Orlando, Florida. – Have you ever walked into a bank on an international vacation looking to do business rather than just withdraw cash for the day? If not, this summer may be the right time to try it out.
This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews Anthony Simmons, Chairman and CEO of Nemiro International Corporation and two other Caribbean-based companies that use Nemiro’s platforms for mobile banking and financial services.
Nemiro appeared on the show just a couple of weeks ago when Murray spoke with Denzel Mosley and Brandon McClain of the Nemiro Global Foundation, the latter of whom was actually Simmons’ frat brother. More important is how Simmons was also somewhat close to the president of the Dominican Republic, who in 2008 asked him to step back a bit from the legislative and administrative side of politics that he had grown accustomed to in a 25-year career that included working with the Bill Clinton administration.
“The reason something like this happened and changed my mind is because when I was in government, my side hustle was doing business that was considered underserved markets. When you talk about my background with Coca Cola, people don’t realize it and always say, ‘Your net worth is worth your net,’ so my contacts have always been phenomenal. I knew Coke, Pepsi and these guys, and I was a third-party vendor for them where I set up vending machines all over the United States and they paid me and they did all the work,” Simmons said. “People didn’t realize that, so I took advantage of those relationships to turn them into other business opportunities, and then in 2008 when they asked me to go international, I started to really see the money move.”
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However, that kind of opportunity to learn more about money, to become more involved with it, is something not given to many in the black community, Simmons said.
“One of the things that we are never taught in the black community, and like I said, I’m sure we always have these conversations, we don’t talk about money at the table. My family was one of those, they didn’t talk about money, but we always wanted to know what the next step was to get, you know, generational wealth. Well, I saw it when I went to other countries. I saw money moving through Western Union, through MoneyGram; I mean, we’re talking about three companies that control close to $800 billion that’s moving out of the United States and around the world, and let me start by saying this: I realized at that point that there were no African Americans involved in that movement of money, and I thought that was absolutely bananas. I said, ‘How come we’re 80% of the world and minorities of color, but we don’t control any of the wealth?’ So, I started to turn my attention to financial services,” Simmons said.
Regarding, or perhaps in spite of, his ventures and cash flow in the Caribbean, Simmons said he is still comfortably located here in Orlando.
“I tell everyone, in every country you visit, go to the local bank and see if you can open a bank account. You know, most banks, with a United States passport, you can open a bank account very easily. Most people don’t realize that. As a US citizen, these banks love and welcome our involvement, but we don’t know it, so we never do. All you have to do is take your passport, tell them, ‘Hey, I want to open a little checking or savings account,’ they’ll probably use your hotel address, which most of us do, and then they’ll pretty much issue you an account. bank,” Simmons said. “Start moving some money around, start playing, start seeing what your money looks like when you get your app and spend $100 or $200 a month on your offshore account. You can play that game, they’ll give you a W-9, or they can have what they call IRS reciprocity, which means you don’t see a report based on the funds you send abroad. That’s the game others have played, and remember, we’re late to the party.”
Listen to the full interview and more at Season 2, episode 27 of “Black Men’s Sundays.”
Black Men’s Sundays talk about building generational wealth. Check out each episode in the media player below.
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