Fernanda Ribeiro is CEO of Conta Black, a company created after a partner was denied a loan at a traditional bank
After a sabbatical to recover from burnout, Fernanda Ribeiro39 years old, she found in her skin, her color and the experiences of the people close to her a reason to undertake. It all started with AfroBusiness, a network of black liberal entrepreneurs, founded in 2017, and today its work has expanded to the financial market, a space traditionally occupied by white men.
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He is the CEO of Black accounta company it describes as a “hub for financial products and services.” The company was created in 2018 with the aim of being a financial institution that looks without discrimination to the black and peripheral public.
“One of our partners, who has always been an entrepreneur, and when he needed credit he was denied credit. And then you can imagine that he was negative or had some problem, but no,” says Fernanda, recalling a story that happened more than 15 years ago and which served as the seed for the creation of Conta Black.
Years later, already working at AfroBusiness, similar stories appeared. “When we started interacting with other Black entrepreneurs, we saw that they were going through the exact same thing. They were denied credit, they couldn’t open accounts and since then we had the idea, together with other partners, to open the Black Account,” he says.
Today the financial center has more than 60 thousand customers across the country. Of these, Fernanda says about 70% are women and 80% are black. For her, the institution’s clientele “reflects Brazil”.
What makes the Black Account different
Like any other financial institution, to register with Conta Black you need to follow some criteria, such as submitting documents. Furthermore, you don’t make a credit request one day and approve it the next day, there are also factors to analyze as in other banks. The difference, however, “lies in the intentionality” of the company, says Fernanda.
“We want to go in and understand the specifics of our customer so we can offer products that meet their needs,” he says.
He adds that the company has set up some lines of credit aimed at its core audience: suburban entrepreneurs. And, for now, credit plans aimed at individuals continue to be expanded.
In the company’s DNA, leadership positions are filled mostly by people of color. Fernanda states that non-black people work at Conta Black, but they are the protagonists.
“I always support corporate diversity and, when starting my own company, it would be completely inappropriate not to bring these values here,” he considers.
The company takes its commitments and its social mission seriously. Last semester, for example, the financial institution launched a course for Black financial advisors that was 100% free. The action was carried out in partnership with Banco Genial and TopInvest.
Goals for the future
Fernanda had already worked for many years as a manager in the internal communications sector in a company. That’s when fatigue set in and she ended up in hospital, diagnosed with burnout. “I worked, on average, 14, 18 hours a day,” he recalls.
At the time, Fernanda believed she had reached stagnation in her career. He had nowhere else to grow, even though he gave everything he had. “Being a black woman, I always gave birth three, six times more, and that ended up leading to burnout.”
From the day she had the crisis and was admitted to hospital until she resigned from her job, 1 year passed. During this time, the executive attempted to create a financial plan so that he could spend a year without working, as part of a career transition. She sought out courses, sought to better understand her work, and dedicated herself to “understanding who she was in the world.”
Then, at the end of that sabbatical, AfroBusiness and, the following year, Conta Black emerged. Now, on a personal level, Fernanda is already planning another transition for the next few years. You want to go back to school, get a master’s degree or invest in research. It will be an opportunity to bring your professional experience to the academic world.
“I think I want to do new things. I think I have a strong instinct for transformation, to try to make micro changes to my surroundings,” he says.
Source: Terra
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