“Imagine that the streets are dead quiet,” The Yellow House asks in its opening pages. “[A]nd you lived on those dead quiet streets, and there is nothing left of anything you once owned.” With language full of yearning and heartbreak, Sarah M. Broom writes an elegy to her childhood home in the oft-neglected and…
Vista Equity Partners, the private investment firm founded by billionaire Robert F. Smith, is selling a 50% stake in Advanced, a British software company that it acquired in 2015, to BC Partners. The deal is reportedly worth about 2 billion pounds or $2.4 billion and includes debt, according to the Financial Times.
The transaction comes a year after BC Partners, a leading international private equity firm, first entered into talks with management and Vista. The new investment will be used to support Advanced’s goal to become the UK’s No. 1 provider of business software solutions and services. It currently ranks as No. 3.
“This investment is an exciting development for Advanced,” said Advanced CEO Gordon Wilson, in a statement. “Today’s business leaders are under constant pressure to innovate in order to sustain a competitive advantage. Vista and BC Partners share our vision for the future and will work to support our growth, benefitting our customers through continued improvement of our cloud-based software solutions and extending our offering through M&A and further innovation.” Wilson will continue to head Advanced as part of the transaction.
Vista purchased Advanced in a $1.14 billion acquisition deal in an all-cash transaction. “Since 2015, we have worked closely with Gordon and the Advanced team to transform the Company into a leader in business software solutions,” said Smith. “We are proud of the success the company has achieved and we are thrilled to have BC Partners join as an investment partner as we look forward to the Company’s next phase of growth.”
Smith founded Vista Equity Partners in 2000 and serves as the firm’s chairman and CEO. This year, the company was recognized as the top private equity firm on the BE 100s (BLACK ENTERPRISE’s annual list of the top black-owned companies in the nation), generating $46 billion in capital under management. In 2013, the firm was named as BE Financial Services Company of the Year and Smith was ranked as one of the Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street. Today, Vista manages more than $50 billion in cumulative capital commitments.
In May, Smith generously donated $40 million to the graduating class of Morehouse college to cover their student loans. With a $5 billion net worth, he leads the exclusive class of black billionaires in the U.S.
Opportunity Hub (OHUB), an organization dedicated to boosting black businesses—and founded by tech entrepreneur Rodney Sampson—announced a new program for diverse founders.
The OHUB.KC Startup Entrepreneurship Support & Accelerator Inclusive Ecosystem Building Programming in Kansas City, Missouri, is an all-day workshop for entrepreneurs of color. According to a press release the event “will cover the basics of building a high growth company, industries of the future, the entrepreneurship mindset, the business model canvas and more…”
100 entrepreneurs will be selected from a list of applicants for the workshop; those interested can apply here.
In addition to the workshop, 50 out of the 100 attendees will advance on to an intensive six-month bootcamp. From there, 10 founders will receive a $5,000 grant and will move to participate in NewMe—the popular business accelerator program for underrepresented founders.
Finally, five teams of entrepreneurs will receive a $50,000 investment and will attend next year’s SXSW conference in Austin, Texas.
Entrepreneurs who are not Kansas-City based are also encouraged to apply. If you can make it to the programming, your applications will still be considered.
OHUB was co-founded in Atlanta by Sampson in 2013 on the heels of his book Kingonomics—which applies the visions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into strategies for economic justice and parity.
“The Kingonomics’ philosophy ensures equity in the innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment ecosystem for all as a path to multigenerational wealth with no reliance on pre-existing multigenerational wealth,” states Sampson on the OHUB website.
At last year’s SXSW, Sampson made several announcements regarding the expansion of OHUB. He announced the appointment of rapper Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, best known as 21 Savage, to OHUB’s board of advisers. He unveiled OHUB’s Ecosystem Wealth mobile app, and the launch of the Black Ecosystem Network.
Sampson was recently featured in a recent Moguldom.com article about black tech entrepreneurs in Atlanta.
“Rodney Sampson and other founders are part of a startup revolution that’s bringing VC money, tech talent, and serious change to Atlanta,” the article asserts.
The OHUB Kansas City workshop takes place on Saturday, Aug.17. Interested entrepreneurs have until Tuesday, 8/13, midnight to apply.
Words affect me. Blatant disrespect angers me. So, when those two collided in what I believed to be a racist rant that ended in me being called “the N-word,” I had a visceral reaction.
It was a surreal experience.
A black man I have known for many years introduced me to this white man. When I stood to shake his hand, the white man said, “What’s up n—a?”
Caught completely off-guard, I reacted. “What the (expletive) did you just say to me?”
He didn’t flinch. Instead, he put his hand over his mouth and said, “I guess I can’t joke around here.”
Disclosure: I am an open book. I try as much as possible to use these experiences to create change. But, it is with this same openness that I will share that my change fuel ran low. I cursed him out. My normal filter was unleashed.
Curiously, releasing my venom didn’t faze him. He would talk to me most of the evening. It ruined my night and my weekend.
Afterward, I kept asking myself why I was so offended. I deal with this kind of social disorder for a living. People say off-kilter things to me all the time that most people would find offensive. My training and my book are steeped in granting people permission to feel and say whatever is needed to help them confront and work through thorny feelings, and I encourage people to say what they want to say without worrying about being politically correct.
[RELATED: 27 THINGS WHITE PEOPLE SHOULD NEVER, EVER SAY TO THEIR BLACK CO-WORKERS]
But, “a lesson bought is a lesson taught.” Through this experience, I learned two things about myself—one, when I go into a training, I am dressed in my invisible suit of armor that is ready to deflect any offensive words that fly my way. My mindset is primed for me to be able to leave those words in that room. That night, I didn’t have my superhero suit on. And two—this was a white man.
Fast forward two days. With the help of friends, I was able to get a message to him that I wanted to meet. He called me within 20 minutes and we set a time for that day. I had no expectations for this meeting except to try to understand if he was racist or whether he truly thought this was the way to connect with me. Upon sight, I could tell he was nervous, even remorseful, and I was still angry.
His explanation didn’t make me feel better because hard-partying granted him an excuse for memory loss. He didn’t remember anything about the night. I reminded him and gathered that he used the n-word regularly. He admitted that he uses it with a close group of black friends, who don’t seem to mind. The bad news for him was that I wasn’t his friend and I minded immensely. He further explained that the first time he said it around his friends, he was nervous but since no one objected, he kept using it. My questions to him were: why did you want to use the word? Why was that so important? His answer to me was, “I wanted to belong.” His response fired all cylinders for me.
To say I was pissed off would be an understatement. This level of anger caused me to search within myself and my values, which led me to discover my own complacency. After I calmed down, I questioned why I was so mad and most importantly, would I have been as angry if a black man walked up to me and said the same thing. I can answer that question easily, “no.” I may have been taken aback somewhat because it’s not a usual greeting for strangers, even if we are both black. But, I would have known immediately, that he meant it as a term of endearment or a point of connection. I would not have had a visceral reaction to it. This double standard is a part of the larger problem.
Do not misunderstand me. By saying my feelings are a double standard, I am not letting this guy or anyone else off the hook, including myself because I have used the word as well. I am simply saying the history, blood, and death attached to the word dictates that the word should die from everyone’s vocabulary. The word doesn’t only belong to the ignorant, outright racist. My perpetrator is somewhat known in our community. He is professional and educated. I expected more when I learned more about him. This experience, along with many conversations, including with a group of eighth-graders, has challenged me to expect more from everyone. No matter how you feel about it, when white people say it, it feels racist and extremely offensive. When black people say it, it comes off as shared camaraderie or connection between friends. Black people need to understand the word devalues our humanity and diminishes the experiences of our ancestors, while white people need to understand the word demeans our humanity and perpetuates racism.
He asked for my forgiveness and I felt it was sincere, so I forgave him. As we grasp onto hope, mine is that we will continue to extend grace, seek out understanding through civil discourse, and be change agents.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author’s and not necessarily the opinion of Black Enterprise.
Black Enterprise Contributors Network
