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Inside the $4 Billion Blueprint: A Strategic Fireside Chat with The BOW Collective & FIFA Dallas · Black Business Live Podcast

• 0:00
  Tolu Akindunni: Welcome to a special edition of the Black Business Live Podcast. I'm your host, Tolu Akindunni. And today, we're taking you inside a room built for excellence, strategy, and legacy. We were at the fifth annual Bone Collective Conference in Arlington, Texas, themed phenomenally bone. We hosted an incredible panel during the VIP welcome reception sponsored by HR and Co.
• 0:26
  I'm honored to be joined by the visionary behind this movement, Nick Cobra, x y, the founder of the Bull Collective, and Tiki Favorath, the president of Bull Enterprises. We're also joined by Noel Levo, the CMO of Dallas, as we look towards the massive enterprise opportunities surrounding the twenty twenty six World Cup. Our episode today anchors on the beginning of a bold new chapter for black enterprise. We aren't just talking about theory here, but an organization whose members have generated over 4,000,000,000 in collective revenue in the last five years. We are breaking down the data backed reality of cooperative economics, a space where 70% of these CEOs are doing business with one another to scale past that multimillion dollar mark.
• 1:22
  This is the black economic agenda in motion. So let's get into the conversation.
• 1:30
  The black economic agenda. And that's the topic we're discussing today, and it's so exciting because $1,700,000,000 of revenue is flowing through the veins of the world. Isn't that just exciting? And I remember, Nick, when we were having the conversation, you'd be talking about 70 percent of board members are doing business with each other.
• 1:53
  Nic Cober: Absolutely, absolutely. So first of all, you, thank you so much. We are entering into our fifth year, thank you so much for having me, thank you for our both sisters that are celebrating with us. There are so many facts that have come out of the last four years that I would love for your listeners to understand. Number one, in four years we have grown from 50 members that are amongst the nation's top entrepreneurs looking at revenues, looking at employees, looking at their systems and processes in place that is what puts them in this category.
• 2:38
  What we know is that we have always believed that if we like, know and trust each other we can do business together and in that aggregate we can really shift narratives about the power of Black economics. In four years we have generated revenue over $4,000,000 within the organization. A fact that I'm very very proud of is that out of that 4,000,000, 52% over 2,000,000 went directly back to Black and Bo led businesses in just four years that is a substantial metric of how we are supporting our own businesses and I'm just so proud of that. In addition, we have now grown to over 300 members in 25 states and those businesses are doing business with one another so there is your 70% statistic. I'm so proud that this is no longer an experiment, is no longer a hypothesis that we have the data points to prove the power of what Black women can do for each other, with each other, and by each other.
• 3:54
  Tolu Akindunni: Absolutely. Yeah. And it's the power of a collective, isn't it? It's not just me going after business by myself, it's going after business collectively, but also creatively as well. I talk on creativity and collaboration, especially this time where, you know, it's the World Cup here, right?
• 4:17
  And we have the World Cup taking place all around The US, as well as all around Mexico and also Canada as well. And obviously Dallas, Kansas City, and a few other places are going be hosting. Now, you talked about doing business with each other and creating economic opportunities right here or right where the goal is at that point in time. So I'm gonna pass that, put this question on to Noel because it only takes someone to see beyond what is present to be able to collaborate. You have to see the realms of possibility and it takes a certain level of creativity.
• 5:02
  Noelle LeVeaux: So when it comes to taking advantage of opportunities, economic opportunities for large scale events like the World Cup, What are your thoughts around how the is positioned to embrace that?
• 5:19
  Thank you. I was really excited when we were first talking to hear about the BOW Collective and what the goals are and some of the sequences that we talked about because I talk all the time to small businesses as we talk about what's coming to North Texas with the World Cup. And as you mentioned, there are 11 US cities that will host matches. So wherever you are, you're probably close to somewhere. We talked about Kansas City of course, and some people are probably from Houston.
• 5:46
  So there are all, see I knew it. Dallas alone, we're expecting to see a 1.5 to 2,100,000,000.0 economic impact from the World Cup. That's just in thirty nine days. And when I talk to small businesses, what I'm trying to tell them is exactly what the collective is about. I think there is no one better positioned than Black women because what you need to be is creative and collaborative.
• 6:12
  Something that you have in your business may not seem like it relates directly to 100,000 visitors that are going to be here every day or international travelers, but if you collaborate with someone else, I bet there was something in your business that fits high to theirs that when you come together you become a perfect fit for an opportunity. And so that creativity that I think we always have, you know we're talking about Black history as you know, we have Black history every day as Black women, But now more important than ever in my opinion is for us to collaborate with each other. And so that's the real opportunity I think for the World Cup. It's thinking about what your business can do, how you can collaborate with another business to really make sure that you can have the impact and that you can get the business. There are a lot of different ways within your own cities to find RFPs, RFIs, whether it's through the organizing committee, which is who I work for, or FIFA themselves.
• 7:09
  Or the other thing I oftentimes tell people is you don't have to go through either one of those to take advantage of the World Cup coming to your city. You just can't use the marks. So really, once you don't deal with the IP, you should still be thinking about ways to intersect with that audience that's going to be there that maybe isn't there all the time or the local audience that is going to be activated. Because for many of us we have not experienced the passion of football But it is going be something that we haven't seen before. People are going to be ready to experience it, to spend money and they're going be looking for ways to throw events, to engage their executives.
• 7:45
  So now is the time to get creative, collaborate and plan.
• 7:53
  Tolu Akindunni: Absolutely, absolutely. And I happen to have been in London in 2012 when the Olympics happened and I saw it in the full works. It wasn't just about sports, it was about culture, it was about integration, it was about everything. So pretty much any business can tap into the World Cup. Any business.
• 8:12
  Real estate, the arts, creative arts, everything. So it's exciting to see that there is room for everybody in this and and in the World Cup here. Well, let's swing back to the blue, and I have a question for for taking on here. Because the gold for me is is a gold standard. Right?
• 8:30
  It's the 1%. Or let's say more than 1% now because we've grown to like over 300 members. Right? But this is the top echelon of women business units in the country and outside of the country. I believe the globe is present in five countries outside of The US.
• 8:49
  Ticki Favaroth: But we also know that not every business can be a board member just yet. Right? And I know there's a lot of development work happening right now in terms of bringing that pipeline of new members to the globe. Nic, would you like to take a question or I'll take it?
• 9:07
  Tolu Akindunni: love to hear you. Tell us more, tell us more about that pipeline and how that development is happening for the globe.
• 9:16
  Ticki Favaroth: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Chair. Obviously becoming a Board member starts with an individual desire to grow and scale your business. We focus on the five Cs in our organization and as Nick has mentioned, looking at the data over the last four years, we understand that based upon the growth of the business, different things are needed at every stage.
• 9:45
  This last year, and I think it has been announced or has not been announced, but one of the new things that the BOAT will be doing is the BOAT Institute. And what we have learned is that there are micro, mid or even skilled businesses that need the education, but they want that education from a leader that looks just like them. We recently had the opportunity in 2025 to pilot part of this using our members as seekers, as faculty, with some municipalities, with some organizations and we are taking a bet in 2026, think this is six and beyond on how to let that be a multiplication factor. Think that is number one. Number two, one of our committees this year, our contracts committee, we did an actual training called, it was called the Growth Conference.
• 10:41
  It was an opportunity for our leaders to bring in new insights around contracts and scaling and resources and tools, and so looking at how do we multiply that not only for internal but then turn that to the engine externally. It's my hypothesis that the BOEM will grow because there will be more Black women business owners out there, especially what has happened. I do believe with BOEM, they're putting the infrastructure and the rigor together to welcome those members wherever they are, whether they're doing the institute or the membership, and then fortifying the operations to be able to bring them in but also keep the core of who we are, which is know, like, and trust as leaders. But I'll let Nick summarize, but I think that's what I know.
• 11:40
  Nic Cober: When someone says it all, you can ask them.
• 11:50
  Tolu Akindunni: You know we talked about all the things that you guys have going on particularly with helping organizations that may not be at the level that some of your businesses are. I think something like the World Cup can be a trigger for you to think about getting involved and say, maybe I'm not ready yet, but you now have something that can help you really understand what steps you need to take to get ready for the next thing. In all of our cities, there are going to be other opportunities. I know for Dallas, we're really going for the 2,031.
• 12:23
  Nic Cober: So we talked about, well, how do you really get those tools? But sometimes you have to use the event that's here for the trigger to make you say, I want to invest in myself, in my own business, and then hearing what the Global Collective has, you have a resource to be able to do that. And so I thought that was just a really good tie between both the event
• 12:42
  itself and the organization. I will add that I think with BOEM we are always trying to charge our members with scale and when you talk about doing business not only with the government, a lot of our growth, the fact that our businesses are larger is because they hit the ground with the government as their prime client base and so that makes a lot of our businesses position well internally with their operations, with their systems management, their financials to do business with a large entity like FIFA. So the pipeline of our processes, our systems, that is our focus both internally to both, we want all of our businesses to be enterprise level businesses. It's not just revenue generation. We started and said, hey, if you have a million dollars in annual revenue, if you have one FTE, that really does put you in the top 5% of all smalls, that's just a stat, but we want to go further, We want to say, okay, what are the other metrics that make your business healthy enterprise ready?
• 14:11
  So whether you are working with VOD, whether you're working with VITPA, you have the internal ops that we can pass the baton to you, you're ready to go. You don't have to say, hey, don't have the capacity, I don't have the capital, I don't have these things. We're having the conversations internally so that everybody is ready to get the ball, right? And that's internal. The institute that Ziki talked about, that is an external facing aspect that we are introducing.
• 14:46
  We have been very insulated before. What we know for sure is that when we create healthy businesses, the domino effect on our communities is profound. So we don't want to just focus inward. It's both and, all my girls know that I am not a woman of black, we are creating opportunities inside the bow to create enterprise ready and the next gen of businesses. They want to see from people that they trust that, hey, if you hold it and she's from Oakland and she looks just like me, I can trust her, can be vulnerable and tell her what I don't know, right, so that she can take information.
• 15:35
  I want to tell you guys a story that just happened this morning. You never know when When we started Bo, a lot of people, Black women who did not have the revenue target, it's a little intimidating to know that there is this group out there that is doing these things, right? And I had a colleague of my husband, she had a non profit where she taught people to be homeowners. So going from Section eight, showing them the process of home ownership. I met her three years ago, I told her we were doing Bo and I was like, hey girl, hey, this is what we're doing, these women are great, etcetera.
• 16:29
  She was also working with us on a development project, and she went dark. I didn't hear from her anymore, and I was trying to hyper up, come on in, Collective, etcetera. Today she sent my husband an article where she was featured as one of the first black woman developers in Detroit where she bought a parcel of land and developed residential homes on it. I think it was 19 acres. This is in two years.
• 17:08
  And what he told me was she had the conversation with me, she felt in her feelings that she wasn't ready, but then she followed the bow and she listened to his input about how to go from training and renovating to buy the land, girl, buy the land, get the grants, get the property, assemble the blocks, etc. And now she is a ball level business. Just by the suggestion of how to do it, she mined that resource, she put it into play and that deeply and profoundly changed me about the power of words, the power of suggestion, the power of talking to one person and pouring into them, you can do this, and then being in proximity with a whole group, 200, 300 that are doing it and believe in you and are showing you the method. We are building a kingdom here on earth, my girlfriend said, and it's by us sharing with one another. I just wanted to share that story.
• 18:32
  Wow,
• 18:35
  Tolu Akindunni: that's profound. But let's say it speaks to what the Blackness is Life Podcast is all about. We believe that representation drives aspiration and that's exactly what you've just shown us and that's why for me the goal is such an important pillar right now because you are showing us what it takes, what you should attain to have and how to do it. So thank you Nick, thank you for your vision and for your foresight and for everything you're doing in the Black community. Thank you so much.
• 19:09
  Well, that rounds it up. Thank you so much. Well, we finish, I just want to do a quick roundup. We all got our cameras in front of us. Yeah, here little camera.
• 19:23
  But I just wanted to round up here by saying, you know, what we've heard today, and I'm speaking to the audience now, what we've heard today is the blueprint, but also the roadmap for every business owner out there to aspire, to plan, and to plug in to all the opportunities that await. Not just now in the world cup year, FIFA twenty '26 is here literally. But then we heard about the Women's World Cup in 2031 in five years time. This might be your opportunity to be part of what BOOM is doing because in five years time, we also all want to be members of the BOOM, right? So that's the vision and thank you for bringing that vision to life.
• 20:06
  Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you so It is the perfect way to kick off season two of the Black Business Live Podcast. A very special thank you again to Tiki Favaroth the President of the BOW Enterprises, and she's also the managing partner of HR and Co. Thank you for being the proud sponsor of the BOW Welcome Reception and for giving us this powerful space. When we talk about a $4,000,000,000 collective and 70% internal trade rate, we're talking about the blueprint for our community.
• 20:47
  So if you found value in today's episode, help us to amplify the excellence. Share the show with one colleague and tag us at at bb live podcast. Podcast. We have the same handle on all our channels. And for all the resources mentioned including the links to the BOW Collective, FIFA Dallas and HR and Co, you can check the show notes or visit us at blackandb.com/podcast.
• 21:13
  I'm your host Tolu Akindunni and this is the Black Business Live Podcast brought to you by All Things Black and Beautiful. We are built from the grind up and we believe that representation drives aspiration for continued economic success. So till next time, see you.