Brandon Calloway
“What if we all donated $10 a month and invested the money in Black-owned businesses?”
This question was posed in a Facebook group for African American business owners and sparked the idea for Brandon Calloway to launch Generating Income For Tomorrow (G.I.F.T). More on this in a second….
Before launching G.I.F.T., Brandon served in the U.S. Army, studying kinesiology. From there, he had a long career in personal training and gym management. He then shifted into the non-profit world, taking a role with United Way of Greater Kansas City in August 2018.
Then in April 2020, Brandon saw that question in the Facebook group and, within a month, had filed the paperwork to launch G.I.F.T along with Cornell Gorman and Christopher Stewart.
G.I.F.T’s goal is to provide grants to African American-owned businesses in Kansas City, with a specific interest in companies that operate in low-income areas. They believe it will create more jobs and potentially convert an economically disadvantaged area into a place of economic opportunity.
They provided their first grant in August of 2020 to a local juice company on Troost and have been providing grants every month since. Each month they provide grants in the amount of $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000.
To date, they have provided over $687,000 in grants to 35 businesses, creating 50 new jobs. In addition, all grant recipients receive a team of technical assistance professionals in Business Coaching, Accounting, Marketing, and Legal Services.
The ultimate goal of G.I.F.T is to have a yearly donation total of over $2,00,000. Once they can reach that consistently, they can replicate the model and expand the program to other cities.
Most recently, they opened a full-service business center on Prospect Avenue. The building offers a coworking space with cubicles available to reserve, banking services, accounting services, legal services, and marketing services. To provide these services, they have partnered with companies like Lead Bank, Bank of Labor - Labor Division, OCD Financial, Husch Blackwell, and VMLY&R.
Outside of being the CEO of G.I.F.T., Brandon launched his own comic book company, Darkmoon Comics, in October 2020. Instead of single-issue comics, they release each as a 60-page graphic novel.
He is also a board member at reStart Inc. and was just named a 2022 NextGen Leader by the Kansas City Business Journal.
I know KC is in good hands when people like Brandon dedicate themselves to making it a better place for everyone. His passion and work ethic will have a lasting impact on the community.
Website: kansascitygift.org