Meet the Wekeza Team | Advocates for Financial Literacy in Black-Owned Businesses

Meet the Team Empowering Financial Literacy in Black-Owned Businesses

MANIFESTO

Wekeza is the only economic Statue of Liberty for the African Diaspora in the United States.

Wekeza’s empowering objective is to provide ongoing financial and investor education and enable those of African descent (and their families) to purchase fractional and whole shares in U.S. publicly traded companies to create generational wealth.

Leadership Team

Sabrina Lamb Founder and Chief Executive Officer

SABRINA LAMB

Sabrina is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WorldofMoney.org, a non-profit dedicated to providing 120 annual immersive hours of classroom and online youth financial education in the United States and Africa. She contributed to Ghana’s original Ministry of Finance Digital Financial Services Policy.

Sabrina is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wekeza Holdings, Inc, a U.S.-based fintech that enables the African diaspora in the United States and abroad to invest in U.S. publicly traded companies. Wekeza is the Silicon Harlem C-Better Pitch Fest Competition Grand Prize winner.

Sabrina has appeared at Fintech Islands, Fintech Meetup Conference, Africa Diaspora Investment Forum, Africa Tech Summit, Silicon Harlem, Haiti Tech Summit, Harlem Tech Summit, and the Money 20/20 conference. She is a graduate of the Y Combinator Start-Up School, a former member of the Master Your Card African American Advisory Council, and a global advocate for financial inclusion.

A WBLS-FM commentator and former stand-up comic, Sabrina is also the best-selling author of the NAACP Image Awards nominated “Do I Look Like An ATM? A Parent’s Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Africa-American Children” (Chicago Review Press), the satirical “A Kettle of Vultures…Left Beak Marks On My Forehead” (Simon and Schuster), and more. Sabrina was named 16th on the list of 50 Top Black Women in Entertainment in Black Noir magazine. She was a #NATPE television pitch finalist. She has written celebrity cover stories for Essence, Heart and Soul, and Black Elegance. She is a three-time finisher of the New York City Marathon.

Specialties: #keynote speaker, #media #commentator, #author, #panelist, #workshop facilitator, #youth, financialinclusion, #financialinclusion, #Fintech, #edutech, #financialliteracy

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Cary Wheelous Operations Manager

CARY WHEELOUS

Veteran business professional experienced in product, marketing and technology with a track-record of execution and innovation in building and driving digital business: building teams, bringing products and services to market and driving success for partners and customers.

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Dr. Erick Komolo Kenya Legal Counsel

Dr. Erick Komolo

Dr. Komolo is a practitioner and academic based out of Nairobi, Kenya. He majors in Employment/Labour Law, Arbitration/Mediation, Human Rights & Constitutional Law, Judicial Review, Legal Audits, Land & Environmental Law, International Trade Law, Public-Private Partnerships, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Commercial Law generally. He has extensively advised clients and successfully argued cases before courts in these areas thro’ his firm DR.KOMOLO & PARTNERS ADVOCATES (www.komoloadvocates.com)

He also teaches graduate and undergraduate courses at the university level in Kenya specializing in Public-Private Partnerships, Commercial Transactions, Environmental Law/Law of the Seas, Fisheries Law, Law & Development, Regional Integration/Trade Law, Corporate Governance (and the Law) and Political Economy. Dr. Komolo has also held the following scholarly and research positions: Visiting Scholar (Faculty of Law, KU Leuven, Belgium – 2021); Resident Fellow /Postdoc (Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts – 2018/19); Doctoral Fellow (World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva, Switzerland – 2014); Swire/RBC Scholar (the University of Hong Kong, 2011-15); and Commonwealth Scholar (the University of Kent, United Kingdom, 2009/10). In 2015/16, Dr. Komolo served as Mercury Policy & Regulatory Framework Adviser to the Government of Guyana, the Caribbean, seconded by UNDP.

Dr. Komolo is the founder and Chairperson of the Advisory Board of MAKLWETA (www.maklweta.org), a charity that works to support the education of the girl-child in rural Africa, who are often under-served by mainstream interventions. He also founded and serves on the Board of DALA (www.dalaafrica.com), a low-cost safari and volunteerism firm focused on exploring rural Africa.
Externally, Dr. Komolo serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Fairtrade Africa, a continent-wide organization representing African producers. He also serves on the Board of DawaSwift Technologies, a Canadian telemedicine company with operations in East Africa. Dr. Komolo was competitively nominated to run for Parliament in Kenya’s 2017 general elections for his native Rangwe Constituency (Homa Bay County) as a moderate center-left candidate.

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Wekeza Leadership Team

Wekeza Advisors

Deborah Owens

DEBORAH OWENS

Deborah is the Founder and CEO of WealthyU. WealthyU was founded to provide a financial success roadmap for professional women of color to overcome systemic barriers in the financial services industry which put their financial futures in jeopardy.

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Raghu Iyer

Raghu Iyer

Raghu Iyer has 20-plus years of global experience in US, Europe & Asia in senior executive/management and executive board member roles including 12 years at CXO levels (COO, CSO & CIO) & board levels in fintech, financial services, pharmaceuticals, health tech, digital health and technology sectors. Prior to his current role at Nex Cubed since 2017 as a strategic investor/operator/advisor with early-stage firms, Raghu was Chief Business Strategy and Operations Officer as well as an Executive Board Member at Vivimed Labs, a mid-size generic pharmaceutical firm where he grew its business from US $48 million in annual revenues to $225 million over 5 years. Prior to that, in 2008, Raghu was founding CIO of Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) which was acquired by ICE (Inter Continental Exchange) for $150 million in 2011. Raghu was also a member of the board of directors at SMX. During his long career, Raghu has held senior management positions in business/technology strategy and operations overseeing engagements globally totaling more than $100 billion in value at firms such as McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, J P Morgan, Wells Fargo, S&P, Oracle, KPMG, BDF AG etc. These initiatives focused on M&A, business/financial growth, corporate turnaround, Digital/IT Transformation Strategy, and operational/financial improvement & effectiveness. During his extensive career, Raghu has been engaged in 40 M&A transactions valued at more than $2.5 billion. Raghu has also played an active role in fund raising totaling more than $750 million for publicly listed and privately held firms as well as startups. Raghu holds an MBA from SIU, Carbondale, IL and received an MS in Engineering from University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK. Raghu also attended the Global Advanced Management Program (GAMP) at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.

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Ambassador Harold E. Doley

Harold E. Doley

first African-American to purchase a New York Stock Exchange seat. He was the first president of the African Development Bank.

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Licensed Financial and Legal Professionals

Reggie Canal President, Fortis Lux Sports & Entertainment Division
Licensed Insurance Advisor
(Haitian-American)

Reggie Canal

Reginald Canal is President of the Fortis Lux Sports & Entertainment Division. As a leader at the forefront of his field, he is empowering professional athletes and entertainers to develop effective financial strategies in their personal and business lives. Under his bold leadership, the Sports & Entertainment Division has defied the expectations of what a world-class client service model can be. He is a shining example of an individual with a perseverant, positive attitude that steadily works to achieve his goals.

Prior to Fortis Lux, Reginald excelled in a variety of roles at HSBC over a 15 year banking career including: a two-year overseas assignment with HSBC’s Consulting Group in Hong Kong, managed HSBC’s New York City flagship Premier Affluent Center to record sales results and started the Affluent African American Segment targeting High Net Worth Individuals and Commercial Clients.

Reginald is a passionate advocate for inclusion and diversity in his community. He is a lifetime member of the National Black MBA Association. Reginald is Trustee for Miss Halls (All Girls Boarding School); a founding board member of the Haitian Roundtable; member of the Board of Directors of Valley Arts; and the Multicultural Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reginald holds a Bachelors of Arts in French and a Master in Business Administration in International Business from Binghamton University.

For a complimentary consultation,email Reggie: rcanal@fortislux.com

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Dr. Dominique Reese, AFC®, FFC® CEO, Reese Financial Solutions and Training Solutions
(African-American)

Dominique Reese

Dr. Dominique Reese, AFC®, FFC®

CEO, Reese Financial Solutions and Training Solutions

Contact : https://reesefinancialservices.com/

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Lillie N. Nkenchor, Esq, LL.M President, Lillie N. Nkenchor, PC Estate and business planning
(Nigerian-American)

Lillie N. Nkenchor, Esq, LL.M

President of Lillie N. Nkenchor, PC

Estate and business planning

Contact : https://www.lillienkenchor.com/

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Vangile Makwakwa, MBA Founder, Wealth Money
South African, Global Citizen

Vangile Makwakwa, MBA

Vangile Makwakwa is the founder of Wealthy Money, a company that helps people heal ancestral money trauma so they can fall in love with their bank accounts and live their best lives.

She is also the host of the Property Magicians Podcast an A to Z guide to property investing so you can start and grow your property portfolio.

She’s the author of Heart, Mind & Money: Using Emotional Intelligence for Financial Success. She has a finance degree and an MBA and started her personal finance journey by paying off $60,000 in debt. She’s been travelling for 15 years and is building her company wealthy-money.com as she travels and lives in different countries.

Listen to the podcast here: wealthymoney.podbean.com

Contact : https://reesefinancialservices.com/

Company bio:

Wealthy Money helps people heal their ancestral (inter-generational) money trauma so that they can fall in love with their bank accounts, increase their income and live their best lives. Learn more at this link: wealthy-money.com

Social media links:

Twitter: @vangilemakwakwa

Instagram: @vangilemakwakwa

Facebook: Wealthy Money

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Michael Warren Licensed Financial Professional

Michael Warren

Licensed Financial Professional

Contact : https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-warren-b0364257/

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Manyell Akinfe-Reed Financial Coach

Manyell Akinfe-Reed’s journey in financial services began in 2005. Like many others, she faced the challenge of doing more with less. Her goals were to buy a house, pay off student loans, and save, but she soon realized that her salary alone wouldn’t suffice. In her search for ways to earn extra income, she met a Financial Advisor. This meeting was a turning point, sparking an ‘aha’ moment about her limited knowledge of money management. Committed to improving her financial IQ and determined to empower others, she embarked on her journey in financial services.

Manyell’s expertise and insights have garnered respect in the financial education community. She has extensively written on how economic changes affect a family’s bottom line and has contributed to Reuters, CNBC, and Black Enterprise Business Report. She’s also been a source for Essence.com and Jet Magazine, specializing in explaining how economic trends affect family budgets.

Her commitment to financial education goes beyond media contributions. Manyell has collaborated with key organizations like the National Urban League, The Department of Education, and the World of Money. She has been instrumental in developing economic curriculums for various financial literacy initiatives, simplifying complex financial concepts for a broader audience. Her work includes diverse and impactful partnerships, such as with the Harlem Children’s Zone on economic empowerment town halls, Carver Bank on homeownership workshops, the New York City’s DA’s Office on programs aimed at reducing recidivism through economic education, and Mobility Capital Finance on community engagement and financial education.

In addition to her consulting and development roles, Manyell stands out as an energetic presenter and educator. She has been a key speaker at notable events such as the WBLS Circle of Sisters and the NAACP Women’s Economic Empowerment Summit. Her engaging seminars have extended her reach to a wide range of groups, including churches, community centers, and nonprofit organizations. Her appearance on New York’s Hot 97 Street Soldiers and various Blog Talk Radio shows highlights her knack for keeping it real and meeting people right where they are.

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Tuesday P. Brooks, MBA Founder of AJOY
Small Business Tax & Accounting
Certified Acceptance Agency (CAA)

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“Wekeza is breaking down the barriers to generational wealth for the African diaspora in the United States and the Caribbean. Next, we expand into the African nations that inspired the idea in the first place. African citizens are mobile-first, and they’re ready for a financial app.”

Meet the Team Empowering Financial Literacy in Black-Owned Businesses

Meet the Team Empowering Financial Literacy in Black-Owned Businesses

Meet the Team Empowering Financial Literacy in Black-Owned Businesses

MANIFESTO

Leadership Team

SABRINA LAMB

CARY WHEELOUS

Dr. Erick Komolo

Wekeza Leadership Team

Wekeza Advisors

DEBORAH OWENS

Raghu Iyer

Harold E. Doley

Licensed Financial and Legal Professionals

Reggie Canal

Dominique Reese

Vangile Makwakwa, MBA