Take-A-Lesson with Maggie Anderson, CEO of The Empowerment Experiment

“In the most diverse communities and predominantly White suburbs, the dollar is recycled several times, sustaining the neighborhood, funding the schools, empowering the community for 7 - 29 days. The Black consumer dollar stays in the Black community for only six hours!” Those words were spoken by Maggie Anderson, CEO of The Empowerment Experiment, and with those words, The Empowerment Experiment (formerly The Ebony Experiment) as born. The Empowerment Experiment captured the nation in 2009 and changed dialogue about Black-owned Business. Those amazing, but true statistics are one of the reasons the black community suffers economically and disproportionately. What would happen if those dollars remained in the community? Some of the results would be better school funding, vibrant town centers, cleaner environment, and lower crime rates. What started as an exercise in economics became a movement that is revitalizing communities and inspiring people all over the world. The Empowerment Experiment (EE) is not about exclusion. On the contrary, it is about accountability, responsibility, fairness, ownership, respect and pride. Maggie Anderson is a business strategist with expertise & experience in the legal, research, communications and business strategy domains. Prior to founding EE, Mrs Anderson held leadership roles at McDonalds Corporation where she developed, presented, and implemented influential growth strategies and venture plans in the areas of diversity, emergent industries and global markets, market segmentation, communications, business intelligence, and corporate responsibility. Mrs Anderson is a respected leader in the Chicago business community. Mrs Anderson has a BA in Political Science from Emory University, an MBA in Economics and Strategy from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.