About us
Amplifying Pan-African Innovation
RISE Urban Nation is about building economic equity within Pan-African communities through social innovation by directing social entrepreneurship, social impact projects, and mentorship development. We work to create social equity partnerships to build knowledge and access to resources that solve our communities' complex challenges.
Mission
To amplify, elevate and advance Pan-African innovation across the diaspora to meet the current and future needs of companies across the globe.
Our vision
Every business in the world has access to skilled Pan-Africans, and every Pan-African has access to meaningful career opportunities.
To quote Dr. Pamella Jolly, "We as African Americans are the only people in America who were first capital before we made capital. And when we look at business, it can't help but be personal. And that we came over here on a balance sheet and that we are wealth, and we've been creators of wealth from the moment we got here. And the goal for us needs to become wealth creators for ourselves."
In essence "Black people are assets!" - Adesola Akindele
Our goal is to support and help increase sustainable equity and financial literacy within Black and African communities in light of current world events and growing support for Pan-African economic development.
This knowledge and resource sharing will allow Pan-Africans to actualize the true potential of the assets we are to ourselves, our families, our communities, and the world.
We will work together in collaboration and corroboration with Blacks and Africans across the diaspora to create wealth in our communities. We have a team of entrepreneurs from the UK, Nigeria, and the US striving to elevate and advance Black and African entrepreneurship.
Taryell Simmons
Taryell Simmons is the Founder of Rise Urban Nation (RUN) and Host of R.U.N. Podcast. He is an Equity Diversity & Inclusion Champion, and a Workforce Consultant at SAGE Business and Education. He fell into entrepreneurship, winning his first pitch competition in 2018 at Startup Weekend San Diego, an event hosted by Techstars and Grow with Google.
After going through the challenges of building his first Tech startup and meeting other outstanding black entrepreneurs, it inspired him to create a platform to share knowledge and resources.
Taryell is a RISE San Diego Urban Leadership graduate and a 2020 Rockwood Leadership Institute fellow. With an obsession with lifelong learning, he has had the privilege of working with thousands of students, employees, entrepreneurs, and startups, supporting them by workforce development, employee training, strategic business coaching, execution of workforce program development, and vital alliance-building.
