Founder & CEO of Alaffia · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
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Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
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Speaker 1: we come. Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I'm your host,
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Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald. It's time to stop reading other people's success story.
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Speaker 1: I do on money Making Conversation. I bring you interviews.
1:02
Speaker 1: Other words, I can't mentor everybody, but what I can
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Speaker 1: do is provide you with information from celebrities, CEO, entrepreneurs
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Speaker 1: and what I like to call industry decision makers. My
1:12
Speaker 1: next is an industry decision maker. He's an entrepreneur and
1:15
Speaker 1: his celebrity he is a celebrity in his industry. Luen
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Speaker 1: Joe sharla Uh He was born and raised in West Africa.
1:22
Speaker 1: Growing up, he shared an eight by ten room with
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Speaker 1: his mother and seven siblings. Now is the founder of
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Speaker 1: CEO or ala Fia. Proceed Proceeds from the Alapia beauty
1:31
Speaker 1: and grooming products are returned to communities in West Africa
1:34
Speaker 1: defined community empowerment and gender equality initiatives such as maternal healthcare, education,
1:41
Speaker 1: reforestation and regenderative regenerative agriculture. We were discussing overcoming the arts,
1:47
Speaker 1: something I'm vary from me with in America, so it
1:50
Speaker 1: happens everywhere. Stereotyping in business something that we deal with
1:53
Speaker 1: in America as well. And his female centric business model.
1:57
Speaker 1: Please working to mo the main conversations well win Joe Sharlotte,
2:02
Speaker 1: thank you. Let's let's get the name right there. I did.
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Speaker 1: I come close Charlotte and I got shoot down both sixties.
2:10
Speaker 1: So you got passing grades. Thank you, my brother. I
2:14
Speaker 1: never got Sharlotte, right, I know I got that. I
2:19
Speaker 1: think I want to if you've been practiced up a
2:23
Speaker 1: little while, absolutely so, so tell me man. You know,
2:25
Speaker 1: you know, we always deal with stereotypes, you know, you know,
2:29
Speaker 1: since I've been uh in this business, you know, because
2:33
Speaker 1: I want to start to the truth, to talk to
2:34
Speaker 1: the journey, because you've had the battle stereotypes. You know.
2:38
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people say negative things about
2:40
Speaker 1: people from Africa, Uh, scam artists. Uh, you know, shouldn't
2:44
Speaker 1: trust them. I always got some up their sleeve. And then,
2:47
Speaker 1: but you want to be a businessman, and so you're
2:49
Speaker 1: trying to convince the same people who have these stereotypes.
2:51
Speaker 1: And I'm not just talking about white people. I'm talking
2:53
Speaker 1: about people in my color had these same stereotype. How
2:56
Speaker 1: did you start breaking down those walls before people unders
3:00
Speaker 1: do it? Your story? You know? The thank you the
3:07
Speaker 1: walls is you have to have understanding that walls takes
3:10
Speaker 1: time to break. However, you cannot let anybody uh guard
3:18
Speaker 1: your wall and you have to take those down immediately.
3:22
Speaker 1: I think for me it was being very clear on
3:27
Speaker 1: what has been to offer. And what I mean is
3:30
Speaker 1: that when I when we first started, when I approached retailers,
3:35
Speaker 1: I was coming from a place of these what you need.
3:39
Speaker 1: It's not about what Africa needs. These are what America needs.
3:43
Speaker 1: And that's a very different approach because for for for
3:47
Speaker 1: a long time, with view as beggars and needing as
3:52
Speaker 1: opposed to be viewed as those that can contribute to
3:55
Speaker 1: over all humanity around the world from civilizations uh and
4:00
Speaker 1: into today. So that that fundamental that's important because it's psychological.
4:04
Speaker 1: When you're psychological, understand what you're offering you to the
4:07
Speaker 1: world and what you can offer the America, I think
4:09
Speaker 1: people pay attention. UH. And also when you're very clear
4:14
Speaker 1: what you can engage your own community with, right, because
4:18
Speaker 1: you're facing a community in America, but how do you
4:20
Speaker 1: engege your own community? One of those two things are
4:22
Speaker 1: very clear, I think it becomes a little bit easier
4:25
Speaker 1: to break those walls. But it's interesting when you look
4:28
Speaker 1: at my life, you know, I've been a I've been
4:31
Speaker 1: a Negro I've been recognized as a black person and
4:35
Speaker 1: then an African America and so so that's the name
4:38
Speaker 1: journey that I've been involved in. The African American ties
4:42
Speaker 1: me back to where I've come from, which I feel
4:44
Speaker 1: blessed to be able to have a place that I
4:46
Speaker 1: came from. Because when you come over ownership and you're
4:49
Speaker 1: in you're based on slavery, you gotta have a real route,
4:52
Speaker 1: because slavery is not a route, it's not a base.
4:55
Speaker 1: And and I have to say this, what impact do
4:58
Speaker 1: you feel that having at that base because you have
5:01
Speaker 1: a home. You know, you have a recognizable home. You know,
5:07
Speaker 1: the the basis is uh fundamental, Uh And because essentially
5:16
Speaker 1: if you look at what I'm doing is really sharing
5:21
Speaker 1: that base with the world. Because I have a base,
5:25
Speaker 1: I'm able to say culturally, this is what we have
5:29
Speaker 1: to offer. And culturally these the knowledge that we have
5:33
Speaker 1: and by sharing that with you, you can be healthier.
5:35
Speaker 1: So I think it is a multi magnitude level when
5:39
Speaker 1: you do have a base, and and that's something I'm
5:42
Speaker 1: quite grateful for to have that base. Beauty and grooming
5:46
Speaker 1: you can't go wrong with that. You know, everybody wants
5:49
Speaker 1: to look good, especially in the African American community. UM,
5:52
Speaker 1: I have six sisters, so I know a little bit
5:53
Speaker 1: of thing about watching women look good and groom themselves
5:56
Speaker 1: on the regular basis. I used to watch my mom
5:59
Speaker 1: in the kitchen pull out that hot iron and I
6:02
Speaker 1: don't know if it was I don't know if it
6:03
Speaker 1: was a pain, uh walk of pain for my sisters,
6:06
Speaker 1: but that's what they experienced. It put that guye in
6:08
Speaker 1: the hair and burn half the hair out, and you know,
6:11
Speaker 1: and so but there was the price that black women
6:14
Speaker 1: paid to look good. And then you come along with
6:17
Speaker 1: products that i'd like to say female friendly from a
6:20
Speaker 1: stand up of how you care for one another? What
6:23
Speaker 1: led you down that path of beauty and grooming? It
6:28
Speaker 1: wasn't a matter of of a choice. And you know,
6:32
Speaker 1: this is really what it's important to understand about life. Yet,
6:36
Speaker 1: there is a vehicle for equality, is a vehicle for justice.
6:41
Speaker 1: And so when you are set up your life to
6:44
Speaker 1: fight for equology, you have to use the tools that
6:48
Speaker 1: you have and that can give you the maximum return
6:51
Speaker 1: in these case. For for me is understanding that we
6:55
Speaker 1: have shared butter and we know how to make share
6:58
Speaker 1: about that and share butter is used the personal care
7:01
Speaker 1: and so it was it was it was a logical
7:03
Speaker 1: path to take. Now I lave for you what is
7:08
Speaker 1: shape Butter. I'm gonna ask you that I see it
7:10
Speaker 1: a lot and I aver there in my house. What
7:13
Speaker 1: where did they come from? And who? You know? What
7:17
Speaker 1: magic rock? Did it? Did somebody discovered? Because Shape Butter
7:20
Speaker 1: is taking over the world. Man, come on, y'all talk
7:23
Speaker 1: to me, brother, Yes, yes, yes, well you know the
7:27
Speaker 1: uh here's the thing, the the the ship butter. As
7:31
Speaker 1: as we know, we need to go back to share trees, right,
7:35
Speaker 1: those indigenous trees that can only be found in the
7:39
Speaker 1: savanna of West Africa and as the time can remember,
7:43
Speaker 1: for tens of thousands of years, that's why the people
7:46
Speaker 1: of West Africa used either for cooking, for the hair,
7:50
Speaker 1: for the body, you name it. So these is really
7:53
Speaker 1: entertwined for with our will of presenting beauty and culture.
7:58
Speaker 1: But you know did she but that you do see
8:01
Speaker 1: around the world today, As we know, African resources don't
8:05
Speaker 1: benefit Africa or African descent. So yes, share but it
8:08
Speaker 1: is everywhere in the world. But what we're trying to
8:11
Speaker 1: do is to engage with the community. Is the way
8:15
Speaker 1: that it provides in direct economic benefits and obviously, as
8:19
Speaker 1: you mentioned, as we started to contribute back to the community.
8:22
Speaker 1: But what is the share but itself? In this case,
8:25
Speaker 1: I want to talk about unrefined ship, but because the
8:28
Speaker 1: majority of the share buttters that you see the marketplace
8:31
Speaker 1: go to a refined process that does not have all
8:34
Speaker 1: the healing property that should so sare. But it is
8:38
Speaker 1: is a fact essentially uh from Asia Tree, and it
8:43
Speaker 1: really is a very unique type of fact because see,
8:47
Speaker 1: when you have you exposed to harsh environment or direct sunlight,
8:52
Speaker 1: you need to be able to protect the layers of
8:53
Speaker 1: your skin. And share but is known throughout history to
8:57
Speaker 1: be one of those protectors. Now, the reason I bring
9:01
Speaker 1: that up because you know, when you see something that
9:03
Speaker 1: you know start to dominate the store, start to dominate
9:07
Speaker 1: the beauty line to talk of conversation, just like black Soap,
9:11
Speaker 1: it's a dominant force. And grooming. Now, how did these
9:15
Speaker 1: two become such a major player or a game changing
9:19
Speaker 1: I like, let's use the world game changer beauty and
9:22
Speaker 1: grooming not only for women but also for me because
9:24
Speaker 1: I used the black soap. Yes, you know I I
9:29
Speaker 1: think it really goes back to the bigger change that's
9:34
Speaker 1: happened around around us in the world. Uh. And here
9:37
Speaker 1: we're talking about America, we're talking about health. But if
9:40
Speaker 1: if you lookal the revolution of organic movement uh and
9:45
Speaker 1: people wanting healthy product, I really think it's correlate any
9:49
Speaker 1: length to these and when you see there are vermin
9:53
Speaker 1: ingredients in the world like you share, but the right
9:56
Speaker 1: to have all the bears healing properties and just in
9:59
Speaker 1: the one thing that could do all these different things
10:02
Speaker 1: that's come from ultra natural source and the entries are wild.
10:06
Speaker 1: You can't be more natural than that. You don't have
10:09
Speaker 1: to ferilize, you you know how to bother them, you
10:11
Speaker 1: don't have to put the chemicals on them. So I
10:13
Speaker 1: think it's really correlated to the fact that the people
10:16
Speaker 1: around the world today want to be have healthier options
10:21
Speaker 1: and and then it happened that they share. But is
10:24
Speaker 1: of a of a natural source is giving that attention.
10:28
Speaker 1: But I do think though uh wild we see a
10:32
Speaker 1: loss of ship. But the and and and is in
10:35
Speaker 1: the dominant places. We really should be having the conversation
10:39
Speaker 1: how these fundamental African is ingredient is empowering the people
10:45
Speaker 1: of Africa African descent. Now with that being said, because
10:49
Speaker 1: part of your I guess a narrative or initiatives of
10:52
Speaker 1: your company mandate is giving back. It's about the reforestation,
10:57
Speaker 1: talking about maternal health care, which we all know even
10:59
Speaker 1: in the worka that's a major need. So I want
11:01
Speaker 1: to go to each one of them separately so we
11:03
Speaker 1: can discuss it and have an extended conversation. I want
11:06
Speaker 1: to blow up because let's talk about first, which I
11:08
Speaker 1: think is important, is maternal healthcare because a lot of
11:12
Speaker 1: people take for granted, you know, because they see a
11:14
Speaker 1: child being born, but a lot of children aren't brought,
11:17
Speaker 1: don't go for a term, and and the situation lead
11:20
Speaker 1: to a lot of sadness and also conlude to suicides.
11:22
Speaker 1: Depend on that. So let's talk about the maternal healthcare
11:26
Speaker 1: and your company's initiative, especially when it comes to ginger equality,
11:30
Speaker 1: gender inequality. Thank you. I mean life in general requires
11:39
Speaker 1: us to be devoked today for the well being of
11:44
Speaker 1: being a child to this world. Uh. And you know
11:47
Speaker 1: when we started the conversation and we talked about the
11:51
Speaker 1: way which I was brought up with seven seven siblings
11:53
Speaker 1: in the very small space, when you grew up in
11:57
Speaker 1: bock out poverty where you witness is women dying given birth.
12:00
Speaker 1: I lost systems myself, but when they're trying to bring
12:04
Speaker 1: life to this earth, So it's something that's really personal
12:08
Speaker 1: to me and become an adult, then having a laugh here,
12:13
Speaker 1: it just makes sense for my heart that laugh here
12:16
Speaker 1: need to be devoted in contributing to reducing the unnecessary
12:20
Speaker 1: death of a woman by trying to bring life. But
12:23
Speaker 1: there's something even more, even more fundamental or equally important
12:27
Speaker 1: that has to do with economics. Right we when we
12:30
Speaker 1: talk about gender quality, I'm really talking about economic quality
12:35
Speaker 1: for our women. And what that means to me is
12:39
Speaker 1: that if we do not invest in maternal health and
12:42
Speaker 1: we lose the motters, what happened is that the child,
12:47
Speaker 1: the older child is likely to drop our school, the
12:50
Speaker 1: young girls likely to drop our school. So for and
12:53
Speaker 1: and when we continue to have just a high drop
12:56
Speaker 1: out rate, the cycle of poverty never breaks, right, and
13:00
Speaker 1: the poverty to continue. The more the poverty to continue,
13:03
Speaker 1: the more inequality or agender the call to continue. So
13:06
Speaker 1: for me, in order to break that cycle, we need
13:08
Speaker 1: the modernesty to be alive so that the children can
13:11
Speaker 1: continue to go to school. So to answer that question,
13:14
Speaker 1: one is just an immortal thing to do. One sixteen
13:18
Speaker 1: woman today in South Tina Africa would die trying to
13:22
Speaker 1: bring life to the earth. And the second party is
13:24
Speaker 1: a part of the long term um UH process of
13:28
Speaker 1: breaking the cycle of poverty by investments so that our
13:32
Speaker 1: women can be then and our children to continue go
13:35
Speaker 1: into school. Yeah, Mr Charlotte, the reason I wanted to
13:38
Speaker 1: transitions start with that because we use the word consistent
13:41
Speaker 1: in your first conversation with maternal health there the word poverty,
13:45
Speaker 1: and poverty is always tired. I think a lot to
13:48
Speaker 1: education and because if you don't give a shot, you
13:51
Speaker 1: don't have a clear understanding of the opportunity. That's what
13:53
Speaker 1: education gives you. I would tell people, you know, education
13:56
Speaker 1: is why you and not having this conversation. You know,
13:58
Speaker 1: I come from that city. I come from my father's
14:01
Speaker 1: truck driver, my third grade education, my mom graduated, my
14:05
Speaker 1: high school, six sisters, two brothers, you know, so all
14:08
Speaker 1: those elements without education means I may not be here.
14:11
Speaker 1: So education gave me a foothold to be able to
14:14
Speaker 1: have a conversation through opportunity. Opportunity to give you a
14:17
Speaker 1: chance to say goals. You said goals, then you become
14:20
Speaker 1: a person who can commit it to an effort, a
14:22
Speaker 1: plan of action. We're trying to get that. So when
14:25
Speaker 1: I saw education, I really was excited because I went,
14:28
Speaker 1: he gets it. He gets it because you can give
14:30
Speaker 1: people money to for food, you get people money for housing.
14:35
Speaker 1: But if you don't really understand that education can if
14:38
Speaker 1: you give it to education, they can buy their food,
14:42
Speaker 1: they can supply their own housing. And so so that's
14:47
Speaker 1: is a dignity right that nobody wants to hand out right. Uh.
14:51
Speaker 1: But but we can give a hand to each other
14:53
Speaker 1: and an education, Uh. Portunity is a form of giving
14:57
Speaker 1: hands so that a person can stands and not. Dignity
15:00
Speaker 1: is very important as a human being. How we view
15:04
Speaker 1: ourselves and I will conduct ourselves and I would go
15:06
Speaker 1: through life. I'm gonna ask you this, sir. You know stereotype.
15:10
Speaker 1: Could we started out in the beginning, I just be honest.
15:13
Speaker 1: I I spent probably a month in Durban, South Africa,
15:19
Speaker 1: and Steve Harvey I went over to the broadcast and
15:21
Speaker 1: I swear to you, I didn't have a clue on
15:24
Speaker 1: where we could possibly broadcast because in my mind, based
15:27
Speaker 1: on information has been given me, there was not a
15:30
Speaker 1: modern city in Africa period, stereotypes and when I and
15:36
Speaker 1: and when I landed, I was ashamed of my lack
15:39
Speaker 1: of education. I landed in South Africa, saw these beautiful
15:42
Speaker 1: black people. Then we drove down to Durban. It was
15:45
Speaker 1: it looked like I was landing in Atlanta, Georgia. It
15:48
Speaker 1: was like I was living in Atlanta, Georgia. But that's no.
15:51
Speaker 1: Doesn't that anger you? The stereotypes, the blind information that
15:55
Speaker 1: is being distributed and I have to say propaganda, but
16:01
Speaker 1: clearly you know it not. It's more than anger because
16:07
Speaker 1: what it does is the A doesn't allowed for the
16:11
Speaker 1: world to to truly appreciate um who we are. And
16:18
Speaker 1: I think is by design is A is a process
16:22
Speaker 1: that's not new to you. Is divide and conquer. And
16:25
Speaker 1: you can divide. When you can divide the mind and
16:27
Speaker 1: pollute the mind, then you can conquer the people. Uh.
16:31
Speaker 1: And the conquering people today is not like you have
16:35
Speaker 1: to self with them change. It's just about their mind.
16:38
Speaker 1: And I think what that also does it continue to
16:43
Speaker 1: leave to these way of taking resources cheaply from Africa
16:50
Speaker 1: because well they don't really need it. We need it,
16:53
Speaker 1: so that I think there's there's a reason behind it.
16:55
Speaker 1: It's not by accident. But when you understand that and
16:59
Speaker 1: they and for me is to try to break you.
17:02
Speaker 1: You start talking about a wall, you have to break
17:04
Speaker 1: them down. You have to engage directly uh with the world.
17:08
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Speaker 1: E R dot ai And that's why you know because
19:11
Speaker 1: I want to always like to have honest conversations with
19:14
Speaker 1: my interviews that I have because it's an education for me.
19:18
Speaker 1: And I remember when I went down to Durban, you know,
19:20
Speaker 1: I was down there, I found myself looking for property
19:23
Speaker 1: to buy. I was so in love, so enamored and
19:26
Speaker 1: so and my wife said, calm down, calm down. You
19:31
Speaker 1: don't know when you're gonna go back, you know, because
19:36
Speaker 1: you know, it's like, you know, it's like opening up
19:38
Speaker 1: a gift, you know, and you don't know what's inside
19:40
Speaker 1: the gift. When you pull it out, you go you
19:41
Speaker 1: want to keep looking aside for more of that gift.
19:44
Speaker 1: And that was my experience. And so when I hear
19:46
Speaker 1: things like reforestation, that means that you're concerned about you know,
19:50
Speaker 1: how your country looks and how if you don't take
19:54
Speaker 1: care of it, guess what it becomes a desert. And
19:57
Speaker 1: so talk about this, the autriculture, the importance of that,
20:00
Speaker 1: and because all these ties back to the bigger plan
20:03
Speaker 1: of what you're doing with your brand, and I want
20:06
Speaker 1: to support it. I want to promote it because of
20:08
Speaker 1: the fact that it thinks about changing through education, changing
20:13
Speaker 1: and removing a poverty culture from people. And also letting
20:18
Speaker 1: them understand they gotta take care of where they live.
20:20
Speaker 1: They gotta take care of your house. It's like, if
20:22
Speaker 1: you know what's saying, it's your child. If you go
20:24
Speaker 1: in your house and you need the doors wide open,
20:26
Speaker 1: somebody's gonna come in and steal, it's just gonna come.
20:28
Speaker 1: They're gonna steal. And so same thing in your country.
20:31
Speaker 1: You don't take care of your country, You don't take
20:33
Speaker 1: care of your farge. You don't replenish your the ground
20:36
Speaker 1: that you want food to come out of, guess what
20:38
Speaker 1: it's going to die. And that's that has to be
20:41
Speaker 1: a passion for you. That's really emotionally leads you every
20:44
Speaker 1: day down your path of what you want to do
20:46
Speaker 1: with your brand that you know the because in order
20:53
Speaker 1: to achieve these uh, these missions uh and this really
20:58
Speaker 1: is a mission of self, rest act and respect to people,
21:02
Speaker 1: you have to have a comprehensive approach. You can't simply
21:07
Speaker 1: just build maternal care or you can't simply build schools
21:11
Speaker 1: and now think about your environment. But I think it
21:16
Speaker 1: really goes down to you again about poverty right we today.
21:22
Speaker 1: When when I first came to the state, people will
21:24
Speaker 1: say you come from a dongle and and the fact
21:27
Speaker 1: that is that we used to have a lot of trees.
21:30
Speaker 1: We used to have a lots of dongles, but lots
21:32
Speaker 1: of it have been mowed down. And what we do
21:35
Speaker 1: know now is that when you cut it, you cut
21:39
Speaker 1: all those trees down, then the top soil gets wash
21:42
Speaker 1: away with what's called erosion. And when you have so
21:47
Speaker 1: much erosion, you lose all the nutrients from the top soil.
21:51
Speaker 1: And when you lose all the nutrient, the topsail gets
21:53
Speaker 1: to wash away. Increase in ability, inability to grow food,
21:57
Speaker 1: and when you don't have food will happened at least
21:59
Speaker 1: to farming. And when you're hungry, you can't learn, you
22:01
Speaker 1: can't go to school, you can't So the the the
22:04
Speaker 1: environment and planting trees, while i've yet, is fundamental way
22:09
Speaker 1: that we feel that in any direct way that leads
22:13
Speaker 1: to reduction of povergy. You know, it's really uh first, well,
22:18
Speaker 1: hopefully enjoying the conversation here because it's a it's about
22:22
Speaker 1: my view and my unique experience of going to a country,
22:28
Speaker 1: being called an African American and being recognized as a
22:31
Speaker 1: leader in this country. But also we after acknowledge a
22:35
Speaker 1: heart level of ignorance. And so you know when you
22:38
Speaker 1: when you're trying to get financing for your business, did
22:41
Speaker 1: you run into stereotypes there? Well, I think that's a
22:48
Speaker 1: common place, right, which is unfortunate because people like us
22:54
Speaker 1: and yourself with you, when you grew up in the
22:58
Speaker 1: way we'll grow up. You're not I gonna go to
23:00
Speaker 1: daddy your mom and say can you give me MONTHY
23:03
Speaker 1: started like you, But by the minute that you can
23:07
Speaker 1: put your own belt on, you have you're taking care
23:10
Speaker 1: of the dad in the moment, right, so you are
23:13
Speaker 1: on your own. And when you're on your own and
23:16
Speaker 1: you can't give money from family, which many people do
23:19
Speaker 1: when they start business. Uh And on top of it
23:22
Speaker 1: being a black man, uh so is the mountains high?
23:28
Speaker 1: But again you can climbate. You have to try, You
23:31
Speaker 1: have to you have to give it all you got.
23:32
Speaker 1: And we were turned down many times, to the point
23:36
Speaker 1: where I scanned in the bank and it said I
23:38
Speaker 1: won't go home. I was surprised. I wasn't arrested that this.
23:42
Speaker 1: I need to get this loan, and I believe this
23:44
Speaker 1: loan will help American and it will help my community,
23:47
Speaker 1: so I can start the social enterprise. If you don't
23:50
Speaker 1: you don't give up. But you know, what I also
23:53
Speaker 1: learned very quickly is that people in America is not
23:57
Speaker 1: going to give you what you need. And we we
24:01
Speaker 1: did end up getting a small loan after so much
24:04
Speaker 1: perfect perseverance. But what I did to this day is
24:08
Speaker 1: to walk around the clock. Let let my sweat become
24:13
Speaker 1: the money and generate the funds as well as we grow.
24:16
Speaker 1: But we all also know that without uh AS capital
24:22
Speaker 1: is difficult, difficult to grow. I think way that you
24:24
Speaker 1: need to grow absolutely. You know, it's really interesting because
24:28
Speaker 1: I would tell people there are twenty four hours in
24:30
Speaker 1: the day, learn to take advantage of each hour. And
24:32
Speaker 1: that seems to be the principle that you run your career.
24:35
Speaker 1: Because it was a question that was sitting over to
24:37
Speaker 1: me and says, what advice would you give someone wanting
24:39
Speaker 1: to pursue a career similar to yours? And I saw
24:42
Speaker 1: that coverage, I said, there's nothing similar to yours. You know,
24:46
Speaker 1: you know your philanthropers, your businessman, you're you care, you are,
24:51
Speaker 1: you remember, you, you feel, you feel pain, you know?
24:55
Speaker 1: And I say that I feel like I'd say that
24:58
Speaker 1: because it's really interesting. People look at successful people. I
25:01
Speaker 1: can see you a successful person and and I'm quite
25:05
Speaker 1: blass grateful, you know, And and that and that blessing process,
25:09
Speaker 1: it lends itself to go, how can I do more?
25:11
Speaker 1: And you know you can't do so much, you know
25:13
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. And and also, when you're fighting stereotypes,
25:16
Speaker 1: you're fighting ignorance. You're fighting impoverished conditions that you can't change,
25:21
Speaker 1: generational ignorance, generational poverty. You know, So when I hear
25:25
Speaker 1: that question, your career isn't similar because you're unique and
25:29
Speaker 1: unique because the fact that you want to create change
25:33
Speaker 1: because a lot of people just walk away. They go, hey, man,
25:36
Speaker 1: that's why I used to live you know what I'm saying.
25:38
Speaker 1: You're not saying that. You're saying, Look, I used to
25:41
Speaker 1: live there, and I still go back there, and I
25:43
Speaker 1: want to build up. I want to grab as many
25:45
Speaker 1: as I can. You know that that old that old
25:48
Speaker 1: you said, that painting where somebody leans down with their
25:50
Speaker 1: hands to pull another brother up. You know that ship? What? What? What?
25:54
Speaker 1: What created that? Driving you like that? Sir? Mr Charlotte?
25:58
Speaker 1: You know, I uh, I was thinking really come from
26:02
Speaker 1: my mother. She she was an indented servant in neighboring country.
26:08
Speaker 1: And and she she lost both her parents when she
26:12
Speaker 1: was still a baby. So she she she worked in
26:15
Speaker 1: exchange for food their whole life and end up having
26:18
Speaker 1: us and having it of us and never want to
26:21
Speaker 1: be alone again. But one thing that she she made
26:24
Speaker 1: sure that we know once is to is to work hard,
26:28
Speaker 1: but bove all is to be humble and serving. She
26:32
Speaker 1: felt that was how she survived and that's how we need.
26:35
Speaker 1: Those are the manage that we need to engage with.
26:37
Speaker 1: Uh And and shows she also help us or understand
26:40
Speaker 1: that justice even in our small community of village. So
26:44
Speaker 1: I think for me, I very early on, I have
26:48
Speaker 1: come to somehow believe on on duties and more responsibility
26:53
Speaker 1: as an individual. Uh And and when you have a
26:57
Speaker 1: more responsibility, doctorates dry because as he got to do
27:00
Speaker 1: something with that responsibility, and especially when it's moral. Wow,
27:06
Speaker 1: you know, I know that. You know, we're just human, sir,
27:11
Speaker 1: that's all. We're human. And sometimes being human is also
27:14
Speaker 1: can be a negative because no, we have no guardlike powers.
27:19
Speaker 1: You know, we can't snap our fingers, we can't wish
27:21
Speaker 1: we're out genies. But in the process of building your
27:24
Speaker 1: company and building your brand, you can't make a difference.
27:28
Speaker 1: And if you say, Rashwan one thing, and because you
27:33
Speaker 1: because we list a lot of things. We talked about
27:35
Speaker 1: maternal health, we talked about education, reforestation, we talked about
27:39
Speaker 1: gender equality initiatives. What pops out at the top of
27:43
Speaker 1: that list. If you said, Rashaan, I really want to
27:45
Speaker 1: focus on this what what? What? What popped out? Is
27:48
Speaker 1: it education? The maternal health care? Well, you know, I will,
27:52
Speaker 1: I will actually uh think that is economics. And and
28:00
Speaker 1: what I mean by economics because is having to me
28:06
Speaker 1: and I'm looking at from home right when I look
28:09
Speaker 1: from home, seven of our communities in West Africa today
28:14
Speaker 1: are the way I grew up in the real community.
28:17
Speaker 1: And we have two things. We have knowledge and and
28:22
Speaker 1: we have resources. So economic to me is that how
28:26
Speaker 1: do we put those two together? And and and in
28:29
Speaker 1: the moral process and share of the world. Because that
28:32
Speaker 1: process does many things. One it gives us fund uh
28:36
Speaker 1: for for health care for ourselves. It gives self dignity
28:40
Speaker 1: because now we're able to trade our resources, we don't
28:43
Speaker 1: just give them away. And above all allow us to
28:46
Speaker 1: invest in our future, which we don't have right now.
28:49
Speaker 1: So I think I think everything else in my view
28:53
Speaker 1: falls under economics, but it needs to be economics that
28:56
Speaker 1: have a level of morality. Does incorporate economics yourself in
29:00
Speaker 1: the terms of capitalism that we see that nothing's going
29:02
Speaker 1: from making money but making money recklessly and and and
29:05
Speaker 1: destroying the people wealth, life, cultures and the bill balled
29:10
Speaker 1: environment is not the way to go in the future
29:12
Speaker 1: when we have eight billion people on the earth. Uh,
29:15
Speaker 1: to me, you have to imply a sense of morality
29:18
Speaker 1: and and still be be a capitalist process. Well, you
29:23
Speaker 1: know the when we we we we as we go
29:25
Speaker 1: through this conversation talking about your brain, talk about you.
29:28
Speaker 1: I know this is not First of all, we just
29:30
Speaker 1: do this. This is not the only time we're going
29:31
Speaker 1: to talk. Secondly, my main concern here was that I
29:35
Speaker 1: just want to have a conversation with you, sir. How
29:37
Speaker 1: about you? Than I feel the same way. As soon
29:41
Speaker 1: as we're turned the commons off, I'm gonna I come
29:44
Speaker 1: to London and we know, becaun't know why you drink,
29:47
Speaker 1: but I can bring some stuff from home. We know,
29:50
Speaker 1: thank you. You know. The thing about it is that
29:53
Speaker 1: you know this is a man's man's conversation and it's
29:55
Speaker 1: since you know, I know where I came from. And
29:59
Speaker 1: and I'm not bragging. I'm not bragging. You know, you
30:02
Speaker 1: don't brag from come from impoverished situation. You don't brag
30:06
Speaker 1: from coming from situation that that didn't lend themselves to
30:09
Speaker 1: favorable out comes. You brag when you come from Beverly Hills.
30:12
Speaker 1: You brag when you graduate from Yale. You brag when
30:15
Speaker 1: you you're born with use spoon in your mouf. You
30:17
Speaker 1: brag when you when you to Queen Elizabeth, it's yours,
30:20
Speaker 1: your grand mama. You know what I'm saying. That's what
30:22
Speaker 1: you brag about. But you can brag when you're willing
30:26
Speaker 1: to make a difference where you came from. And that's
30:30
Speaker 1: all that's my mandate, that's all I live for. And
30:32
Speaker 1: so so when I was leaving your bio and I
30:34
Speaker 1: wanted to talk to you, my conversation was that your
30:37
Speaker 1: business got this interview, but the interview I wanted to
30:40
Speaker 1: talk about the man, and thank you. You cannot change
30:44
Speaker 1: because you're an inspiration because you're breaking down barriers every day.
30:48
Speaker 1: And as you break down these barriers, it's important that
30:50
Speaker 1: people understand that that you don't have to do that
30:55
Speaker 1: you can get in your call and not and and
30:57
Speaker 1: and be happy. Listen, you can pay the taxes and
31:00
Speaker 1: not go back, and when you go back, you can floss.
31:04
Speaker 1: And it ended all. But you don't want to floss.
31:06
Speaker 1: You want to, you want to, But but we have to.
31:09
Speaker 1: You know, you saw the conversation talk about the barrier
31:12
Speaker 1: in the wall. If we and as you do, and
31:17
Speaker 1: we don't engage, what kind of if people before us
31:22
Speaker 1: didn't didn't engage, what is gonna happen to our children's
31:26
Speaker 1: children because we know that we don't want them to live? Uh,
31:30
Speaker 1: and witness, Well, we witness, so I think again, Uh,
31:36
Speaker 1: there's no there's nowhere around but to engage and to
31:39
Speaker 1: share and to share with with respect. And I know
31:44
Speaker 1: that It's the interesting thing about stream television, you know,
31:49
Speaker 1: streaming television. When I talked streaming, I talk about the Netflix,
31:52
Speaker 1: the Amazons and the Apples. They have exposed us to
31:56
Speaker 1: the African culture from a television, from a filmmaking standpoint,
32:00
Speaker 1: and really allowed us to become more and more comfortable
32:02
Speaker 1: that they are just like us. And that's a blessing.
32:06
Speaker 1: And that's a blessing. And a lot of people need
32:08
Speaker 1: to understand what I'm saying here. Because when you don't know,
32:12
Speaker 1: and so it's sometimes the media can control what you know,
32:16
Speaker 1: you know, and so that's why you walk around the
32:18
Speaker 1: United States, they have they have Confederate statues up like
32:20
Speaker 1: they're good because they don't tell you the story that
32:23
Speaker 1: they should never have been up. Okay, especially our people
32:26
Speaker 1: who it was willing to enslave and maintain that slave
32:29
Speaker 1: reached status. And so so when I look at the
32:32
Speaker 1: next the Netflix is and the Amazons and all these treatment,
32:36
Speaker 1: I'm so happy because I myself personally, I see it
32:39
Speaker 1: breaking down walls of communication, entertainment and do you see that?
32:43
Speaker 1: Do you feel that it's a blessing? You know? I
32:46
Speaker 1: do you know? Because there's one thing that that I
32:51
Speaker 1: always talking about is how do we bring our commuties
32:54
Speaker 1: uh together right uh? And and and to me, what
32:59
Speaker 1: the Lafeel does and the partuct Lafeel over uh is
33:03
Speaker 1: one way to do that. But what we see today
33:06
Speaker 1: that we can you know, and I even speak for myself,
33:09
Speaker 1: I can be in the West Africa and built to
33:12
Speaker 1: do a video conference with somebody in America is immediate.
33:15
Speaker 1: What you don't have to rely on the on the
33:19
Speaker 1: on the newspaper to print the story. That's your story.
33:23
Speaker 1: You could have your own story. Um so, so I
33:27
Speaker 1: I think that that process what's happened right now is
33:31
Speaker 1: a good thing. But we must also be very mindful
33:34
Speaker 1: um that the way in which the way sharing that
33:38
Speaker 1: the people who are sharing, at least from in Africa
33:40
Speaker 1: are representing the people. So that's something that we have
33:44
Speaker 1: to be we have to pay attention to. But as
33:46
Speaker 1: it is right now, I do agree, it's a it's
33:49
Speaker 1: a way for us to begin to build the first layer.
33:53
Speaker 1: Out said, there are many layers. At least build the
33:55
Speaker 1: first layer. First layers. This came to talk about your product.
33:59
Speaker 1: Let's sorry, tell us how we can we can reach it,
34:02
Speaker 1: how we can buy it, how we can I want
34:06
Speaker 1: to tell you something I don't see Alaia. It's just
34:09
Speaker 1: a product, right these are two uh, and I'll be
34:14
Speaker 1: more than grateful to talk to you about even bigger
34:18
Speaker 1: matters around the world all day long. But where you
34:23
Speaker 1: can't find Alaia product, since you ask, We're quite fortunate.
34:28
Speaker 1: We have a product available in wal marts. H we'll
34:32
Speaker 1: have a product a builable in the target as well
34:35
Speaker 1: as the hopefully's market around the country and pretty much
34:39
Speaker 1: any health food stores that that's where we are as
34:42
Speaker 1: in healthful stores do care our product as well, and
34:45
Speaker 1: of course within our website. Well, you know, I had to.
34:49
Speaker 1: I had to bring it up because I didn't want
34:50
Speaker 1: to pr people be man, he didn't talk about the product.
34:54
Speaker 1: Who's that United Nation conversation? I don't know. We don't
34:57
Speaker 1: have come on money make conversations again if you're having
35:01
Speaker 1: a good time. But you know all people, you don't book.
35:04
Speaker 1: You didn't even ask for the website. Friends, what would
35:08
Speaker 1: the interview all about? We're never doing that show yet,
35:11
Speaker 1: and come down. I love the guy. I love the
35:13
Speaker 1: guy my maid really for everybody? You do you think
35:20
Speaker 1: of everybody? Well, I take care of people who are
35:23
Speaker 1: making a difference in this world. And I think I'm
35:25
Speaker 1: not saying I'm doing that, sir. I know that this
35:28
Speaker 1: this is just a small show that represents my values
35:31
Speaker 1: and the people I've trying to bring on this show
35:33
Speaker 1: also represent the values of change, of opportunity, of success.
35:37
Speaker 1: And you're a beautiful person, man, and you can't change you.
35:39
Speaker 1: I'll be mad if you do. You know, I'll be
35:41
Speaker 1: the first person to fly to Washington, find you and
35:44
Speaker 1: see what happened. Brother, I can I can promise you
35:47
Speaker 1: to the last breath, these my journeys, the path I've
35:50
Speaker 1: been grateful for to walk on in this coin moment,
35:53
Speaker 1: and I would do it until until until there's no
35:57
Speaker 1: more living, because you know, after seven in years, it
36:01
Speaker 1: has become very clear to me that there is the
36:04
Speaker 1: right thing to do, and it's the right thing to
36:07
Speaker 1: do by my communities. And I'm just very very grateful
36:10
Speaker 1: that i have the opportunity to serve admission like these
36:13
Speaker 1: cool I'm gonna thank you for coming on money making Conversation.
36:16
Speaker 1: Please come back, Please come back. Sin so tell them
36:19
Speaker 1: to me some flyers, some banners so I can put
36:22
Speaker 1: on my newsletter and so you peel. People will be
36:25
Speaker 1: mad at this, but this interview, did you get anything
36:30
Speaker 1: before you let me go? I want to tell you too,
36:33
Speaker 1: you can't. You can't stop either rising. You have to
36:36
Speaker 1: keep going to because we we we like me make
36:40
Speaker 1: products and invest in the community. But people like you
36:44
Speaker 1: that want to have conversation and until the layers and
36:47
Speaker 1: bring our community together, it's just it's just as critical,
36:51
Speaker 1: even if it's not more critical. So we carry on
36:54
Speaker 1: forward as well. Thank you, my friend, Thank you for
36:56
Speaker 1: coming on money Making Conversation and again, you are my friend,
36:59
Speaker 1: I said if I sincerely, I say that because I can.
37:03
Speaker 1: I say this. I love you, brother, I love you.
37:05
Speaker 1: I love you too, and thank you. Thank you for
37:07
Speaker 1: pity to speak to you. Okay cool. If you want
37:09
Speaker 1: to hear more Money Making Conversation interviews, please go to
37:11
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation dot com or my YouTube channel. I
37:14
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