After 230 Years, a Black Stock Exchange is Coming
Appropriately named The Dream Exchange, when it launches, it will be the first Black-owned stock exchange in partnership with Cadiz Capital Holding LLC, a minority-owned private equity firm.
Former attorney Joe Cecala, founder of The Dream Exchange says the company focuses, “on small business capital formation and diversity using the power of the American investing public.”
Early in his career as an attorney, one of Cecala’s clients was Archipelago — one of the largest electronic stock exchanges in the world. “Archipelago grew into what the world has come to know today as the New York Stock Exchange,” he said.
In his experience with Archipelago, he learned market structure, which was largely about big business. Prior to Archipelago, the majority of IPO’s were $50 million and under. Small capital IPO’s were gone. Cecala began to realize, he said, “minority businesses were nearly absent from all IPO and public company listings.”
Cecala’s goal for Dream Exchange is to bring more awareness to Black businesses for investment opportunities, while encouraging more Blacks to invest.
The Dream Exchange is a push towards bridging the racial wealth disparity, while creating additional opportunities for education on finance. The Black-owned stock exchange has a blog, faq section and will be offering webinars.
For more information on the Dream Exchange, click here.
