About

About Us

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.

AMPLIFY

PAN -AFRICAN

INOVATION!

Our 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.

Our Team

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.

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Adesola Akindele

Adesola Akindele is a Co-Creator at Rise Urban Nation. She is a 20-year serial entrepreneur, economist, social equity advocate, author, mentor and angel investor who believes that entrepreneurship is the key to economic prosperity, especially for underestimated and under-represented economic groups.


As an economist, she is never shy of looking ahead or at the bigger picture, examining key metrics that differentiate success and failure in business ownership and leadership. Adesola is on a mission to help founders of African descent learn how to face their internal and external struggles to overcome the emotional plus socio-economic barriers that hinder economic success, access to equity, and asset ownership.


Adesola is keen on Pan-African collaboration to foster an exchange of skills, ideas, and solutions. These collaborations are opportunities for startups and investors to learn firsthand from mistakes, processes, and resolutions to better products and services that help communities RISE to any challenge and thrive in any environment.


Catch her on Episodes with Taryell, Sweet Wahala Podcast, R.U.N. Expo and RUN100.


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Annifred Granville

Annifred Granville is a young entrepreneur who never undermines the effect of networking on your way up the entrepreneurship ladder&quot. Annifred hopes to inspire., motivate, young and skillful black entrepreneurs helping them fuel their passion as global solution providers. 


"RISE URBAN NATION creates an avenue for me to do all this as it gives me an opportunity to virtually globe-trot, meet with and convince business owners who have paved paths as well as marked territories in their industries to share their stories via the R.U.N. podcast. I am the lady to speak with if your business journey will inspire someone to achieve a greater feat."


Anne keeps the wheels turning at Rise Urban Nation. Catch her on Sweet Wahala and contact her to get on our podcast, the RUN100 list or for sonsorships and art feature in our R.U.N. Store.


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