1619 Entrepreneurship

2300 Washington Street,Boston MA 02119

28 April, 2022

Description

Creating a community of black entrepreneurs and a safe support place. Join NSBE Boston as we launch the 1619 Entrepreneurship series. The goal of this series is to create a safe space for black entrepreneurs where they can gain support and network. Special Guests Andrew Bryan Burnett Andrew Burnett has over twenty-five years' experience in strategic business management, financial advisory services and venture capital. He has advised companies in several industries including: consumer electronics; specialty food; radio broadcasting; franchise development; consumer information services; magazine publishing; and wireless telecommunications. Andrew Burnett is owner of several companies in technology consulting (cloud services and technology staffing), telecommunication infrastructure and mobile app. He is Managing Director of the Accela Group LLC, a financial and strategic advisory firm that assists women and minority-led companies scale through mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and capital acquisition. During his career, Mr. Burnett has raised over $250 million in startup and growth capital for emerging companies and advised in numerous small business acquisitions and joint ventures. Mr. Burnett has advised companies like Carol's Daughter, Akwaaba Enterprises, the owners of the Harlem IHOP and other emerging companies in the NYC metro area. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Syracuse University and a Master's in Business Administration with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Burnett served as an adjunct professor at Baruch, York and Medgar Evers colleges of City University of New York and the King’s College. He has taught courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the areas of business ethics, entrepreneurship, and marketing. Seun Oluwole Seun Oluwole is currently the Sr. Manager Quality and Continuous Improvement at Kidde-Fenwal, part of Carrier’s Fire and Security Products division in Ashland Massachusetts. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Electromechanical Systems Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology Boston, MA, and is currently a MBA candidate with a concentration in Organizational Leadership from Bentley University. He has over 15 years of experience in Engineering, Quality and Operational Excellence. He has led and managed cross-functional teams to drive continuous improvement within organizations, improve operational efficiencies, throughput, waste elimination, and deliver bottom line results. He has also successfully led organizations to get ISO certified, led kaizens, value stream mapping, and process improvement events to drive overall improvement. Seun is passionate about business, and enjoys finding inefficiencies within businesses and organizations, and creating SMART strategies and plans with cross-functional teams to optimize these various entities to run well, looking holistically at what it takes to improve the overall organization. He is also the President of NSBE Boston Professionals Chapter where he leads an organization with over 170 active members, and 16 executive board members with a mission to be an opportunity maker for minority students and professionals in STEM, through mentoring, advocacy and training opportunities. Christian Apollon Christian Apollon is an operations management expert and has spent the last 13 years managing and consulting various manufacturing and operations companies across different industries including consumer product goods, automotive parts, gas/oil/petrochemical equipment and fire security. He is currently the Managing Director of The Apollon Group LLC. Prior to The Apollon Group, LLC., Mr. Apollon served as Sr. Manager of Business Excellence at Carrier, where he supported gross margin improvements through sales pricing and direct cost initiatives including inbound freight, production and supply chain improvements. As a management consultant, Mr. Apollon has helped managers in various manufacturing environments change poor performance cultures into high performance culture through accountability, data analysis and improved teamwork. This work has extended across the several states in the Midwest, and other international assignments including Mexico and France. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Business Administration with a concentration in High Technology from Northeastern University. As a biomedical engineer, Mr. Apollon also volunteered his time with the Engineering World Health Organization, refurbishing medical equipment in Costa Rica and Honduras.