Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, a show where we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is Kyle Webb, a partner of Webb Investments and Owner and Principal of SylKi Management. Thank you so much for being here, Kyle.
Kyle Webb
Oh, Maya, it's my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Maya Gwynn
You've been interested in business from childhood. What sparked that early passion, and how do you feel? Like it shaped how you are as a businessman today?
Kyle Webb
I grew up in an entrepreneurial household. My mom had her degree from Cal State, LA, in accounting, and she worked as an accountant. My dad also went to Cal State, LA, and then he started to work at McDonald's Corporation. By the time that I came around, he had become a McDonald's franchisee. And so my life, I grew up in this household where our dinner table conversations between my mom, who was really running the back office and my dad was really running the operation of the business, was about entrepreneurship and about what life is like when you own a business. For me, that was my normal. So I didn't know or see anything other than being a businessman. So as a kid, you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. If I didn't say something about sports, I said something about being in business. And I always have loved and enjoyed the conversations about business.
Maya Gwynn
How do you feel like with your talents and also with Webb Investments, you guys have given back to the community, and what do you hope the long-term impact is on the community?
Kyle Webb
So our vision is for a world of prosperity. And we spell that P R O S P A R I T Y, as opposed to the traditional with the P E R I T Y. And we define this word parity as economic opportunity in proportion to the percentage of the population for that group. And so our version of prosperity is what the world will look like if the economic opportunity were equitably distributed. And we start with black folks. And the reason we start with black folks is one, because we're black, but it's also the reason that the Fed starts with black folks is because, typically for socioeconomic indicators, when things are going poorly, black folks are leading indicators. And so when the economy starts to tank, it hits black folks first. So the Federal Reserve looks at black folks to gauge how well the economy is going to do in the future. Same things, when things are going well, we're typically lagging indicators. So we are the last to achieve that kind of benefit. And so for us, we tend to focus in that space. And so what we've always wanted to do is with our business, create opportunities for people, especially that look like us, to be able to participate fully in our economic journey. So whether that's from employment at the levels that they are qualified to participate, but also as we have transitioned out of our previous business into the business that we're into today, which is really more of a manufacturing and construction and real estate development business. There are opportunities that we're going to be able to create for people to potentially build their way to become primes on government contracts. We want to help folks be able to move up the ladder there. So as our infrastructure becomes larger, we'll be able to bring more people on, then their infrastructure will become larger, they'll be able to pass that forward too and then we'll get to a world again that looks like prosperity, even in the P E R I T Y, because we've gotten to parity and then prosperity. P A R I T Y.
Maya Gwynn
What is your advice to members of the Black community who, once they do achieve goals, they're still are faced with racism, and it's still are faced with certain things that have to do with money, because, like we're taught make this amount of money, you'll be able to do this. And for a lot of people, that doesn't happen.
Kyle Webb
Yeah, I don't think that money solves the world's ills, but what it allows you to do is to be able to afford to have other options. I tell people often focus on your options as they are presented to you. Because sometimes we have the option to fight. And if you are not a fighter, if your financial resources are such that you can make different choices, then you have other options. So focus on your options to potentially go to another place. But none of us are going to be devoid of obstacles that get put in our face. And for us, sometimes we have to put our head down and get through those obstacles and develop relationships with people who can help you fight if it's not your fight to fight, right? And so I love that we have organizations, whether they're civil rights attorneys, that will bring up cases if, if the cases are substantial enough so that we can fight the good fight.
Maya Gwynn
One of my favorite quotes, I forgot who said it, but it was that revolution is like a car and every single person is doing something different, and what you guys are doing is giving people resources and giving people education so they can have different options, and that it's not just happening in just one way, and that we're all doing different things. And can you tell us about SylKi Management?
Kyle Webb
So, I am a certified Exit Planning Advisor, and so SylKi Management is a firm that I use to consult in that space. And so, you know, for me and my family, we exited our primary business. We were McDonald's franchisees, and we were financially prepared to do so. And part of what that means is our business was attractive to other people, where they wanted to buy it, and they wanted to buy it at what we felt like was gonna be top dollar. And so we did that part for our business, but we were not prepared for what came next for us, personally, emotionally, in terms of our relationships, in terms of the responsibilities that we had within the context of our business - we were ill prepared for that. It's part of my mission to help people, especially family run enterprises, not have those kinds of experiences. A lot of business owners buy their business, or get into their business before they get married, before they have kids, and it feels like their first child, if you're transitioning out of business, it's like transitioning away. It's like getting a divorce, right? Your income suffers. But if you're prepared and you have a plan, it doesn't have to feel like that. It can feel like you're just transitioning from one passion into the next. We call that rewirement, not retirement. It's not that you stop, it's that you transition into the next. So I want to be here helping people to rewire into their next life.
Maya Gwynn
Wow, I'm gonna tell that to my mom, because she retired two years ago and she's doing a lot of house chores that she probably shouldn't be doing. We're gonna go into our rapid-fire portion. So just the first thing that comes to your mind. If your work had a theme song, what would it be?
Kyle Webb
Kendrick, All Right.
Maya Gwynn
Oh, nice. That's a good one. If you had to teach a master class or a TED Talk on a random skill that you have, it could be silly or serious. What would it be?
Kyle Webb
Leveraging finance, to create value for things that you don't necessarily perceive as having financial value.
Maya Gwynn
Very necessary. And what is your favorite restaurant in the Inland Empire? Or the landmark that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
Kyle Webb
Landmark is the airport, Ontario Airport. I just think about all the commerce that comes through there. And oftentimes we think about the passenger flights that come through there. And to me, I think about everything else that comes through there. It is truly a hub, an international hub for logistics. I love it.
Maya Gwynn
How can people keep up with what you're doing and support you?
Kyle Webb
You can look us up at webbinvestments.com. We're also at Webb Investments on most of the social medias. We love being able to partner with folks. We are an organization for the community, and we're looking to create parity anybody who's on that journey. We'd love to participate with and vice versa, we hope.
Maya Gwynn
Thank you so much for being here.
Kyle Webb
No thank you. It's great.
Maya Gwynn
Kyle Webb is partner of Webb Investments and Owner and Principal of SylKi Management. Support for this segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long term investments in Black led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn.
