The Los Angeles Sentinel was the gathering space for influential members of the Black community – from the grass-roots organizations to political, education, and business leaders – eager to meet Darrel Hackett, president and CEO of BMO Bank, and Eric Smith, vice chairman of the company.
BMO (Bank of Montreal), is one of the largest banks in the Midwest with branches in 22 states and more than 40,000 ATMs and digital banking capabilities in all 50 states . The bank recently acquired BMO Stadium, formerly Banc of California Stadium, near downtown L.A.
BMO Bank has committed $16 billion to ignite small businesses owned by people of color or women in the state of California.
“When we initially embarked in this event, our desire was to create a dynamic group of people to network with a financial institution that is committed and passionate about working and helping in our community,” said Danny J. Bakewell, Jr., L.A. Sentinel executive editor and president of The Bakewell Company.
“We have someone here today from every aspect of our community, from housing development to education,” he noted. Public officials in attendance represented the surrounding cities of Hawthorne, Inglewood, Compton, Los Angeles, and Long Beach.
Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., L.A. Sentinel executive publisher and chairman of The Bakewell Company, greeted the crowd as he endorsed BMO’s mission of giving back to people of color. While Bakewell’s Taste of Soul festival, now in its 19th year, attracts people of all ethnicities, he made is clear that his focus was connecting Black people.
“If you want to get with the Latino community, I’m not your guy, but if you want to connect to Black people, come see me,” said Bakewell, Sr., a veteran social justice activist and longtime advocate of the African American community.
Mayor Karen Bass initially contacted Bakewell, Sr. about hosting the event. She mentioned to Hackett the Sentinel’s tradition of hosting events that support networking within the Black community.
“I called Danny right away after I met Darrel to say that our community needs to know who he is and needs to know about BMO. We have a stadium! You’ve watched the commercials. The idea is that you have two African American men who are at the center of this bank, we needed to know that,” she said.
Hackett says the company has invested million to brand BMO bank. “We even had to put our name on a stadium, as well as all the marketing out here to make that happen. And it’s meaningful to us,” he said.
He suggests to the attendees that BMO is different type of bank. “That’s really hard to say to people, you have to experience as you’re working with us, as you see us. But our purpose is to boldly grow the good in business and in life. The reason we reached out to the mayor is because we really want to make a difference.”
Smith was asked to share the type of programs offered. “We created a part of our BMO empowerment group called the Economic Equity Advisory Groups. Our sole focus in to cultivate relationships with black business from $10 million and up revenue wise, across all the different industries,” he said.
According to Smith, BMO will focus on providing all the banking services, from treasury management, cash management, lines of credit, lending, but also capital markets and investment banking.
“The focus is to make sure were getting the access to capital out there because we recognize that too many small businesses don’t have the ability to cultivate a relationship with major banks. We also are very focused on increasing the pipeline of Black-owned businesses,” said Smith.
This story has been updated from the original posting.
