Delta’s Q1 earnings call probably left some analysts questioning their worth after Delta crushed their estimates.  I figured that Delta was just giving away free medallions to get more people to fly with them to make up for the high fuel prices.  Nope, what Delta decided to do, was not just pie in the sky. 

They extended their deal with American Express for ten more years, and the numbers are crazy.

• Over 1 million Delta Amex Users
• Delta’s benefit expected to grow to $7 billion annually
• That’s almost 35% of Delta’s revenue

I’m not a financial advisor, but this might be a good time to diversify your portfolio. Learn about stock dividends here.
 
Read some of the other highlights here (estimated read time 5 mins). 

“Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand.” 

— Oprah Winfrey

If you haven’t heard about Jumia, CNBC said it’s the ‘Amazon of Africa.’  It’ the largest e-commerce operator in Africa and the first African tech startup traded on the NYSE.  That’s impressive, but I’m more impressed by their CEO of Nigeria, Juliet Anammah.  She’s practically running the largest segment of Jumia with regular appearances on CNBC Africa. I can also see her taking the reigns as CEO of Jumia Technologies AG pretty soon (check out her keynote here).
 
Numbers

• Jumia opened up 4/12/19 at $14.50 and closed the day $25.46 a share. Not bad for a day's work
• It’s the parent company, and cofounders are located in Germany. Jumia incorporated and headquartered in Lagos employs 5,128 people.
• Jumia closed at $40.07 as of yesterday.

You can read more about Jumia here (estimated read time 5 mins).

“Cleo McDowell: I'll let him know you're here!
King Jaffe Joffer: No! Do not alert him to my presence! I shall deal with him myself”.

— Coming to America

The headline is provocative for a reason.  After reading the report from executive search consultancy Russell Reynolds, it seems as if CDO’s are mainly figureheads in the eyes of a lot the large corporations instead of members of the executive team. 
 
If it don’t make money, it don’t make sense.
 
These big corporations seem to want diversity and inclusion, well, kind of, but CDO’s aren’t given the budget or flexibility to do their job.  This boils down to the CEO’s and boards thinking D&I doesn’t increase their bottom line.  Mckinsey already told y’all what’s up in their report last year.  “Companies in the top quartile for racial and diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians”.

Everyone is inclusive until they're not. 

Google - 40 executives found 6 women no person of color.

Walmart - 44 executives listed. 11 women 1 male of color (Ben Hasan) over diversity and inclusion.

Apple - 17 executives listed.  4 women and 1 of color (Lisa Jackson) but no diversity executive listed. 

Amazon - Almost all of the executives at the top of Amazon’s consumer-facing businesses, like retail, cloud, and hardware, are white men. Only four of the 48 executives in those roles are women. That number goes up slightly if you include PR and HR roles, but Beth Galetti, senior vice president of human resources, is still Bezos’ only female direct report.

 
Check out the Russel Report here (estimated read time 6 mins).

“Commitment is an act, not a word.” 

— Jean-Paul Sartre

Think differently
 
As entrepreneurs, we often think about innovation and sometimes innovation isn’t about creating a new wheel, but just adding an extra inch to the wheelbase to make the ride smoother.  An example of thinking differently is through the story of Velcro and how George de Mestral turned his study of burrs into what we now know as Velcro. 
 
Check out the full article here (estimated read time 5 mins). 

"Every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation".

— Dean Kamen

'My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for.'

— Tupac Shakar

“A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”

— Malcolm X
 

'Black Men in White Coats’ Are Inspiring Boys to Become Doctors. 

Why this matters: “Some alarming data came out that the number of Black men applying to the field of medicine was decreasing. There were actually less in 2011 than there was in 1978,” Dr. Okorodudu shared via the organization’s YouTube channel.

Learn more here.