Mike Pence sold me my American dream — Nantomah Joseph James

Nantomah Joseph James, President, Prosperity for Africa, a non-profit organization working with black communities in America to grow their businesses, has revealed how American politician and lawyer, Mike Pence, sold to him his American dream; an experience which, according to him, has continued to inspire his philosophy of philanthropy since 2018.

Nantomah better known The Black Mentor, a revered project management professional, life coach and real estate investor at Mentor America LLC and Investors Capital LLC, who, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic has provided business support to several companies and also gifted $10,000 business grants to two companies in Nigeria, as ways of giving back, said his encounter with Pence actually led to the establishment of Prosperity Africa.

He said: “In 2018 when I met the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, he sold me my American dream. He said to me, “The American dream is: come here, work hard and always give back.” This made me establish Prosperity for Africa in 2019.”

Speaking on how he has stayed true to that dream, the serial entrepreneur who currently runs 13 businesses in the US, said Prosperity for Africa single-handedly fed 25,000 Africans in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reiterating that his vision is to inspire businesses to succeed, The Black Mentor , while recalling how he had moved from Africa to the United States with only $5000, built his 13 businesses from scratch and impacted thousands in Africa through his mentoring brand said all he had upon his arrival in the US as a black immigrant was a library card.

“When I came to the United States, all I had access to was a library card. So, I took advantage of that and for six months, I read books of successful persons in the United States,” he recalled.

Speaking on his initial challenges as an immigrant, Nantomah who, as a project management professional had trained over five thousand professionals and bankers in Nigeria prior to his relocation to the US, said one thing he had working for him was his mindset.

“Just like every other black, I had the challenge of fitting into the society and finding my feet as I had moved here with my family. I also had issues of peer pressure, people wanting me to be normal and do things the way they all did it. For example, I had never been a 9-5 person but a businessman my whole life. So, a lot of people did not understand why I was looking at setting up a business instead of doing a 9-5.

“Amid these, I however had one thing working for me; which was my mindset. I had to work on my mind always and that made all the difference for me.

Frankly speaking, I think the problem with almost everything in life is your mindset. Someone once said it all depends on how you see things,” Nantomah who has since been honoured by the Who is Who Professionals, the Who is Who in America, and President Donald Trump with the Presidential Honours Roll, explained.