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FEATURED ENTREPRENEURS
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By
Bolaji Oyejide
Yaba Baker grew up in a
good neighborhood that went bad. By 1984, drugs had invaded his neighborhood,
and that's when everything changed. Watching friends die or throw their
lives away from the effects of drugs had a profound effect on Yaba. He
had to endure everyday not knowing which friend would die next.
The pain of these experiences became Yaba's driving force to make a difference
for the African American race. At age 21 the idea for DBW, Inc. was conceived
by Yaba Baker. This would be a company that would change the way African
American children think about themselves by exposing them to their TRUE
history.
THE
HBCU NETWORK:
Tell Us About DBW, Inc.
YABA BAKER:
The mission of DBW, Inc. is to teach every child, especially African American
children, about the great heritage and contributions of Africans and African
Americans, and the beauty of the African American race.
If African American
children understood their TRUE heritage, selling drugs would be beneath
them. If African American children understood that they come from greatness,
thoughts of killing someone like themselves would be unthinkable.
Each
one
of them would know that they have the potential to literally change the world.
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"If African American
children understood that they come from greatness,
thoughts of killing someone like themselves would be unthinkable.
Each one of them would know that they have the potential to literally change the
world."
|
THE
HBCU NETWORK:
Where did the name DBW come from?
YABA BAKER:
DBW are my Grandmother's initials; Daisy Bell Williams.
She's 95 now.
I know that she will not be with me forever and I wanted to honor her. She
is a beautiful woman who made me understand that I should always put God
first in my life. She and my mother are the two most influential people in
my life. My Mom is also an amazing person. She raised me as a single
parent and was able to instill so much confidence and individuality in me
that I was able to resist the negative peer pressure growing up.
She always believed in me, so much that she took out a $3,500 loan to
support my first personalized book franchise when she was struggling financially.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Why books?
YABA BAKER:
I wanted to do something to uncover the jewels, the gold pieces in our
community. I hadn't planned to do books - I had planned instead to create
some sort of financial company so that I could teach techniques on how
to make money to the Black community.
However, as I started doing research on Black history for a
speech in
a Public Speaking class that I was taking at the time, I was amazed at
how much I didn't know!
I discovered that Africans had made great contributions in areas
like
Math, Science... I decided to pass it on so that average kids in the burbs
or in the ghetto could benefit from this knowledge.
I felt that books would have bigger impact on the community. They would
reach more people, all kinds of people, from children to adults, and educate
more African Americans than I ever could with a financial company. I also
wanted to find a way to reach the younger generation coming up in
an environment
of violence and drugs -- give them the knowledge at an early age like
5 and 6 years old to help them build self-esteem as well as a positive
self-image.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
So how did you get your company started?
YABA BAKER:
I established the company in 1994 as a personalized book franchise. This
involved putting the child's name in the story. The kids and the parents
loved it, but it was cost prohibitive. Also, none of the books had black
characters. The stories were fairytales like Beauty and The Beast, as
well as cartoons like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. I wanted to introduce
some black characters, but the printing company wasn't trying to go there.
I finally broke off and did my own thing. I decided to self-publish my
books. One really has two choices in getting a book out there - to self
publish, or work with an established publisher. For black literature,
I advise self publishing, because a white-owned company has a difficult
time understanding what's important and what's not important in your story.
Once you turn it over to them, they own it. I knew that if I went with
a publishing company, my content would be watered down. In addition to
publishing the book, I had to find an illustrator, an editor, and a printer.
I had to get barcodes and an ISDN number. All of this took about two years.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Two years?!
YABA BAKER:
Yes. Two years. I was still printing books during this process.
I printed my first Just Like Me book - "How African American Inventions
Changed America". I initially printed 200 copies, which sold in 45 days.
I subsequently printed another 1000 copies, which sold in 3 months.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
How did you market your books initially?
YABA BAKER:
There are essentially only 3 major bookstores in the country. You've got
one or two people that handle small press. If they don't like your stuff,
you won't get into 80% of the bookstores in the country.
To market a book as a small author or publisher, you have to call EVERYBODY
you know. Call everybody. Make a synopsis of your book, and send it to
everyone. Don't try to sell it; try and get them to read the synopsis
and give you feedback. This way, they won't feel the pressure of you trying
to sell them something, and can give you very valuable feedback.
My first break was with a D.J. in Washington D.C. that I knew. His show
aired on one of the top ten stations in the city at the time. I asked
him to look at the books and tell me if he liked them. He loved them,
and featured my first book on his show.
My first REALLY big break was with B.E.T. I had a contact that worked
there, so I gave him the books and asked him to give it to Teen Summit
producers. I sent each of them a package with a letter. They liked the
books, And ended up putting the books on the Teen Summit show under the
"WHAT's NEW" section! So many people called me to tell me that they had
seen my books on B.E.T.! I had to watch B.E.T. for another month before
seeing the episode! That was the big break. People immediately started
calling and sending letters from all over the country.
Never think anything is too small to do. Call everyone, no matter how
high or how low. You never know. I was talking to radio programs and people
on the street. People will introduce you to higher ups that they know,
and then you have to network like crazy. So once you get your foot in
the door, it's up to you to do the networking to move on to the next phase.
Also, go to every black networking function you can. Go with an open attitude
without trying to get stuff from people. Don't go with an agenda. People
can tell when you have an agenda, and are trying to sell them something.
Just go to network.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Tell us about your time at Hampton University
YABA BAKER:
My major at Hampton was Electrical Engineering. I was always good at Math
and analytical work.
I had planned to become and engineer but my interest changed while I was
at Hampton. My interest was piqued by the personalized books and business
became my focus.
I had a kiosk at Hampton when I started with personalized books. The students
there really supported me, and referred business my way. I met some great
people at Hampton. Several of the people I met at Hampton helped me establish
my company.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
What was your transition like from growing up in DC to living on campus
at Hampton?
YABA BAKER:
Fortunately I had met a Howard student while working at Foot Locker when
I was 16. He took me under his wing like a little brother and showed me
around Howard's campus. I hung-out at his dorm and at the Howard parties
so I knew what to expect when I went to Hampton.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
What's a typical day in the life of DBW Inc. like?
YABA BAKER:
My day usually starts with a Sales call at 7am.
After the call I get on the Internet to return emails.
At about 10am I pack up books to be delivered, and send them off between
10 and 12 noon.
I spend the afternooon making deals with bookstores or distributors.
I'm also the Operation Leader of Tag Team Washington, DC, so I might work
on promoting our Black
Business Seminar coming up in New York on August
4th for three or four hours. I'll finish-up making phone calls around
9:30 PM.
Between 10pm and midnight I continue to write new stories for my next
line of books. I wrote all 3 books that I've published - I'm currently
not publishing anyone else's work, but will begin to feature other authors
in the near
future.
Between 12 midnight and 2am, I get on e-mail again.
THE HBCU NETWORK: Whoa! When do you sleep?
YABA BAKER:
(Laugh) I find time to take a 30 - 60 minute nap sometime during the day.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Do you plan to expand your market beyond the African American youth?
YABA BAKER:
We're definitely going to cater to other cultures and other languages,
but I want to focus on the African American community initially. I'd like
to branch into African folk tales, and bring those into a storybook format.
I plan to go into African folk tales in the next year or two.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
What are your company goals for the future?
YABA BAKER:
We're planning to be the Black Disney. Right now we create history coloring
books. We're going to expand into fairy tale coloring books with African
Americans playing heroic roles, doing everything from saving the world
to being engineers. They'll have African American features; our hair and
our lips, so kids can see that Black people can be positive role models.
We will also be expanding into Cartoon Animation, starting with half-hour
cartoons, and then grow to producing full-feature movies. We will also
be producing action figures and video games. Kids learn early, and all
they see is Disney. The majority of Disney characters besides the animals
are white. We want to provide an alternative that will show African Americans
as main characters in stories.
My template is Microsoft vs. IBM.
In the mid 80s, no one thought Microsoft could beat IBM. BIll Gates saw
a niche that no one else saw, and he set himself up in a such a manner
that IBM eventually had to buy from his company. He made the whole world
buy from him. The world is mostly people of color. Caucasians only make
up one eighth of the world population. So our market is huge!
THE HBCU NETWORK:
How will you transition to cartoons?
YABA BAKER:
The same way that I transitioned into publishing. I didn't know
anything
about publishing before I got into it. The key is to find and talk to
the best people in that area. Ask them questions, and find out what you
need to do. I plan to find folks who know what they are doing, and hire
them. I want to surround myself with good people, and have them work in
their areas of expertise.
THE HBCU NETWORK:
So where can people find the "Just Like Me" book series?
YABA BAKER:
The books are sold in every state in the United States. They are also
sold in England and Canada. The fastest way is to go online at www.justlikemebooks.com
or you can call or visit your local bookstore and have them order all
three books (by title and author make sure to include both).
THE HBCU NETWORK:
Yaba, thanks so much for your time. We wish you much success in your endeavors.
| Just Like Me Books Web Site |
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