InnoPower: Accelerating Productivity in our Black Communities

InnoPower LLC (Power of Innovation) is a Black-owned Indianapolis, Indiana-based

community development consulting group that leverages innovation in and for Black

communities to accelerate economic productivity and talent development within the

community.

We are at a critical moment where communal mindfulness and momentum from corporate

Indiana are coming together to create a more resilient and inclusive economy by supporting

diverse small businesses and professionals across trades and geographies. But can we

maximize these opportunities by operating within a flawed system?

Current economic inclusion practices invite the MVP (Most Vulnerable Populations) into a pre-

existing competitiveness framework for which they need to be sufficiently prepared historically.

In contrast, our focus on inclusive competitiveness cultivates, trains, and equips MVP talent to

engage, compete, and contribute to the community's overall economic competitiveness.

Based on InnoPower Founder Emil Ekiyor's background as a former National Football League

player, InnoPower sends a solid message to all the nation's tech-based, high-growth,

sustainable industries. The NFL (and NBA) have a successful business model that relies on a

trickle of top-level talent being prepared, equipped, and trained to play the game in the

nation's most impoverished, most economically starved communities. That is where an $80B

sports industry seeks out talent because they recognize the value inherent in Black children

regardless of family and financial status.

This business model and system of cultivating elite talent among the nation's most

underprivileged and destitute Black youth has elevated American pro sports leagues that are

unmatched anywhere. This same philosophy can be adopted to prepare and equip Black

students in Indiana to compete in non-sports industries and cultivate Competitiveness in any

industry.

We must rethink and accelerate our talent development models to accelerate Productivity in

our Black Communities.