It’s looking like the notion of the “Black Dollar” is of substance and a real power. That power is being put on display more and more as America’s Black population continues to push toward economic and civil stability.
The Dream Exchange, which was founded by Joe Cecala in partnership with Cadiz Capital Holding L.L.C., is a black and minority-owned private equity firm, led by William H. Ellison.
Ellison, who holds majority ownership of the exchange, started the platform to provide a space to match small, yet emerging businesses in their early stages with investors to generate wealth creation for underserved communities.
In an interview, Cecala explained; ”Early in my legal career, I learned how stock exchanges ‘hunt’ for liquidity because I was the lawyer for the founders of Archipelago, one of the first and the biggest electronic stock exchanges in the world. Archipelago grew into what the world has come to know today as the New York Stock Exchange….Because of my experience in understanding the formation of the world’s greatest electronic stock exchange, I learned how a stock exchange creates and controls liquidity in the markets.
“After years of research, I discovered that the structure of the US capital markets and the current stock exchanges favor only the largest transactions with celebrity companies. My research showed that, prior to Archipelago, the overwhelming majority of IPO’s were $50.0 million and under! By 2004, small capital IPO’s had all but disappeared. After years of working with minority businesses, I realized as well that minority businesses were nearly absent from all IPO and public company listings.”
The hopes are, that a new stock exchange will allow more individuals in the Black community to go into investing in addition to promoting new businesses to potential investors.
Cecala went further into why this move is so hugely important for our people; “The importance of a Black-owned stock exchange cannot be understated. Research from the SEC’s IPO task force shows that 92% of all jobs are created after a company goes public.”
“In the 230-year history of stock exchanges in America only one Black-owned firm has made it to the New York Stock Exchange and there has never been a Black-owned stock exchange. Without access to public markets, any sector of society absent will most certainly suffer economically. This is the importance of having a channel for access to the public markets in America.”
This is the type of movement we love to see. The education alone will be extremely valuable for generations to come. A new standard is being set,
