Barnabas Uba Shakur, CEO Foot Soldiers, LLC

Barnabas Uba Shakur (BUS) is an internationally recognized and multi-award winning social entrepreneur. Originally from the slums of Trinidad, he is the son of a well-known, but broke Calypsonian. His mother desperate for better opportunities migrated to the USA with her children. The transition was drastic; the 80's and 90's Bed-Stuy had a different type of poverty. Just barely coming out of the crack epidemic, gangs, drugs, violence, poor family structures and failing schools were rampant.

Completely disconnected from his father, he grew up in a fatherless neighborhood. Adapted to Bed-Stuy culture by his teenage years, he began writing and performing spoken word. By his late teens he performed from the west to the east coast of America. In 2000, his poetic skills gave him the opportunity to perform at Russell Simmons Hampton’s estate for a fundraiser. He had such an impact on Russell Simmons and his team that he was offered an internship at Phat Farm`s headquarters, igniting his passion for entrepreneurship.

At the age of 20 BUS`closest friend, was arrested and found guilty of murder receiving a life-sentence at a maximum-security prison; BUS was devastated. His friend belonged to a notorious gang known as the "Bloods.” BUS wanted to help, but with little resources what could he do? Right after, BUS' elder brother returned from boot camp with a handwritten business plan in a 150 page composition notebook; inspired by one brother and broken by another BUS wrote a plan that would change the lives of many.