Tony O. Lawson Archives

Published on December 8, 2015November 8, 2017

4 mins read

Kidz Cab: The Black Owned, “Uber For Kids”

Aireal Taylor is founder of Kidz Cab. Her company transports children ages 4-16, back and forth to school and various extracurricular activities. If you have a child, you know that these days, managing the kiddies’ schedules requires an assistant, a manager, and a junior assistant. They’re busy little people! We can barely keep up with them half of the time.

We chatted with Aireal and this is what she had to say:

Kidz Cab: The Black Owned, “Uber For Kids”

SB: Parents are usually overly safety conscious when it comes to their children. What are some of the lengths do you go to to ensure the safety of your passengers?

Aireal: Safety is definitely our number one priority at my company, highly vetting our employees is first and foremost. Our employees undergo a federal background check, identity verification, random drug and alcohol screening and more. We also use a fleet technology that tracks all of our vehicles in real-time, it also sends destination alerts to parents and tracks the drivers driving and vehicle idle time on location.

SB: Since your launch in August of this year, you have had over 200 parents register for your service. To what do you attribute this demand for your service?

Aireal: I really didn’t know that my service would take off so fast! I believe that the concept itself is what brought on demand for my service. In the busy times we live in, parents need help! I brought them a safe alternative to their transportation dilemma.

SB: You came up with the idea of Kidz Cab while doing research for a marketing assignment in college. What data did you come across that convinced you that this was a good business idea?

Aireal: Honestly, not finding a multitude of companies with the concept out there! I thought the idea was something that would be so valuable to busy parents and I was very surprised there was not much out there.

SB: If you could develop a skill overnight that would improve your life or your business, what would it be?

Aireal: A skill I’d love to develop overnight to improve my business would be graphic design. Graphic design is such a valuable skill to have, from creating your own social media templates, letter heads, business cards, websites etc. it gives you more control over your business.

SB: What has been the most gratifying part of your entrepreneurial journey so far?

Aireal: Knowing that I’ve created something that I can continue to expand on that will not only help individuals but will also be something that I can leave to my family is most gratifying.

SB: What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Aireal: My advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to plan diligently. Making sure to thoughtfully plan things out before executing is so important for sustainability. A lot of times entrepreneurs are so excited to get their product or service out that they skimp a bit on planning, DON’T!

If you’re in Detroit and want to contact Kidz Cab, you can reach out to Aireal at: 248.719.4885. They’re booked for Fall 2015 so get your requests in early for 2016!

– Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson

Published on December 6, 2015May 18, 2023

6 mins read

What Africa Needs: Trade Not Aid

“Trade Not Aid” is a popular phrase used by proponents of the idea that instead of giving ‘free money’ to Africa to fight poverty and hunger, donors should support job and business creation through foreign direct investment. Don’t get me wrong, not all aid is bad. I am not referring to emergency aid given in situations like a natural disaster.

The type of aid I am referring to is government-to-government aid. It’s time we recognize that this type of assistance is not only the least effective in terms of poverty reduction but is also destructive. It is stunting the growth of an African middle class that is needed to spur economic growth. Zambian-born economist and author of the best-seller, Dead Aid, Damiso Moyo states that “Over the past 60 years at least $1 trillion of development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa.

Yet, real per-capita income today is lower than it was in the 1970s, and more than 50% of the population live on less than a dollar a day, a figure that has nearly doubled in two decades.” If this economic development model is CLEARLY not working, why is it still being imposed? Why is it being used in Africa only?

China moved 300 million people out of poverty in 30 yrs. India has approximately 300 million people in its middle class. They did not achieve this by relying on aid to the extent that the entire continent of Africa does today and has for the past half century plus.

A serious issue is that African governments are now relying on this aid as a source of income like a welfare recipient waiting on their monthly check, instead of looking for alternative means of revenue generation. Some say that aid promotes government corruption because the funds are just moved to private accounts abroad.

I’m certain that this happens a lot of the time. However, that is not the only issue. Even where there is no corruption involved, you have a situation where African governments are relying on Western countries to provide their people with goods and services that they should be providing e.g. education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc.

Who will respect a leader that does not care for his own people? That’s partially the reason why many African ‘leaders’ get zero respect in the global community. They are perceived as beggars. They are sitting on priceless natural resources that can be traded, begging for money from countries that are in actuality, broke themselves. But I digress…

Another issue is that aid does not create a meaningful amount of jobs or opportunities to start and grow a business in Africa. Aid also comes in the form of goods donated. Why not invest in local producers of these goods or invest in a manufacturing plant to produce the goods that are currently being shipped to Africa?

This is a sure way to spur job creation and invest in a local business instead of flooding the market of charity goods that will put local producers out of business. There is no way to reduce poverty if there are no jobs or means for individuals to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors as a means to increase their income and start to create wealth for themselves.

Therefore, if there is no middle class to drive the economy you are left with a situation similar to that in Nigeria where there exists the extremely wealthy and extremely poor with a few middle-class citizens sprinkled in the middle. I’m sure you can see how this would also lead to increased crime, whether it’s the latest 419 scheme or good old-fashioned armed robbery.

The good news is that in recent years due to the slowed economic growth in Western countries, the amount given in aid is now gradually reducing. Now, more than ever, the focus has turned to Africa, not just as a poor desperate continent in need of help, but as a place where Western and Eastern countries need to do business in order to not only stay competitive in the global marketplace but to survive.

This in addition to business friendly policies that have been implemented in several African countries have led to economic growth in different regions of the continent over the last few years.

The aforementioned to me is proof that we do not need handouts. What we do need, however, is to be taken seriously as players in the global trade market. We have the resources, we have the talent and we have the potential. What we need to do now is phase out aid and increase the number of trade deals and investments that help move the Continent in the right direction.

– Tony O. Lawson