Black Entrepreneur Creates Ride-Sharing App

Michael DeWalt created the new ride app to help generate wealth and make ride-sharing easier for the Black community.

Michael DeWalt, a Peoria, Illinois native, in order to make ride sharing easier for the Black community, he created the app, Ride. He also launched the app with the aim of improving the Black economy.

DeWalt stated that he was inspired by Black authors Dr.Boyce Watkins, a finance professor, who wrote books encouraging Blacks to create the opportunity themselves and not wait for the white people to hire them and Dr. Claud Anderson, a cultural expert, who has egged Black people on to gain knowledge from immigrants’ use of group economics to make sure riches are generated and kept in the community.

“I was inspired by great teachers to build something Black-owned,” DeWalt said. “I figure what better way to build something than starting a mobile application. I decided to start with a ride-sharing application as I saw [a] big opportunity in that market.”

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company owner created the application with a team of engineers, who were his classmates at the Illinois University. The app allows drivers and passengers to create business for each other. Hundreds of users currently use this from over 24 American cities, as well as abroad in countries like Nigeria, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

The 30-year-old said that the landscape company he formed last year helped him to grow and become a better entrepreneur, as it helped teach him how to get resources to start a company and also gave him the great idea of creating a platform rather than a labor service.

The app was created with the incentive to make sure that there is a circulation of money in the Black economy and also to create a service cheaper than Uber and Lyft. “Ride app provides [the] opportunity to be a driver and make money for the Black community, if the app continues to grow, drivers could do it fully or part-time to generate income.”

“The goal is for the app to be known worldwide, I want to generate enough wealth to help Black communities build our own libraries, schools, grocery stores, police departments [and] distribution centers,” Dewalt said.

We support Michael DeWalt in his commendable endeavors to help the Black community and make it a better place. We surely do need development in our community, and that’s what DeWalt is all about. We hope his app reaches the apex of ride services.

Both ‘RideBe a Passenger’ and ‘RideBe a Driver’ are available on Google Play and Apple Store.

Source: Atlanta Black Star