Former NBA Star Al Harrington on mentorship program for Black youths looking to enter the tech space

Al Harrington, CEO & Co-Founder of Viola and Randy Osei, Founder & CEO of Athlete Tech Group, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the new mentorship program Rising Star to help Black Canadian youth in the tech sector and diversity in the cannabis space.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Our next guests are kicking that idea up a notch with a new technology mentorship program for Black high school students in Canada. It's called Rising Star. And joining us now are the co-founders, Al Harrington-- you know him as the former NBA star and CEO and co-founder of the cannabis company Viola-- and Randy Osei, founder and CEO of Athlete Tech Group.

Thank you both for being with us. Al, I want to start with you. Tell us why you thought it was important to start this mentorship program, Rising Star. And were you fortunate enough to have meaningful mentors in your life?

AL HARRINGTON: I want to first start, I'm not gonna take all the credit. You know, Randy is actually the creator of this unbelievable program. And, obviously, I just partnered with him.

And, you know, yes, for me, you know, to get to where I am in life, I definitely had a lot of mentorship, a lot of people who have given me a lot of information and knowledge that has allowed me to craft a lot of the business ideas and opportunities that I'm currently either investing in or running personally. And I think that when we, you know, when we look at the youth, the way that they're gonna continue to grow is from our knowledge and from us being able to tell them some of the pitfalls to avoid and different things like that. But, also, be there to actually encourage them and help nurture and develop a lot of their ideas.

- Randy, I want to come to you now. Alexis and I were actually chatting about mentorship a little bit earlier on in the afternoon. And we were asking about the next step beyond mentorship. I keep hearing that it's not just mentors that, especially, minorities need in the workplace or at school, but they also need sponsors, people that will say their name in rooms that they're not in, will make sure that they have a seat at the table. How important is that sponsorship? And how do you view mentorship and sponsorship really going hand in hand?

RANDY OSEI: Yes, absolutely. I think one of the big things that we're seeing as time moves forward is the ability to gain access. And right now, sponsorship is one of the ways we've been able to bring this program together, with the help of RBC's Future Launch and its program to Bridge the Gap. We're looking at really dismantling barriers and looking at diversity as a team sport.

I know that, you know, within tech, especially in Canada as the fastest-growing industry, a lot of kids are scared of tech. It's this big gigantic space that people don't understand or people don't really know how to get involved, so people stay away. So this Rising Star program, with the help of Al Harrington and our partners at BlackMINT and RBC Future Launch, we want to make tech cool. We want to make it relevant. We want to make it something that they can gain access to.

The mentorship is to amplify these kids' potential. And it's also going to help them with career development opportunities. You know, we really want to build and create spaces that didn't exist for me when I was younger and ensure that these kids can create spaces that open the pathway to others-- for others, sorry.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Speaking of opening up the pathway, Al, I know you've said you want to help create a hundred Black millionaires by funding new businesses. You yourself started a business, I know. You were sort of ahead of the curve when it came to cannabis. Back in 2011 is when you started Viola. Tell us how you helped to usher through the next generation of Black millionaires.

AL HARRINGTON: Yeah. So what we've been doing is just using our company as a platform to educate, uplift, and empower people of color. We have, you know, we have an initiative through Viola Cares where we have a company we work with called Root & Rebound where we help people with reentry, you know, coming home from being recently incarcerated, helping them find jobs, helping them find places to live. You know, my ultimate goal at that point, through that program, is to eventually be able to be the companies that actually employ those people.

Also, we have an incubator program where we, once again, use either our licenses in those strategic markets or just, you know, sometimes we tap into companies and just give them our know-how. You know, we have a company that we work with out of Martin, Tennessee with a gentleman named Jarrel Howard, a company called Gold Standard Farms, where we incubated their program. And they had a farm that's been in their family for 80 years. Over the last 40 years, they did a revenue of $940,000 in revenue. And this year, by changing it to a hemp-producing farm, we're gonna do $3.5 million in revenue.

So, you know, these are some of the ways that I feel like we can be most influential. And for me, you know, it's one thing just to help people. But, you know, it's also from a standpoint of ownership and social empowerment-- excuse me, economic empowerment. You know, I just feel like the only way we're gonna have real change is by being able to create revenue that we'll be able to invest back into our community.

- Al, I did want to ask you something. We were talking with Rachael Rapinoe last week about her new cannabis company Mendi. And she mentioned to us that there's such a lack of diversity in the cannabis space. I don't think we see too many Black men or women that are heading up some of these companies. How important is that diversity in the cannabis sector right now, especially as here in the United States we see so many Black men incarcerated for these minor drug possessions?

AL HARRINGTON: I mean, it's super important. I mean, to your point, 85% of all drug arrests in the Black community have always been cannabis related, right? And now we have this new booming industry, especially in the United States, where billions and billions of dollars are being generated and made and there's no people of color at the table at all, you know. So that's something that we definitely have to continue to talk about, we have to continue to raise awareness about.

And we have to, also, continue to work with legislators and figure out how do we create these opportunities for people of color to have a seat at the table and to be able to participate. Because, in my opinion, this is generational wealth at risk for our community if we don't speak up for it right now. And, you know, history has showed us in other industries where we've been there pioneering-- rice, sugar, cotton, alcohol, liquor-- you know, Black people have been pioneers in all of those spaces. And right now, today, even that is still not diverse. We have no real significant ownership.

So we just feel like with cannabis being that it's just starting that we definitely need to really fight for this inclusion. And, you know, that's obviously one of our main passions every single day with the work that I do.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Hey, Randy, before we let you guys go. Real quick, how can people learn more or even apply for a mentorship program-- for your mentorship program Rising Star?

RANDY OSEI: Thank you. The best way to do so is by heading to Athletetechgroup.com, clicking Rising Star into the top-left tab, and signing up. It's completely free. And we'll be closing applications July 5.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right. It's coming up. So jump on that website. Al Harrington, Randy Osei. Thanks so much for being with us. Best of luck with the new venture.