Have a board of all white men? Nasdaq’s kicking your company to the curb. They’ve implemented a new proposal that requires companies to have a minimum of two diverse directors on their board, otherwise sayonara.
That means 3,249 companies already on Nasdaq’s US stock exchange need to get themselves a minimum of one female director and one that identifies as LGBTQ+ or a POC. Failing to do so means the company will have to submit a public statement as to why they haven’t met the requirement and still face de-listation.
Surprise, surprise, as over 75% of the companies on Nasdaq don’t meet the diversity requirements. The proposal hasn’t gone fully into effect just yet as the Nasdaq is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for permission this week.
The SEC won’t get back to them for weeks, but when it does go into effect, companies have two years to get one of the diversity directors on board. The biggest companies need two of the directors to be on the board in under four years.
Nasdaq’s CEO sees companies benefiting from this by having less auditing problems and financial disclosures that are higher-quality.
What do you think about this proposal… Do you see the SEC approving it? Hit reply and let us know!
From Car Accident to Entrepreneurship
When Ruby Taylor was driving home from work one day, she stopped at a red light only to be T-boned by a car that came out of nowhere, giving her a traumatic brain injury. She couldn’t pass the memory exercises doctors were giving her and was frustrated — almost destroyed inside — that she couldn’t complete these simple tasks.
Ruby was a social worker and had great support, with students and their parents coming to bring her food, take her on walks, and just check on her. Her kids were asking her how she was going to survive and retire. Ruby didn’t have the investments, mutual funds or IRAs they were talking to her about because she focused on her career more than anything else.
Ruby literally gave her last dollar to some of her students because they came from poverty-stricken homes and she did everything she could to give them the life every child should have. She was inspired to start a business when she realized the generational wealth problem that penetrates the Black community had affected her.
She got retirement and disability, and created a card game called Legacy! That teaches players financial literacy. The game covers picking a career, making money in different careers, paying off student debt, investing your money and owning assets.
How’d Ruby get funding? She did a Kickstarter and raised $6,298 which she used to make the cards, build a website and got pre-orders in. She just started shipping this month and has a big plan for targeting DTC next year while building corporate relationships and strategic alliances.
Just goes to show disabilities and setbacks don’t have to stunt your life, and can inspire a newfound purpose that’s impacting our world!
Hinting at $150 Million Dollars
Ever heard of Hint Water? It’s the flavored-water company founded by Kara Goldin who wanted to kick her Diet Coke addiction fifteen years ago. Today, she runs a $150 million empire. The company has even expanded into e-commerce recently with sunscreen, deodorant and other types of products.
Goldin didn’t have any experience in the beverage industry, which is why she met with an executive at Coca-Cola with her idea, only to quickly shut the door on him. She had a big mission that her customers were thanking her for (getting people to drink more water, obvs) and big wig execs didn’t get it.
The company recently raised $25 million in their Series D, but she never went the traditional private equity or VC route with raising capital, it was mostly individual investors.
Even though it took her 15 years, Goldin stayed true to her company’s mission and never let anyone push her around. Even during the Great Recession, major retailers were threatening to kick Hint off their shelves unless she gave it to them for free, to which she said, “Nah”. Goldin’s not one to be threatened and knew it wasn’t in her company’s best interest.
Kara recommends business owners and new founders be fully in charge of their finances before even approaching investors for cash. That way, you’ll be prepared to not beat around the bush and confidently ask for what you need, rather than taking what you can get. No more scrambling for cash at the last minute and struggling to make payroll… be smart about it!
