From Marrero, LA to Medellin, Colombia, Walker Empowers Black Diaspora with Bean App

Andre Ellington
Nov 7 · 4 min read

How did your trip to Africa inspire you to revisit creating your app, Bean (Building Economic Advancement Networks)?

The trip to Africa (specifically Morocco) made me feel grateful in so many ways to be a man of African descent but in other ways, it greatly frustrated me as I felt robbed of the knowledge of myself and my history. Growing up, it was very common for African Americans to believe that Africa was a dirty and poor place with nothing there worth seeing or learning about. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Arriving in Africa ironically enough felt like I’d arrived home. I can’t explain it. I felt at peace amongst the people. No one was looking at me strangely because of my skin color. Everywhere I went the people celebrated my arrival. There was a joy in the air that I can’t explain.

Furthermore, it was on this trip that I learned that the oldest University in the world (The University of Karueein was founded in 859 A.D.) has a continuous operation in the city of Fez. These types of eye-opening experiences would continue throughout my entire stay. This trip let me know that we’re an amazing race of people! We must learn our history. We must stop the self-hatred and love each other. We must unite and band together to change our destiny because if we don’t, no one else will. On this trip, I said to myself, when I return home, I wanted to stand in solidarity with my community and declare that we can work together to bridge the economic gaps that have persisted in our community. Also, I said that I will begin building Bean to make it the go-to platform to empower our community.

Finally, traveling to Africa taught me just how unique and resilient people of African descent are. Flying over the Atlantic ocean at 35k feet in the air, moving at 455 mph and looking down below to the graveyard where many of my ancestors were thrown overboard for insurances purposes and tortured was mind-altering. Being in Africa taught me to have more compassion for my people in the United States and around the world. I came to understand that we haven’t been free for long at all. Yes, we’ve been free in terms of civil rights on paper for a little bit over 50 years, but other cultures have benefited from our labor, resources, and knowledge for hundreds of years. In reality, no one understands us as we understand us and it’s up to us to change our destiny.

Explain your move to Medellin, Colombia, and the rich African population that exists there and how your current location will take Bean to the next level.

My move to Medellin was also inspired by Africa. Ever since that trip to Morocco, I’ve had an insatiable curiosity with learning about people and cultures from all over the world, especially those of African descent. The Afro-Colombian population in Medellin is one of the largest concentrations of people of African descent in the world. I wanted to not just theorize about empowering the diaspora economically around the world. I wanted to be amongst the people, get to know them, the challenges that they face and the opportunities that could be seized.

Along with that, my wife and I had been talking about an international experience now for more than 7 years. We wanted our girls to learn a second language and be immersed in different cultures around the world. Lastly, I saw it as a great opportunity to get a foothold in South America to establish Bean International shortly after our launch. My goal and vision from day one have always been to empower the entire diaspora. Often, as African Americans, we don’t even realize that we have representation all over the world. However, because so few have been exposed to that experience, there’s an enormous gulf that unnecessarily exists between us in our communities because we don’t understand that we’re the same people.