Meet Angel Rich, the entrepreneur whose app tackles financial literacy for youth

In May, Forbes posed the question “Could The Next Steve Jobs Be A Black Woman?” in a story that featured Rich. At that time the app had been downloaded 24,000 times. Now with more than 200,000 downloads, Credit Stacker is growing, and it’s poised to become one of the best products in the country dealing with financial literacy.

Rich won Prudential’s annual National Case competition for her technology-based marketing plan. She worked with the company as a global market research analyst, where she conducted more than 70 financial behavior modification studies. Rich parted ways with Prudential in 2012. According to Forbes, she’d raised $6 billion for the company and received a $30,000 bonus and an opportunity to have her education paid for to obtain a master’s degree in business administration from Wharton. She declined and went full throttle to run her own company and make her app a reality.

While she is succeeding, she’s said her major challenge has been playing on a level field as a black woman in business and technology. She told Forbes her “competitor raised $75 million. I won best of financial product and best learning game. My company raised only $200,000.”

Less than 20 percent of venture capital money goes to women-owned companies, and the numbers are slimmer for black women. According to a report by #ProjectDiane, black women represent only 4 percent of all women-led tech startups in the United States.

But this is not stopping Rich from reaching the company’s goals. According to the website Business Women, Credit Stacker was named the “best financial literacy product in the country” by the Office of Michelle Obama, the “best learning game in the country” by the Department of Education and the “best solution in the world for reducing poverty” by JPMorgan Chase. It has won first place in several business competitions, including the Industrial Bank Small Business Regional Competition and the Black Enterprise Elevator Pitch Competition.

Credit Stacker is free and available in 40 countries. It has also been translated into four languages. Despite the odds, Rich is continuing to press forward, and she has the support of people and organizations across the board.

More about Rich:

  • In 2010, Prudential’s CEO asked Rich to lead President Barack Obama’s Veterans Initiative Research Study, and her recommendations were announced in the State of the Union address.
  • In 2011, Rich conceived the first African American Financial Experience Study, which now serves as the benchmark across the financial services industry for marketing to blacks.
  • In 2012, Rich was recognized with a Presidential Achievement Award for Exceptional Research and Innovation for helping Prudential save $6 billion, rising from No. 16 to No. 4 in service in one year.

Kelley Evans is a general editor at The Undefeated. She is a food passionista, helicopter mom and an unapologetic southerner who spends every night with the cast of The Young and the Restless by way of her couch.

Article Appeared @https://theundefeated.com/features/angel-rich-entrepreneur-app-tackles-financial-literacy-for-youth/

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