In today’s complex financial world, more than ever working adults need strict guidance and discipline to help them deal with debt, saving, retirement planning and various financial related concerns and lately college students have been added into that pool of debtors. In the midst of this rude awakening, Mechanic & Farmers Bank and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) have taking the bull of debt by the horns in a joint effort to educate and direct college students and young people from the catastrophic ills of financial illiteracy. M&F Bank and the MEAC joined forces with 25 year-old Success Guru & Wealth Engineer, Ephren Taylor and other noted persons through a comprehensive movement entitled “The State of Black America Symposium.”
Most would agree that financial literacy has a significant impact on the lives of young people by improving their chances to find jobs, buy homes, educate their children and retire comfortably by helping to improve young Americans’ financial survival skills early rather than later. Some financial experts believe the best way to help Americans solve their financial problems is through economic literary teaching as early as kindergarten.
The event panel consisted of experts in many fields of professions including banking, academics, entertainment and entrepreneurial including: Ms. Kim Saunders – President and CEO, Mechanics & Farmers Bank , Mr. Ephren Taylor – CEO, City Capital Corporations , Ms. Andrea Harris – President, North Carolina Institute for Minority Economic Development, Dr. Julius Chambers – Director, Center for Civil Rights, UNC-Chapel Hill, Dr. Harold Martin – SVP, Academic Affairs, UNC-Chapel Hill, Dr. Frank Godfrey – Chair, Division of Business, Saint Augustine’s College, Dr. Herman Thomas – VP, Academic Affairs, Shaw University and Mr. Christopher “Play” Martin–CEO and Founder, HP4 Digital Works and Solutions.
Panelists discussed topics related to economics, education, and finance and the disparities of each between African-Americans and other population segments. The State of Black America Symposium gave young people the opportunity to meet, share, and create relationships with like-minded peers and established professionals.
City Capital’s 25 year-old, CEO, Ephren Taylor was a crowd favorite. Taylor has been hailed internationally as a wunderkind of the business world due to his unparalleled accomplishment of becoming the youngest African American CEO in history of any publicly-held company. He has become known as a “Market Maker,” a “Wealth Engineer,” and in economic development circles as a “high-performance visionary with the ability to make things happen. Taylor was asked by the board of City Capital to take over the reins as CEO in spring of 2006. Founded in 1984, under Taylor’s leadership, City Capital immediately began expanding its vision to one of quantum growth.
Over the last decade or so, City Capital’s CEO has started several successful companies, while raising millions in investment capital for their growth. He has established partnerships with corporate giants including Citigroup, Sprint, Target and Wal-Mart to create workable programs with impressive results. Today, his efforts have brought City Capital diversified holdings that include real estate development, financial interests, and biofuel production.
From an early age Taylor hit the ground running. He started his first company at age 12 developing video games. At 16, he won Microsoft’s Teen TechFest Challenge, and using $1,000 savings he started a job search engine for teens. A scholarship from the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership further honed his business skills.
He quickly grasped the need to raise capital for business expansion, and personally rose over $250,000 from investors to build a popular online job search engine for teens and college students. He grew GoFerretGo.com into a highly-successful business valued at over $3.4 million. Taylor’s company at the time the was ranked as the 4th Teen-Run company in America (independently rated by YoungBiz Magazine).
Mechanics & Farmers Bank, Ephren Taylor, and many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) across the state are making extraordinary accomplishments in the quest to educate our young people and the community through sponsorship contributions and support in the following areas Education, Financial Literacy and Community Development.
For more information log on to www.mbfonline.com.
