One in London to cover black communities there and in the rest of Europe, and a bureau in South Africa, West Africa and the Caribbean. But Rojas was turned down by every firm and fund he approached. Three of us went in to speak in front of five people at a table, and we had 10 minutes. Despite the offensiveness of the question, it has an interesting answer. As have many others before him, Rojas found that black celebrities are not given to speculative investments in new media.
Most black wealth is first-generation wealth.
That's not the money that goes into high-risk ventures. He was smart and articulate, but he didn't have his revenue stream crystallized. Bikini was headed by a dynamic team which has strong links in the entertainment industry. In the real world, you don't have an enormous number of black consumers buying from black companies. Although he's never met TBWT's founder, he suggests that Rojas may be too editorial-minded and not sufficiently aware of business reality.