205: Wired For Success: Solutions to Close the Digital Divide w/ Antwon Alsobrook

Monique:
Antwon, welcome to the Black to Business podcast. It’s so great to have you on the show. Welcome.

Antwon:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Monique:
Yes. I’m so excited to talk to you about all the amazing work that you are doing in today’s topic, which is about solutions on how we close the digital divide. And I was so excited when you came across my desk because one, as we were talking about before, the conversation, being from Georgia, you’re from middle Georgia, I’m from South Georgia. And, and we know what it’s like to be a part of that digital divide. So I love the work that you are doing, and we’re going to dive all into the things today. But before we get started, I like to get a background, give my audience a preview of who you are. So if you could just share, speaking of your background, your journey, being raised in the middle Georgia area, Atlantis Eastside, how did your fascination with electronics kind of, like, shape your career and your path?

Antwon:
Okay, so that’s a pretty broad. I’m, you know, about to turn 50 next year, so that’s a lot of history.

Monique:
Yeah.

Antwon:
So being Antoine Osterbrook, I am from Atlanta. However, I have roots in middle Georgia. So both of my parents are from middle Georgia. Both migrated up to Atlanta in the early seventies. And of course, I’m seventy’s baby, so. Born in 75. Yes. So I grew up on the east side of Atlanta, what we call the Decatur south decal area.

Antwon:
So in, when you look at the DeKalb county, it was during the seventies and eighties, this is where you had a lot of the, what we call white flight happen, where you had a lot of the whites move north and east and south to get away from a lot of the blacks that were migrating from the south up or coming over, trying to get access to jobs and manufacturing, so forth. So DeKalb county became a new up and growing area for black households being able to build. But of course, that was short lived as you get into the eighties, and you had a lot of the manufacturing plants, you know, starting to close down and go north or going overseas. And so you had the crack epidemic come in. So you had a situation, the cab south of cab, that was similar to what you would see in LA, where you had great homes, single family homes, great yards and so forth. But, you know, every other home was, you know, hip hop. So where I grew up, although my mother and father still together this day, you know, we had challenged households around us, nearest the street, over and so forth. So I had to deal with, you know, a lot of the challenges of being a young black man, you know, in Atlanta, in the south, but also dealing with the age of poverty and so forth.

Antwon:
Every. But every summer, I would go down to my grandmother’s houses, which was in middle Georgia. So I got a whole other perspective. You know, one, one of my mom’s mom, she had running utilities and so forth, but my dad mom only had power, so no toilet, no running water. And so I got to experience life, as, you know, in absolute poverty, as well as in some form of just touching middle class. So I got a good perspective of everything.

Monique:
And, Antoine, I’m so glad you shared that, because one of the things, of course, growing up myself in this, in south Georgia, and so many similarities in middle Georgia, it’s like there is a whole nother world in these rural areas. And growing up, like, I grew up in the nineties, and a lot of those things were still happening in the nineties. And even for me, a lot of times I tell people my story growing up in poverty, like extreme poverty, and people are surprised that this is happening in the United States and in Georgia, some of these forgotten towns. So it’s so great that you shared that part of your story. And now I want to talk about something that is still going on and some of those things that you probably experienced even then, this lack of Internet access and how it is really affecting our communities. And particularly, like I said, the black community, like, how. Let’s get into this. How is this happening?

Antwon:
So the Internet, or, you know, when you look at it in the framework of the digital vibe, there’s two components of it. You have. Do you have access to the actual infrastructure that has the capacity to get you to and from the Internet at suitable speeds in order for you to participate in different types of applications. So, for example, if you’re trying to participate in distance learning, meaning I need to take a class because I can’t get there, or I live so far away from my school, you know, trying to catch the buses, having to be on the bus for 45 minutes to get to that county school, you know, can I get extra work? Well, in order for you to do that, you got to have a bandwidth connection that can allow you to do, you know, look at YouTube, look at different types of training videos, be able to have video conferencing with your teachers or additional resources that may be in an urban area. So the capacity of that broadband connection to allow you to be able to participate in the programs. Then the second part, which is even more critical, is the affordability aspect in that people got to be able to afford that monthly fee. And of course, the further you out from the city urban areas where you have higher income, the more expensive it is for that bandwidth, that broadband connection. So you have a double whammy that happens is, you know, you may have a bandwidth challenge connection, but it’s also more expensive in the rural areas.

Antwon:
It’s just like everything else. Yeah, in rural the housing may be inexpensive, but being able to get food, being able to get clothing, all of the necessities are more difficult because you have to go further to get it. So from a digital vibe, it makes those who are trying to just get out of the rural ecosystem that is really designed to keep you in more to agriculture based economy, it makes it more difficult for them to be able to, you know, dream and do more and access those urban resources.

Monique:
Yes. So I want to take a step back because I skipped a whole bunch of questions here. I’m like, so one of the things going back to your journey is like, so how did you get into this industry and what really inspired you to start?

Antwon:
So that’s a, I’m going to try to condense it as much as I can, but it is a journey of, let’s say starting at age 19 till I would say about mid, my mid thirties. So going into coming out of high school, I was playing football and I injured my Achilles heel. So of course I wasn’t able to know going to my 11th grade and 12th grade year, trying to, you know, go to the NFL. So as a result, I wound up having a level of depression that sits in because I wasn’t able, you know, I’m already kind of socially awkward. I’m a big guy and I wasn’t able to fit in because I came to a new school. So I kind of recluse and just ridden my tattoo on my shoulder. Barely made it out of high school and decided, hey, look, I’m going to try to take my stab out in the streets to try to build up a reputation as well as still trying to honor my mom and try to go to community college. So you can imagine, you know, here I am trying to be out in the streets, trying to be in a criminal element, but also still trying to go to community college to at least try to do something.

Antwon:
And so when I finally had a chance of graduating from high school, barely skin in my teeth, went to go to the neighborhood community college, took my interest exam, and of course I went there inebriated and failed the math portion to the point where I had to take remedial math, learning how to count, that caused a level even more depression, and that made me just really kind of rebel on doing anything positive. However, there was a part of me that wanted to do more because, of course, I saw poverty, but I had this knack for electronics, I had this knack for drawing. And I always were able to see things and break them down to the individual components. So I found myself at 19, getting in some trouble and was facing some, you know, some pretty serious charges. But fortunately, you know, I’m a spiritual guy. So I turn to God, say, hey, guy, you get me out of this. You got me. I was fortunate to bless to be able to get out of that situation, and I immediately said, okay, I need to turn my life around.

Antwon:
So I pretty much turn my back on everything that was on the streets. And let’s say I got out of jail on, let’s say, a Tuesday, that Wednesday, my mom had set up me a job at the Atlanta chamber commerce. In the mirror, I was able to go from absolute negativity to now a place where you have to be on your best behavior for the course. Now I’m in Atlanta chamber. I have a big guy. I have this permanent mug on my face, and unfortunately, not here. They see me, so you get a better visual. But I had to now retool all of my character to now start understanding that there’s a different world than just the five mile radius of my south DeKalb area, as well as my rural roots.

Antwon:
And what the chamber allowed me to do was be in proximity to business leaders, be in proximity, you know, who’s hoop Atlanta, and really start observing. How do you need to maneuver, how do you dress, how do you talk, how do you engage with people started really seeping into me, and it made me start dreaming and say, okay, I need to really get myself together and get back into school. So I was able to then pivot, got into southern Polytechnic, which is up in Marietta, which is basically an applied version of Georgia Tech, to go after mechanical engineering, get there, got into mechanical engineering, and while I was there, I met a guy who wanted to be in real good coach friends of mine with me, and he wanted me to roommate with him. So the roommate with him, he’s like, hey, look, I know you got a good job at the chamber. However, I need you to make more money, because I can’t be taking on a rent by yourself. So it’s like, if I get you a job at this engineering firm, would you rule me with I was like, sure. So I left the chamber, got a job at the engineering firm, and as soon as I got on, he was getting ready to graduate and start working for Bell south. Well, he meets a young lady, falls in love, and then next thing you know, they’re getting married.

Antwon:
So now I’m having to figure out, where you going next? But the silver lining was, because I was now working for this engineering firm, I was able to work directly with the president of the company, basically be his assistant from an engineering standpoint. So he taught me everything from business to how to do design, from beginning to end. Construction, construction managers, everything. I was a sponge. So I would go to school, come out, leave school, go to work, stay there as long as I possibly can, study, go back to school. And I just was immersed in the world of business, engineering, technology, and really soaked it up from that point. So the real pivot point that really started making me think about being an entrepreneur myself was, this is in 98, going into 99. I was.

Antwon:
I’m sorry, this was 99 going in 2000.

Monique:
Okay.

Antwon:
I was. I had just gotten married. I was. We were looking at the possibility of getting our first house. And now, mind you, this is 2000. I’m married. I’m 24 years old.

Monique:
Wow.

Antwon:
Let’s get into it. Yes. Well, my wife and I, we celebrate our 25th anniversary.

Monique:
I wish I had all the effects over here.

Antwon:
Well, I’m gonna make it even worse for you. You met in March of 99, was a. Married in November tonight.

Monique:
Wait a minute. When you know, you know, let the people know. When you know, you know.

Antwon:
Now you get an understanding of my character when I put my mind towards something.

Monique:
Yes. I love that.

Antwon:
Here I am working for this engineering firm, and during this time, there was. We were doing a lot of contracts with big, large corporations, helping them with their operations and maintenance, so developing different platforms for them to be able to help train their employees. So there was doing a lot of expenses, moving them from one side of the country to the next. And I co came up with a operations or online operations and maintenance manual using 3d technology and web. Web pages. So basically a pre large Internet type thing, a 3d animated webpage. And, you know, figured it out. We had the chance to present it to Kim Lecoq Corporation, and they loved it.

Antwon:
So here I am thinking that I’m gonna go from, get this big raise or get ready to buy this house. And the owner decided to give me just a $0.50 raise. What?

Monique:
Yeah, that will do it.

Antwon:
Yeah. And I was like, okay, I got to figure something out. Because as obvious, I’m being impacted part of the glass ceiling. Obvious that going the engineering route is going to take a long time, and I have to start thinking about things from a different perspective. So I was able to get a job with a larger engineering firm, a company by name is Ch two and Hill. And once I got there, instead of just doing what I call similar line engineering, just trying to work my way in the ranks, I took a position of, hey, look, I’m going to come here, and I’m going to learn everything I possibly can about this organization. So I would go there early, look at all the rfps, look at the proposals, look at the cost lines, look at how to get market. And I started building my own concept of a company based off of what I reviewed as he showed you down to my proposals, the fonts, the colors, everything I looked at very deeply.

Antwon:
So the concept of a 2d came from. My first company I created was a company by name, AA Design, LLC, which is basically Antoine, all sports design. And it was around me doing web services, graphics, and engineering design for real estate developers. Well, because I had a design, of course, that pigeonholed me into only doing design work. And I was like, I was talking to my wife. So we got to come up with something that allows us to define versus the name defined. So we looked at it, and I looked at Ch Tom Hill. I was like, ah, that’s the letters of the founders of the company.

Antwon:
So, you know, ch so there’s a c, there’s an h, two heels. And so I was like, okay, what if I do the same thing for a design? So a squared d. And I just brought the two down.

Monique:
Okay, that’s good stuff. So that, that was a loaded story. I love, love, love the journey and just the transparency and where you started. And then, like you said, you have that in you to, okay, I’m gonna go after this thing. And I love that story. And of course, the blacks in business podcast, people like, okay, what did Antwan do, Antoine? You didn’t care. Nobody, did you?

Antwon:
No.

Monique:
Okay.

Antwon:
All time just being ahead of myself. And it. It could have been a really bad situation, but God saw fit to spare me with the misdemeanor and probation. And I took every moment to reflect and really check my character and realize that everything that I was doing was based off of a level of depression and rejection. So I had that. That part of me had to die. And that’s what allowed me to become the person I am by taking accountability. And what you have is a lot of people don’t want to face themselves, so they allow things to happen to them or they run towards storms.

Antwon:
And I take the position of a look, I got myself in it because of different various reasons, but I have to get past it and I have to grow up and I have to take charge. And that’s what I did.

Monique:
That’s a breakthrough for somebody listening. Love that.

Antwon:
Absolutely.

Monique:
And so for you, what, like getting into the digital divide? So what inspired you to tackle this issue of the digital vibe, particularly within their underserved communities?

Antwon:
So that’s a two part question that. That I’m gonna have to answer in two different sections. So how do I get into technology, specifically broadband? Well, while I was working with Ch two m Hill, this is before I started a 2d. So this is between 2000 and 2005. I was doing a lot of utility infrastructure design, but I always had a knack for trying to figure things out in terms of technology. So I had this idea. So back then, know this is before the cell phones, the smartphones, everybody had palm pilots. And what the Palm pilot was, it allows you to connect to a, you know, a wireless network so you can check your emails and so forth.

Antwon:
But it wasn’t really connected to cellular yet because that wasn’t really where it was at yet. So I came up with an idea to create a wireless concession ordering system to pitch to stadiums. So sitting there looking at a game, you can basically do an Uber type delivery of your concession versus having to get up and go wait in line.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Antwon:
So in order for that idea to come to fruition, I needed someone who understood networks. And so through some of my friends, I was able to meet this gentleman who had a company down in Newna, Georgia, a network technology company, and was able to have a meeting with him and was completely inspired by his story, former military technology and so forth. And I was like, hey, can you teach me about business? He was like, I can teach you however you have to be to come to my office, and, you know, if you’re here, I’ll teach you whatever you want to to know. So I was like, okay, my wife, she was, you know, at the time, she was pregnant with our first child, and she was just, you know, pretty much she was working, but mostly at home. And I was like, okay, here’s what I do. I will go to work early at ch two hill at the top of the perimeter, north side of Atlanta. And then when I get off, I would drive down to Newnan every day just to be in the room while I was there. He taught me everything from how do you deal with, you know, from networks to technology, how do you write proposals? How do you deal with municipalities and so forth? And I was a sponge, and I say, hey, look, whatever project you got, I’ll work on it.

Antwon:
You don’t have to pay me anything. I just want to be a part of it. And that allowed me to participate in working with him in developing networks for municipalities, because during that time, this is where you had a lot of municipalities were trying to compete with the cable and the phone companies, because they were just tired of their citizens not being able to have Internet access. So a lot of them were electrical companies that wanted to do Internet. So he had a lot of contracts designing those hybrid fiber coaxial networks. So I was part of the design team at night building out those networks, and that’s what I learned about networks. So while I was doing that, I was. Also had the opportunity to go to Jamaica, go to other places to help them do design.

Antwon:
So I saw how broadband directly impacted the lives of, you know, Jamaicans. When you and you talk about middle Georgia property, they were. Yeah, I was able to see how, when you have that kind of desperation, how the tv becomes basically your mental way out of your suffering. So I was able to see the impact of broadband connectivity from both access to resources, but also just being able to deal with your mental health of your current situation. So I was able to package all that and say, okay, let me kind of look at this thing from a business case. And one day, I was working on a project for municipality, and I looked at how they were spending their money. So they were developing a network, about 7 million or so, 75% of it was to go towards the systems just to generate the service. The other 25% was for the infrastructure.

Antwon:
Now, this municipality had a finite customer base because they can only deliver services within their jurisdiction, which means that you’re spending way more money just to compete for services with a finite customer base, which means you’re gonna have a definitive, diminishing return on investment. So I was like, you may not want to do that. Why don’t you just build out the infrastructure, and you. You partner with the cable and the phone company, because your infrastructure is gonna be better. They plug their stuff in, and then they can pay you where they can deliver services over your infrastructure. And they declined because they felt that we have the brand, we’re going to beat them, and we’re not going to do it. I was like, that’s not going to work. So I was like, all right, well, I’ll tell you what, I need to figure out a way to make some business happen because I’m tired of just chasing projects.

Antwon:
So I started tinkering around with the concept I call the Teletube, which is I’m going to build partner with a developer, put in the infrastructure, put in this system at the front of the development, and then convince the carriers to connect into that. And then I charge them a fee to carry this signal to the homeowners.

Monique:
Wow.

Antwon:
And running the numbers and realized, okay, this is basically a revenue producing asset. I have a developer who’s paying for the infrastructure right now and just giving away over to the utility companies. So if I can convince him to do the same thing for me, I’m in a best scenario. So 2005 I had a 2d got it get started to try to go down that path. But Ch two and heel was starting to have issues because this is like the precursor to the 2008 2009 housing crash. So now I’m seeing myself now having to chase projects, go out and do construction management because I did not know a lot of the big engineering projects were drying up because of lack of funding. So around 2005, I wind up getting laid off. And then of course I’m having to now pursue a 2d full time to try to convince developers.

Antwon:
By the time 2006 come around out of money, did not have any projects on the horizon. Wind up losing our first house moved my mom, it just got bad. But I was able to rebound and persevere and was able to land my first developer customer in 2007 and started building out our open access platform here in Atlanta. So off of Camp Creek Parkway in Atlanta, we had our, we had the first open access fiber to home network in 2007, delivering 100 man connectivity to town and commercial businesses.

Monique:
Wow. Yeah. That is a transformation. And for you, like during those times of like even your start and then like having this and then having to lose it all and then figure out how to get it back. Like, what was going through your mind at that time and what, what do you feel like it was that kept you going?

Antwon:
Well, number one, if you take the fact that I’ve seen positive, I’ve lived it, but also seeing what life can be. And I had to, long as I had breath of my lungs and I had the support of my family, we’re gonna make a way. And I had already been hurt by corporate America in that you give your all just to be, you know, tossed to the side and undervalued. So I knew I had to go to entrepreneurial route. No. And of course, in 2005, 2006, if you were engineering, you were not getting selected for hiring because the projects were drawn up. So it was, it was really bad for the technical space back then. Yeah, you had but to figure it out.

Antwon:
So that’s what really propelled me to really be innovative in coming up with a platform where all of my engineering skill set produce an asset that generates income regardless of what I do. So that gives up to 2007. So by the time 2009 comes, and this is where the e community and my digital divide aspect comes into play. So in 2008, I have multiple developments under, you know, under construction, under contract. Got a hotel. We’re doing fiber to the suite. Everything’s looking great. January of 2009, my main customer brings me into his office.

Antwon:
Hey, look, the banks have foreclosed on my development, and I can’t pay you the half a million dollars I owe you. All of my other contracts were suspended because the developers couldn’t get financed. So here I am at the top of 2009. The Obama administration is now in office, and not only can I get, I can’t get work in technology and engineering, but all of my contracts are gone, and I’m sitting on a bunch of assets that I can’t see. So now I’m right back at, you know, having to figure it out again. So I started putting together different types of proposals, going after different types of resources. But I always had in the back of my mind that, hey, you know, everything will work out. Well, about May of 2009, we were down to our last bit, and I decided, okay, I need to go ahead and file for food stamps.

Antwon:
Just ready to feed my family. And we’re sitting at my computer filling out the application for food stamps. And right when I was ready to press the send button, Internet cuts off because, of course, I couldn’t pay the bill. So at that point, I had to get up and go to the library, which was a couple of miles away. And once I got to the library, I had to stand in line to wait till there was available computer.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Antwon:
Course. Waited a couple hours, was able to finally get to a computer, and I was able to submit my application for food stamps. And then by the time I got home, I was sitting there like, okay, I got all of this technology. I understand the Internet, but why can I not get access to the critical server civil services resources I need? Because I can’t pay 100 and some dollars a month. Something’s not right here. So I sat down to prayed about it, and about three days later, I came up this concept called e community. And e community was based on a very fundamental concept that was based on, hey, look, as long as the entity that owns the infrastructure is also trying to sell you the service, there will always be someone disconnected, because the, the Internet is basically the digital roads and streets right now. If you are a poor, you could walk to your local civil services.

Antwon:
However, in this increasing digital world, you can’t even get access to those digital services when you get there unless you’re on. So if you can’t afford broadband access, you are basically shut off from the critical things you need. So I wrote this two page executive summary around how I can create an e community network that logically and physically separates what I call Internet traffic from community based traffic and built a business case around it. I shared the document with a couple of friends just to have them review. One of my friends, I didn’t realize had a contact at the White House sent the document up there. Two weeks later, we get a phone call from the White House about the document and was invited to come up to the White House to present our e community framework to doctor Susan Crawford, who was at the time was one of the co creators of, of the Broadband Technologies Opportunities program, which is Obama’s stimulus for broadband digital via eradication, $4.5 billion. And so I had, of course, I’m sitting here to barely even get food stamps. I had to go phone a friend to find my way up to DC, was able to make it up there, was able to present a community, and she said, this matches the core of what we’re looking for in order to help solve the digital bond.

Antwon:
A year later, I was part of a team that was pushed by the minority business Development Agency. We secured $59 million in federal funds based on my e community framework to build a network in south central Alabama connecting eight counties over 2000 miles of fiber bridging digital bottle. Wow.

Monique:
Wow. That was like. How did you feel when that was happening? Like, it’s just like, I went from this to this, like, it’s so fast. It could happen like that.

Antwon:
Well, it wasn’t fast. May of 2009 is when I wrote the document.

Monique:
Uh huh.

Antwon:
We didn’t get, we had, we submitted an application in August, got turned down, resubmitted again in March, and then was able to finally get notice in June that they’re going to review, had to be able to sustain, you know, being vetted by price, Cooper Waterhouse, Booz Allen to make sure they meet the vetting, just to finally get awarded in September. But even in September, didn’t have you don’t get money, you had to do a match. So I had to basically take out a loan in order to start drawing down funds ready to get going. So we didn’t get any financial relief until September the following year. So from May to September, May of 2009 to September 2010 was. I was operating purely on God’s grace.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Antwon:
Now imagine myself, my wife, and three kids.

Monique:
Wow.

Antwon:
Whoa. But we made it.

Monique:
Yeah, I made it. You all made it. I mean, this is a part of the black man who lead series. So as a black man who was leading a family during that time, like, how did that feel to you? Like, was it, like, pressure? All of the things?

Antwon:
Well, number one, if you think you can do it all on your own, you’re fooling your yourself. You have to have people that you trust, you love and support, and they believe you, because times are going to get hard, and you’re going to have to have somebody who you can lean on that is equally yoked with you and is able to walk. Otherwise, you run the risk of you ego kicking in, and you become self destructive because you will lend to your. Your vices would take over. So you always got to be in a position of prayer, in a position of clarity, in a position of making sure you don’t. You don’t start going into your primal instincts. Like, for example, we had in 2018, and in nine, we had, we were staying in a rental home, and we wind up having to leave there because the owner lost the home due to foreclosure. And of course, we couldn’t pay the rent anyway.

Antwon:
So we moved into my sister’s house. She had a basement, so me and my family moved there. And although she was providing us, of course, a place to stay, we still had to, you know, pay for home, you know, part of utilities, pay for our food and all that stuff. Well, it got real bad to the point where my past lifestyle wanted to creep back in, to the point where I was, you know, at the point where I was like, okay, I’m gonna have to make it happen one way or another. And I was like, okay, I’m gonna have to rob somebody. So I grabbed a shotgun and was headed getting ready to head out the door. And once I got to the door, a friend of mine was there at the door getting ready to do a.

Monique:
Two pizzas shout out to the friend.

Antwon:
You see what I’m saying? So that level of being. Being connected with people who got your back versus that other friend that I was hanging with when I was younger who’d been like, hey, yeah, let’s go. I know this lick over here.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Antwon:
You know, so you have to put yourself into the right circle and be able to count on them to do the right thing, and at that point, you can make it through.

Monique:
Yes, that is. That is true. And that’s what I love about this series. I love about the work that you’re doing. I just love about being able to talk to black entrepreneurs like you, because it’s like, we know that these things are happening and how do we deal or how somebody else might be listening to this and they might have been in the same situation. So how do you deal? How do you come out of that, and how do you deal with it mentally? So, yeah, I love that a lot.

Antwon:
Of people don’t take consideration the natural human condition.

Monique:
Yeah.

Antwon:
We are, as humans, we are designed to deal with or need to have a little bit of tension. We’re going to struggle. And a lot, lot of times, if you’re not having to deal with struggle, it’s always good to fast so that you get back to your simplicity. And a lot of people think going into business, you’re going to make a lot of money and have a lot of fame and attention, all that stuff. But business is boring. It’s redundant every day, and you may secure a great contract, and you have get a million dollars this year. Well, you may not be able to replicate that nation, which means you got to have your cost of living, your expenses at a very low level, which means your ego is going to be directly on the line here, because, of course, you want to be able to, you know, show off your success. Well, you can, because you got to worry about payroll, you got to worry about expenses.

Antwon:
You got to worry about legal. There’s all kinds of things that you have to do. And if you’re thinking about how I can impress somebody versus just trying to have a medium level of comfort in operations, you’re going to lose.

Monique:
And so getting into, like, the even more into the digital divide, I want to talk about how, like, in all of the things that you were doing and the things that you even see seen coming from where you’re from, and then also the experience in Jamaica, like, how does this lack of high speed Internet access affect the communities, in particularly black communities?

Antwon:
So what Covid did was give most people a firsthand understanding of why broadband is not a luxury. It is a critical utility. Up until, I would say, the past year or so, most local, state, and federal organization view broadband access as a luxury, which means you have it if you can afford it. Now it’s becoming obvious that you have to have it just to function. You can’t have education, you can’t do banking, you can’t work, you can’t entertain. There’s so many different parts of society you can’t do if you don’t have access to adequate ramping. And as the processing powers of computers, smart devices, our tvs become faster and the, the pixel quality density of our screens become larger, you need more bandwidth. And not only do you need more bandwidth, you got to have lower latency because you’re going to have the convergence of video, augmented reality.

Antwon:
All those things are coming down the pipeline with the emergence of web three. So those who don’t have access to information, who don’t have access to broadband, are basically shut off from being able to evolve and keep up and have a competitive advantage. So you’re going to have a social and economic divide that kicks in for those who don’t have access. And that’s far more devastating.

Monique:
It is definitely that. And even in your story, like you spoke about the time when you were trying to apply for the food stamps and you couldn’t afford to have the Internet. And I want to talk about why, and make it plain for people why making this universally accessible and affordable is so important for people. And how do we begin to do that? What steps are being taken to make sure that that happens?

Antwon:
So the federal government has, I believe that over the past, let’s say, ten years, the federal government has made a significant amount of investment into broadband infrastructure deployment. The problem has been a lot of that money has gone towards companies that have used it to marginally upgrade the infrastructure in communities that can afford to underwrite their deployments, versus upgrade in communities that can. So in order to maintain market, market share, you take a portion of the government subsidies to upgrade broadband, let’s say, in Brooklyn, versus taking that portion to upgrade in, you know, rural upstate New York. And you’re doing it in Brooklyn because you’re trying to compete with, you know, the phone company or you sell your company in order for you to maintain market share versus delivering connectivity. Everyone. So over the past ten years, a lot of that money was redirected. And yes, you have a lot of communities that have better, you know, gigabit services, but then you have also communities that are barely able to get five men because distance, the cost per foot, all of those factors make it very difficult to underwrite it from a private funding standpoint. So you have to have government, government funding.

Antwon:
Well, the federal government has released about, I think it’s about 45 billion or so forth of funding that’s going to be given to municipalities to identify areas where they have to deliver connectivity to households that don’t have adequate broadband. And as a result, those municipalities are going to be held accountable to ensure that the infrastructure delivered regardless of the business interests of the companies that are imported. So that’s going to go a long way towards getting households who don’t have access to the infrastructure connected to allow now companies to provide lower cost service access to the economic divide. So I’m very excited to see that those dollars are going to be hopefully channeled the correct way in order to connect those households from our side. We’ve put together a model that we have now perfected in that because my infrastructure, the e community, is designed to be carrier agnostic. Meaning, think of it like this. The best analogy I can give you have roads and streets. Right now on the roads and streets you have FedEx, UPS and the US Postal Service all deliver, compete to deliver packages to your home.

Antwon:
In the world of broadband, the same roads and streets. The cable company has their own road and street. The phone company has their own road and street. See what I’m going with? So in order for another company to come, they got to build their own road restrict. So our model is designed around we’re going to build the best road industry and we allow multiple cable, multiple phones, multiple Internet providers to compete to deliver their services over this ubiquitous high speed infrastructure. That way everyone is connected as a utility, but it allows competition to help allow for more affordable prices. But even more, if you have a household that’s connected and they can’t afford services, we can still interconnect them to their civil services at no cost.

Monique:
Oh, wow.

Antwon:
So we are currently deploying our infrastructure in several locations. We have a network in Clayton County, Georgia. We bought about two years ago. We’re now delivering fiber in Riverdale, Morrow, Georgia. We’re expanding to Jonesboro. So there’s about seven cities in Clayton county there. We just started construction on the military base in Augusta at Fort Eisenhower, delivering to service members who consequently didn’t have great broadband on the military base. So we’re connecting about a little over a thousand service members to broadband on that base.

Antwon:
We have expanded Augusta and we have plans to deploy in Louisiana, Mississippi, other parts of Georgia just expand and try to do our part to help reach the digital bot.

Monique:
I love that. Antoine, how is that? Can you kind of talk about how the broadband networks are different between like a community owned network or the other types like the bigger known ones we know. How does that differ for somebody who’s listening and understand?

Antwon:
Yep. So a community owned network is typically one where the municipality owns the infrastructure, either through a new company that they’ve created as an offshoot of the electrical co op entity they have, or they have co invested with a private entity raising bonds in order to build that infrastructure. A lot of the community owned networks are not active. They will call dark fiber networks where they’re putting fiber, and they lease that fiber to for profit companies, cable companies and phone companies to use their fiber to deploy services. That way they can, you know, make their numbers work, because at the end of the day, it’s still a financial play. You got to be able to justify making that investment, and the cost of money is difficult. In most deployments, you got to look at a return of investment of about five years. However, the more rule the community is, the longer that return investment is going to be.

Antwon:
And the only way to underwrite that is you got to use municipal, federal, or some type of long term project funding, which is very difficult for even the largest of the largest telecom companies to get. So the community based networks, of those who are able to bridge that institutional bonding and funding with partnership with the for profit carriers who have the expertise to deploy it and manage it, those are the type of networks, and there are a handful of community owned networks that are. That are pretty successful. Most of America is connected by private companies. So you have an assortment of phone, cable, Internet providers, wireless, satellite, that are all competing to deliver services to the end user. And of course they have to be to get a return on investment. And some areas, cable companies, they’re able to get franchise agreements with the municipalities, which means no other cable company come in the area to return. You have the phone companies, you have phone jurisdictions, which means that no two phone companies be in the same area.

Antwon:
So they get a level exclusivity. And that because of those jurisdictional exclusivities, no one can come in and compete, which means those companies don’t have an incentive to upgrade the infrastructure so that those territories was based off of the cable company using what we call the coaxial RF broadcast based infrastructure and the phone companies using the copper based PSTN infrastructure. However, with fiber, you don’t have those restrictions. So now becomes, can you justify either through private investment or through some type of public private partnership to build out the fiber networks to overbuild the legacy phone and cable car?

Monique:
Wow, that is so wild. So I just learned something new because I did not know how all of this works, and you just really broke that down. Thank you. So then, of course, this is the Black Citizens podcast. We’re speaking to entrepreneurs. So we’re talking about how this, having this access is important for communities, but then also, how does this affect. Why is it important for entrepreneurs?

Antwon:
So imagine you are living down a dirt road.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Antwon:
And in a dirt road, you stay in a double wide trailer, and you have this idea where you have a garden up back and you’ve come up with this unique recipe. Well, if you have a broadband connection, you can sell that straight from your trailer to the market. Or you are a. You want to do a bar podcast, you can now do it from that trim versus having to move to an urban area, paying three times as much for rent and still not make that much money. So broadband access is a geographical equalizer from an income and quality life standpoint because you now have access to the same market information, tools, and resources that someone who lives in urban area does. The geographical divide is no longer barriers.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Antwon:
And that’s what makes it a necessary requirement in that you have talent that’s in South Georgia that is just as smart, just as creative as someone that’s in Atlanta, Georgia, or in Houston, Texas. But they’re not given that opportunity because they don’t have connectivity. So those are the things that happen. If you think about what’s happening in the technology sector, you have because of broadband connectivity. You have countries such as India, Indonesia, Mexico. They’re now able to compete effectively in software programming and project management call center because their countries invested in the infrastructure first and then made sure they had the education incentives in order to get some of their poor citizens, you know, able to do these high tech jobs.

Monique:
Right.

Antwon:
Because we have a segment in the us population that did not have access connectivity. They weren’t able to participate in, in those same type training programs. Therefore, they are now completely shut out of a technology that they could have been a part of.

Monique:
I know. I’m so glad that you said that because I know oftentimes for me, of course, being from South Georgia, there’s so many times I’m like, oh, I just want to go to my grandparents house and just sit on the porch and do work. But there’s no Internet access. There is no signal out there. So it would be almost impossible to run a business from there. But there’s peace.

Antwon:
That’s correct. That’s correct. And, you know, you look at the trajectory and just looking at the tea leaves urban centers cannot sustain a mass migration of people. So in order to make life enjoyable, at least affordable, you gotta maintain a perspective. Percentage of people willing to stay and cultivate the rural areas, yeah, but they gotta be able to have access to some of the creature comforts, some of the entertainment, some of the education, some of the things that make that life a whole lot more easier to enjoy. And broadband connectivity that has the speeds and is affordable is one of the few things that help bridges that gap. It gives opportunity. At the end of the day, as parents, you know, as a parent, my job is to give my children an opportunity, right? And broadband gives parents that ability to give their children opportunity.

Monique:
And so I always say, like, my retirement, ideal future life is like I’m going to be in the woods sitting on the front porch sipping sweet tea. So I want to know with that, what does this look like in practical terms? Like closing the digital divide. Like, what does this look like in practical terms?

Antwon:
Well, in the US, 65% America is still doesn’t have the level of connectivity that’s going to meet the needs of everybody over the next 50 years. So. And a lot of people thought that wireless would be the answer. Or satellite, lower satellite videos. It’s not because you have an issue which is called latency. You combine videos along with the data communication and then you overlay security on top of that. You got to be able to have lower latency to move the bandwidth. The only way to do that is going to be with fiber optic connectivity.

Antwon:
So there has to be a collaborative effort with the all aspect of government and private industry working together to get the fiber infrastructure deeper and deeper into the communities. So as part of the standard, when a new subdivision developed is developed with fiber infrastructure in play, when a new road is developed to extend into a rural area, the conduit and infrastructure is put in along with it. It is a necessary no different than water. So as a lot of the local, state and federal laws are updated and change, you will see not only places being retrofitted with better communications, but all new homes, all new developments, having that built in to begin with.

Monique:
And are there any ways that entrepreneurs are listening, can be get involved to help in any way?

Antwon:
So in the world of technology, entrepreneurs need to really start looking at how web three blockchain is going to impact the movement of content and how you can participate in that new virtual augmented reality ecosystem. That’s going to be very key, I would say. Take a look at a lot of the dystopian movies that gave a preview of what life is going to be like. Don’t take it literal, but just look at some of the applications that provided convenience, and then look and see if you have a knack for trying to create a product or service that is either provides it or is a supplement to it. For example, you look at Uber or you look at Lyft, or you look at how we’re dealing with retail. All of those are direct offshoots of better connectivity. So entrepreneurs in the technology, you gotta, you know, really start thinking about what are the problems that are going to be created as a result of new connectivity, new access, and then how you can put yourself in position to solve that problem or be a resource or service to it as part of that logistics of the entities. And, you know, that’s from a private industry standpoint, then from a government standpoint, you have a lot of dealing with regulatory, you have a lot dealing with municipalities, where a municipality now has to have a full it department, as well as gis, asset management, because they’re basically enterprises.

Antwon:
So you have to understand how to deal with big data. All those things come into play. And then just regular businesses, retail customers and retail businesses. How does technology evolve? So there’s a whole new world. When you factor in artificial intelligence, all those things come into play. The rules are being redeveloped as we speak. To me, it’s an exciting time to even want to be going into entrepreneurship.

Monique:
Yeah, Antoine, I want to end off talking about some of the work that you are doing and how people can tap into the resources that you already have. So are there any resources that people can go to you for? For, or how can people work with you? Maybe if they’re in the areas that you serve, talk about some of the ways that they can do so.

Antwon:
So my motto has always been, I have to pay it forward. Similar to I was able to get my start. So what I’ve tried to do is, hey, look, I’m willing to help those who are able to display a level of genuine character, that they’re willing to do what’s necessary. And when I say what’s necessary, I mean, work hard, be innovative, be honest, you know, do the things you need to do in order to strive. I’m willing to either a, make an introduction, make an investment. If the numbers make Senate, can make legal requirements, or make an introduction to someone who can or hire. Those are the three things that I’ve been setting myself up to be be done. That’s my long term goal.

Antwon:
In the interim, I’ve built a network for those who in technology to hopefully be at the point where I can use it as a big test lab. So if you are having innovation or app or so forth, being able to work with you to test it on my network from different types of smart devices, utility devices, all that type stuff. For example, we’re standing up right now in the city of Morrow, which is just south of the Atlanta airport, a small smart city network where we’re doing fiber, lower wan, wireless, Wi Fi, LTE, 5G, just to enable entrepreneurs to test their different devices for smart city homes, businesses, and so forth over the network.

Monique:
That’s dope.

Antwon:
So, you know, my goal is to try to remove a lot of the barriers that entrepreneurs, especially black entrepreneurs, have where they don’t have access to certain technologies or infrastructure and, you know, make it available. So that’s my goal to start.

Monique:
And how can people connect with you to do those things?

Antwon:
So if you’re here in Atlanta, just reach out to me. My email address is aalso broo kinc.com. you can also check me out on LinkedIn. I think that’s the best way to also reach out to me is to go through LinkedIn. So for me, that’s the first prerequisite in that if you are in LinkedIn, you have people connected to you, yours. You’re serious. I can’t tell you how many people I have met at a coffee shop and talked to. I give them their email, and of course they try to hit me up for money.

Antwon:
And when I go check, validate. Are you real? Are you serious about, you know, business and entrepreneurship? They have no presence. They have a social media as far as Facebook or something, but they’re not serious about doing business. So the best way, if you really are serious, look me up on LinkedIn and Antoine, also perfect.

Monique:
Antoine, any upcoming projects or initiatives that you’re working on?

Antwon:
As I stated before, we are actively building our network in Clayton County, Georgia. We are preparing to expand to more multiple states. We’re building on the military base, and we have another ten more bases we’re looking at expanding to. So there, there’s a lot going on. And of course, we would love to be able to expand international, but we’re taking it, you know, one state at a time here in the US.

Monique:
Love that. And so you’ve had a pretty interesting, and like we talked about, journey, and you come out on the other side. Any advice for, for an entrepreneur that’s in their first year of business.

Antwon:
The journey of entrepreneurship is slow, steady. It is thankless. It is it’s not fun, and it’s meant to be that way. Anyone who tells you you’re gonna get rich quick, in my opinion, is lying to you because that expense hits every month, every. Just not so. You have to be amortized your income over the long term. Once you get to a level success, you gotta have to deal with legal, you have to deal with lawsuits, you have to deal with suing vendors or being sued. You’re gonna have to deal with.

Antwon:
From an HR standpoint, you’re dealing with employees, you’re dealing with situations. There’s all kinds of different dangers that can happen. But on the opposite side, you get a sense of fulfillment, you get a sense of flexibility. You can start mapping your future and working towards it versus someone doing it for you. You have a level of freedom, but of course, to whom much is given, much is required. So you have to have discipline. So all of those things culminate to, you have to be grounded, and you have to be real with yourself. People that walk around that are truly successful, you have to.

Antwon:
You have to learn how to see them, because there’s a lot of people that walk around, around with nice trinkets and drive fancy cars and live in big houses and barely able to keep the lights on in the business. So you have to know those. You have to be to see those who are really in a position that can. Can help you grow and be fulfilled, and those who are just looking at, trying to entice you to join your resources so that they can take in, you know, leave you stranded. Just be very wary of the quick rich schemes. Be very wary of those who look like they’re winning. Be able to read between the lines. I tell a lot of my mentees.

Antwon:
I did a social experiment over the past five years where every day I drove, I had bought a car for my daughter after I had to sell one, one of my cars. So I bought my daughter a 2100 cord. She was supposed to get a driver’s license and before she went to college, and she didn’t do it. So I just kept driving that car, and I’ve driven it for the past four years. And I watch as I leave my home, drive on the highway how you. You learn how to live, be comfortable in your own skin, and as an entrepreneur, you have to be able to do that. And you have to be able to detach yourself from the social stigma of, I got to wear these clothes or drive this, and just to be touted as success. No, success has nothing to do with that.

Antwon:
And that has taught me an invaluable lesson that I tell people you’re going to be successful. When you can walk yourself into a goodwill or thrift, stop and pick out a suit and be willing to wear that to a meeting and look like you just had a tailor made, that’s the fabric you got to cut yourself.

Monique:
That’s good stuff. Solid advice. And Antoine, this is the black man who lead series. So work life imbalance is a theme for our black men who lead initiative this year. So how are these elements represented in your entrepreneurial journey?

Antwon:
Work life balance. Number one, if you are, if you have a significant other, you need to give them a minimum of 90 minutes of your time every day to be around to talk to them, to check in. It’s good for you, and it’s good for them. They have to feel like they’re part of your world. You also have to give yourself 90 minutes reading physical, something that gives you a rejection charge, and everything else. Try not to consume yourself, your time, with things that are wasteful, such as looking at too much tv, playing video games, being in mindless conversations with people that are not moving you forward. Things will help you get a level of balance. And the last part, get sleep.

Antwon:
You know, everybody say, hey, you know, those who sleep, you’re missing out. It’s like, no, you need to be, to recharge.

Monique:
Right?

Antwon:
Be effective if, you know, you sitting here sleeping, and so all, everything else works out from there. You know, my, my day is, I tell people I have a. Have a stream schedule. Two years ago, I built out a gym in my basement. So every morning, and this is pretty much Monday through Friday, and then weekends, I variate a little bit. But every morning I get up at 04:00 a.m. and from 04:00 a.m. to 630 is my time.

Antwon:
From 630 to 745 is my wife’s time. And then I’m in the car and I’m headed to my office a little bit after eight. I’m in the bed every night by 930, no question asked.

Monique:
That’s a good routine. That is great. I love that. And I love that you talk about the sleep, because I feel like I see that with a lot of entrepreneurs that I speak with as well on the podcast, they are prioritizing sleep. So. And then the world says, oh, no, entrepreneurs don’t sleep. I’m like, yes, you do know. Yeah, you have to.

Antwon:
You gotta stop your sleep allows you to recharge wall. So you actually stop problems in your sleep. Yeah, you reflect it. So by time you get up. Like, I’m a morning person. So when I get up, I’m thinking through it. I’m solving problems that I have to do, working out, and, you know, I’m thinking through, or I am taking that time to catch up on current events or looking at podcasts and learning different things about what’s going on in the world. And that’s my time to kind of recharge.

Antwon:
So when I sit down in front of my computer, it’s gonna.

Monique:
Yeah, I love that. And speaking of, are there any tools or resources that have helped you, maybe books in your entrepreneurial journey that you could recommend to my audience?

Antwon:
Yeah. Well, it’s two right off, right off the bat. Millionaire next door is a favorite. The book who moved my cheese? Is a great book. I am, although, you see, I’m very engaged. I am a recall, a introvert, extrovert reading this book. I don’t have the title in front of me, but it helped me understand introversion and personalities and how it impacts business, so forth. I got it right.

Antwon:
The introvert advanced how extrovert world.

Monique:
Write that one down. Okay, well, I’m writing the other ones down. Well, we got to put those in the show notes, but I haven’t read that one. I gotta check that one out.

Antwon:
And there’s another book. I just cannot get the title, but I would definitely send your email with it. And it helped me understand the different aspect of masculinity and feminine and understanding balance and the interwoven of those, which is allow both my wife, me and my wife’s relationship to even go even further because I’m able to look at the world to horizon versus vice versa.

Monique:
It’s beautiful. I love that. Yeah, we need that one, too. We need that recommendation. Okay. And my final question is, what does it mean to you to be black in business?

Antwon:
That’s a hard one. Because my first thing is I’ve grown to realize that being black is viewed through other people in that you have to contend with their bias and their issues. And I had to figure out, and this puts me in my early twenties, that no race, no culture owns good behaviors nor own bad behaviors. So you have to define what your common moral fabric is and how you’re going to operate within that. So I look at myself as a man who happens to be black, but I also honor the history as being a descendant of both african slaves and white settlers. So I’ve had to understand the diverse aspect of my history where I know I am identified as a black man. I operate as a black man, but I also elevate to a level of conscious awareness of responsibility as a man and my contribution and how I’m held accountable and being the best man I can and the best representation of a black man I can.

Monique:
That is a black man who leads. I love that. So perfect. Antoine, thank you so much for being on the Blacks of business podcast. This has been a phenomenal conversation. I’ve learned truly so much about an industry I had no idea about and just the work that you were doing. Thank you so much. And thank you again for being a guest on the show.

Antwon:
I do appreciate, appreciate it. I thank you. And anytime you want to chat about anything else, just let me know.

Monique:
Definitely, definitely.