Successful Black Entrepreneurs

4Entrepreneurship Through Acquisitions

“Wayne doesn't like start-ups. Let someone else do the R&D. He prefers to buy and pay a little more for a concept that has demonstrated some success and may just need help in capital and management.” ¹

ONE OF THE most popular courses at Harvard Business School and other graduate business schools is “Entrepreneurship via Acquisition” (EVA). Its popularity over the past decade rivals that of courses about entrepreneurial start-ups. This practice of becoming an entrepreneur through the acquisition of a company has also increased in popularity with Black entrepreneurs.

Davonne Reaves and Jessica Myers are two brilliant Black women who represent the successful use of this entrepreneurial model. In January 2021, as part of a collective, these women paid over $8 million to acquire a hotel.

Reaves and Myers met and became college roommates at Georgia State University in 2006. After graduation, they went their separate ways to pursue professional careers.

Reaves worked in various positions in the hospitality industry starting as a front desk manager at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, progressing through various event planning, hotel operations, hotel development, and consulting positions. In 2015, she moved to Boston to work as an associate for CHMWarnick, the country's largest third-party hotel asset management company, where she managed portfolios totaling over $1 billion in hotel assets.² After working with CHMWarnick for two years, Reaves returned ...