Well, I�m not a billionaire. But I have had a good amount of success in business. My company, Inheritance Capital Group, manages a portfolio of 3 million square feet of office and warehouse space worth more than $200 million. Our clients include GM, Lockheed Martin, Lufthansa, UPS, Reichold and Eagle Ottawa. And we�ve been 100% occupied since the day we made our first deal. As I like to say, �We�re not your traditional real estate company. We buy corporate America.�
I believe anyone who is fortunate enough to achieve monetary success has a moral obligation to use that money for the greater good. This is what I refer to as the �double bottom line� � the idea that if you make a profit, you have a responsibility to make a difference. And that is exactly what I�m trying to do in my hometown of Detroit � an area that seems to fall two steps back for every hard-fought step forward.
Every single dollar that Inheritance Capital Group makes has an impact on the Greater Detroit community, because I am insistent on adhering to that double bottom line. So, while the company�s bottom line is to make a profit through private equity holdings, my personal bottom line is to help the city of Detroit, and give kids every opportunity to succeed in life.
To this end, I have founded two track and field events, the Robert S. Shumake Scholarship Relays for high school runners in Michigan and the Midwest, and the Robert Shumake HBCU Challenge for college cross-country athletes. As a result of these two events, we have been able to send 30 kids to college, and we�ve helped 7,500 others get there more easily. And I�m currently hard at work realizing my ultimate dream � opening a Detroit charter school geared specifically toward real estate, general entrepreneurship and green business.
For six years now, the Robert S. Shumake Scholarship Relays (the largest private track and field competition in Michigan) has shown kids academic achievement counts just as much as athletic ability. Since the first event kicked off in 2005, more than $30,000 in scholarships has been awarded. I established the relays to help the student athletes attain their goals and encourage them to strive for a successful future. As a former all-city track star at Edwin Denby High School, I definitely gained important life skills (discipline, dedication, perseverance and teamwork) from my participation on the track and field team. The Scholarship Relays are my way of giving back.
For college runners, Nike Tn Pas Cher the Robert Shumake HBCU Challenge does much the same thing for cross country runners at historically black colleges and universities that the Shumake Relays do for Michigan high school runners � namely bring athletes together and illustrate the importance of hard work, academic integrity and perseverance.
But my biggest challenge � and hopefully my greatest accomplishment � is creating a brand new Detroit charter school, the Shumake Academy for the Advancement of Green Business and Real Estate. This school would provide middle and high school students in Detroit with a curriculum dedicated to preparing them for the real world. Very few colleges even have coursework dealing with real estate entrepreneurship, and this academy would start kids on a path to success from their teens. They would learn algebra using architectural drawings, there would be a green laptop on every desk, kids would learn about mortgages and interest rates before getting caught in a bubble like so many adults today.
The bottom line is that the Shumake Academy would train the CEOs of the future, kids Nike Tn armed with the knowledge to start and run their own companies before even setting foot in college. The academy already has a Michigan Department of Education grant for $500,000 and we are currently involved in developing a curriculum.
Finally, I want to mention a very interesting trip I took this summer that really opened my eyes. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Ghana and work with the KENO (Kid Entrepreneurs Need Opportunities) Micro-Fund. We were working with the Minister of Education on an initiative to help keep rural kids in school longer. We found it costs $500 to send one child to school for one year. I have set a personal goal to raise the funds to �adopt� 100 kids and pay for their schooling. But in addition to just sending them to school, KENO would also teach these kids about entrepreneurship. As I�ve stated many times, entrepreneurship is one of the most important ideas a child can learn, because the skills involved will help them in every aspect of your life.
Robert S. Shumake
CEO, Inheritance Capital Group
Founder, Robert S. Shumake Scholarship Relays
Founder, Robert Shumake HBCU Challenge
(To contact Robert Shumake, please e-mail Lisa Maas at lmaas@publicityworkspr.com)
Complete Contact Info:
Lisa Maas Founder/Owner, Air Max 90 Publicity Works
306 S. Washington Ave., Suite 208
Royal Oak, MI 48167
(248) 691-4466
lmaas@publicityworkspr.com
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