Jalen Rose, a Detroit native, ESPN analyst and one of the legendary “Fab Five” basketball phenoms at the University of Michigan in the early ’90s, will be presented with the Community Champion Award at the 2009 B.E. Small Business Awards Luncheon, hosted by Ariel Investments. The event is an annual high point of the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference, hosted by General Motors and ExxonMobil, to be held May 17-20, 2009 at the Detroit Marriott at Renaissance Center in Detroit, Mich.
Rose, a noted philanthropist and a broadcaster and analyst for ESPN/ABC, is being recognized for positive contributions to the Detroit community through The Jalen Rose Foundation, which Rose founded in 2000, the same year he won the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award and helped lead the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals. In 2007, The Jalen Rose Foundation passed the $1 million mark in charitable contributions, when it contributed $240,000 to help fund the Jalen Rose Endowed Scholarship at his alma mater, the University of Michigan. In addition to creating higher education opportunities for inner city students, the foundation has help to support the development of a children’s hospital in Congo, Africa, and victims assistance programs for those affected by Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami disaster in Asia.
Highlights of Rose’s 13-year NBA career included being part of the Indiana Pacers team that went to three consecutive Eastern Conference Finals, winning the East in 2000 and facing and ultimately falling to the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA Championship. Rose concluded his NBA career with the Phoenix Suns, which made it to the Western Conference semi-finals in 2007. Since retiring from the NBA, Rose–a mass communications major at University of Michigan who ultimately earned his bachelor of science degree from the University of Maryland University College–has aggressively and successfully built a career as a sports broadcaster and studio analyst, while pursuing interests ranging from fashion and music to film and politics.
Each year, the Black Enterprise Small Business Awards recognizes America’s best small businesses in four categories:
The Teenpreneur Award recognizes a young entrepreneur or group, age 19 or younger, committed to advancing at young age the rich tradition of black business achievement.
The Innovator of the Year Award is given to a business flourishing in an innovative industry or approaching business/entrepreneurship in a groundbreaking manner via their products and/or services.
The B.E. Next Award is presented to the fearless young entrepreneur age 21-35 tapped to be a future business leader.
The Small Business of the Year Award is presented to the small business owner whose efforts and/or entrepreneurial pursuits exemplify the passion and commitment needed to overcome adversity as well as attain success.
The editors of Black Enterprise have selected three finalists for each category of the award. These outstanding small business people are profiled in the Enterprise section of the May 2009 issue of Black Enterprise magazine. Click here for the finalists of the 2009 Black Enterprise Small Business Awards.
Alfred A. Edmond Jr. is the editor-in-chief of BlackEnterprise.com