On a mission to improve the financial wellness of Black people, Derrius Quarles has blended today’s technology with time-tested models for group success to create BREAUX Capital.

“Specifically, we want to give Black men, whose cultural experience is unique, a space to be recognized in financial services, an area that traditionally has been unwelcoming,” said Quarles, who grew up in foster care in Chicago and went on to earn scholarships and graducate from Morehouse College with honors.

“Black men are more likely to think of their legacy for their children, but they usually inherit limited resources, which means they’re trying to achieve the same things as others, but with less.”

Created in October 2016 to address wealth-building, BREAUX Capital is an online membership organization and investment club in which members make a commitment to save a certain amount every two weeks – think weigh-ins at Weight Watchers or the regular savings required in an old-fashioned bank Christmas Club.

Members discuss and vote on what investments their savings will fund, including equities, real estate investment trusts, ETFs and private equity opportunities, Quarles said. Education and support is provided along the way, including how to cope with shocks such as a pandemic-sparked job loss.

To counter the skepticism and distrust he said Black people justifiably feel toward financial institutions, Quarles has made transparency the core value of BREAUX Capital. It’s also the reason the firm is structured as a mutual organization, with members as owners. Would it be fair to compare him to a young John Bogle, who organized Vanguard that way to benefit fund investors?

“That would be an honor,” Quarles said.

— Evan Cooper