Finding Hope in Cuba
By Edward R. Boyd, Jr., Serial Entrepreneur, Educator and Executive
“The land was barren. It didn’t produce anything. It was just dirt and rocks.” Cuban farmer, entrepreneur and scholar, Fernando told us. “My mentor and I dug the [40 foot] well by hand. It took us 7 months.” He points at the top of the barn. “The electricity is provided by the solar panel…soon we will install a wind turbine because that breeze you feel is constant for us year round.” His voice projected the physical juxtaposition of confidence, expertise and hope. We have been fortunate to witness this paradox many times the world over. Through iNvictus Forward Outreach’s (http://www.invictusoffice.com/invictus-forward-outreach) EMERGE (Entrepreneurship, Mentoring, Economic Development, Research, Growth in Business(es), and Education) program, we focus our efforts on minority entrepreneurs. Many times these venture leaders have their beginnings in low resource communities. Some call these communities economically barren; that judgement is not given only to the land, unfortunately, but the people as well. Yet time and again, through relationships with the entrepreneurs and communities, we find this similar mixture of sentiment: part confidence, part expertise and a whole lotta HOPE.
We witnessed it while serving on the Durham Innovation Council as a part of the Forward Cities Initiative in Durham, Cleveland, Detroit and New Orleans. We see it through our service on the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation’s Community Leadership Council in small and medium sized cities across the state of North Carolina. It’s prevalent in often overlooked neighborhoods in Durham like East Durham, the West End, MacDougald Terrace, and the Cornwallis Community as well as in countries across the globe, many labeled “emerging markets,” where we serve or are laying the foundation to serve, like Rwanda. It’s an interesting dynamic of paradigm change to see, hear, feel and experience.
We were recently invited to participate in a delegation to serve in Cuba. The delegation, brought together by Mickey Bergman, director of the Aspen Institute Global Alliances Program and the founder of Fringe Diplomacy, included twenty leaders from varying backgrounds. We met in Miami and boarded a flight to Cuba with a very broad charge: to serve in whatever capacity our knowledge and expertise would allow. I soon realized there wasn’t any gift more suitable to have on this trip than a strong desire to listen, learn and experience.
Cuba offered us so much. Let’s begin with the obvious of a Caribbean island. The sights were breathtaking. The culture permeated our every breath. And the pride was pervasive. The people we met continuously discussed how fast things were changing and how excited they were, filled with the anticipation of the next change. They were relatively aware and insistent that these changes still require patience. Their love for Cuba was relayed in their every word. Owners of cooperatives (effectively, business owners) explained to us how exciting it was to serve in that role in a country that didn’t always present that option as a profession. Like all entrepreneurs, they shared their successes and pain points with equal vigor. Those realities were not foreign to us, nor were they unique to Cuba. Textile manufacturers, construction companies, farmers, restaurateurs, you name it, not only did the people of Cuba have it, they were good at it! We witnessed firsthand the results of the inclusive innovation that Johnathan Holifield of Scale Up Partners has detailed with me over the past couple years.
College professors who work with student entrepreneurs at the University of Havana shared their expertise with us. Personally, I found this meeting very impressive and forward leaning. They weren’t thinking small. They saw Cuba and its future economy in a very macro way. Admittedly, the path ahead of them was a difficult one. However, very similar to what we hear from entrepreneurs in low resource communities all over the world, the future, from their perspective, is remarkably brighter than was the past. Did the United States’ sixty plus year embargo (or blockade as the Cubans refer to it) adversely affect the Cubans and the Cuban economy? Sure, in a myriad of ways. Many of those impacts aren’t much different from the unofficial, but just as intentional, embargo most majority dominant culture financial institutions within the United States have enacted on minority communities for centuries. In fact, much of the poverty, limited networks and access to technical support and funding for entrepreneurs was eerily reminiscent of what the majority of communities of color experience globally. Yet, HOPE was there at every stop of our eight-day journey.
Fernando went on to inform our group that they currently employ dozens of farmers and are working five different farms now. They also have a bee farm that produces honey 10 months of the year. His business sells its produce to many of the best restaurants in the country. In fact, before our arrival at Fernando’s farm we unknowingly had lunch at a restaurant that carries his produce (and I enjoyed what was by far the best salad I had eaten in my entire life). At a loss for words to adequately describe the efforts we witnessed and experienced in Cuba, the idea of hope comes to mind. In so many cases, I was inspired by the forward-leaning perspectives of the Cubans. Given the hurdles they’ve faced, quitting was a very viable option. Some might say it was expected. They never met Fernando.
Ed Boyd co-founded the Durham H.A.W.K.S. (Helping All Willing Kids Succeed) and has served thousands of youth, adolescents and families through sports, education, mentoring and civic service since 1993. While remaining very active mentoring entrepreneurs and serving on for and non-profit boards and volunteering with organizations dedicated to lowering the prison recidivism rate, increasing minority representation in STEM fields, and addressing the generational wealth gap, he serves as Chief Strategy Officer of iNvictus Group Holdings, LLC. iGH is an investment group he co-founded in 2010 to address the inequities that adversely affect low resource communities and minority populations, using entrepreneurship and education as vehicles of change. Ed also serves as board chair of iNvictus Forward Outreach, the 501(c)3 federally tax-exempt non-profit arm of the iNvictus brand. He is a member of the second cohort of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation’s Community Leadership Council, a group of 20 diverse leaders selected from across NC.
