Playing Family Feud to learn the fundamentals of finance and business is one of the many fun methods that the NYU chapter of BlackGen Capital uses to create community.
BlackGen Capital, a minority-owned student investment fund, aims to provide opportunities and resources for Black, Hispanic and Native American students who are often underrepresented in the finance and business industry. First founded at Cornell University in 2019, the student investment fund has expanded to nine different universities across the country, arriving at NYU in 2022.
BlackGen Capital highlights the importance of having spaces where students of color can connect with their peers and share their unique struggles. The club’s mission is to equip members with the skills and knowledge to enter these industries and close the opportunity gap in the financial sector for underrepresented students. From 2018 to 2020, Black and Hispanic representation in the financial services industry hovered at 3% and 4% respectively, according to the United States Government Accountability Office.
“I went to a regular public high school — I didn’t come from a very advanced international school or anything like that, so I already felt like I was a few steps behind,” Stern senior Mopesola Elabanjo, one of the senior advisors of BlackGen Capital, said. “However, being in BlackGen, they really take the time to break things down step-by-step. They accept people, or they’re willing to teach people things who don’t already know everything.”
Unlike many Stern clubs, BlackGen Capital opens its membership to students university-wide, regardless of their knowledge of finance and business. From launching educational programs — such as their intensive 10-week educational series on the fundamentals of finance and pitching new investment funds — to hosting panel discussions with firms such as JPMorgan, UBS and Bloomberg, BlackGen offers many opportunities for students to experience the world of business and finance firsthand.
CAS senior Femi Oduntan, co-president of BlackGen, said that the club mentors students in building the confidence needed for job interviews — and eventually, to land their dream internship or job. BlackGen also strives to provide students of color with a found family, especially at a school where only 6% of the student body is Black and 12% are Hispanic or Latino — with less than 1% being of Native American heritage.
“It’s important to have clubs like BlackGen on campus,” Oduntan said. “When you see a club that’s specifically for people of color, people feel like that’s where they want to be — they want to be with people that look like them, people that talk like them, people from the same background as them.”
For Gallatin sophomore Selam Feleke, BlackGen has provided her with the necessary tools and ample space to explore her career in finance, boosting her confidence in her ability to make it in the industry as a person of color. In an environment as intense and competitive as Stern, Feleke struggled to find the opportunities that many of her peers were already aware of from their family background or past experiences.
“When I came to NYU, I thought coming to an accredited institution — a [top 30] university — was going to alleviate the racist and the gendered inequalities that I face throughout my life,” Feleke said. “But when I got here, it was almost the opposite, because I was around so many privileged kids. It kind of showed me how huge the wealth income is, how huge the inequalities are.”
Joining BlackGen is what made the difference, Feleke said, guiding her in the right direction early on in her college years. Most recently, she’s proud to have participated in the UBS Exclusive Onsite Session held on campus, where she completed a Mergers and Acquisitions Finance Accelerator Simulation that gave her insight into and reaffirmed her confidence in pursuing a career in banking.
Beyond learning about the finance and business world, BlackGen has created a friendly space where students can have fun as they grow professionally, with many members creating long-lasting friendships and connections. They find solace in relating to each other’s struggles as busy college students, while also uplifting each other in their professional careers.
“BlackGen has definitely changed not only my professional life but also just my personal life,” Oduntan said. “[I’ve made] friends and connections that I hope will also be a benefit to me, and I can be a benefit to them as well in the future.”
Contact Mariana Arboleda at [email protected].