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Ephren Taylor is a Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author and the CEO of two publicly traded companies, one of which is recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “Top 100 Socially Conscious Corporations in the United States.” Named by The Michigan Chronicle as one of the top “ten people making a global difference,” at 27 years old Ephren Taylor is currently the youngest African-American CEO of any publicly traded company in United States history. Taylor began his career with his first business venture as a videogame developer at the age of 12 and built a multi-million dollar technology company, GoFerretGo.com by the age of 17.

As a “business accelerator” Ephren Taylor oversees millions in assets serving a diverse clientele of blue chip, private and multi-tier branding development interests and is engaged in building investor and shareholder value through profitable and socially-conscious investing that empowers urban communities. Thus far he’s successfully developed multi-million dollar initiatives ranging from creating affordable housing for working-class families to the development and production of bio-fuels. Through his action on green energy and philanthropy, Ephren Taylor is leading a new wave of CEO’s focusing on corporate social responsibility. Under Ephren Taylor’s direction, nearly every company and initiative he has worked on has experienced accelerated growth.

A nationally recognized authority on personal wealth and entrepreneurial business development, Ephren Taylor appears regularly on FOX News, CNBC and has been featured on network shows such as ABC’s 20/20, Montel Williams and many others. He also has regular appearances in print and radio media including PBS, Black Enterprise, and the Miami Herald. Additionally, Ephren Taylor’s name has nearly 400,000 results on Google.

Beyond his unprecedented accomplishments at such a young age, Ephren Taylor is an author, inspirational speaker, and business mentor.

His 2009 Wall Street Journal best-selling book “Creating Success from the Inside Out” (John Wiley & Sons), serves as an expose of the mindset of today’s multi-millionaires while defining success as not only attaining wealth, but how to utilize it. As a result, he’s become a frequently requested speaker and panelist across the country.

Taylor is currently on a national wealth tour (www.wealthtourlive.com) an international 30 city tour promoting economic empowerment for the church community, youth entrepreneurship, adequate retirement planning, and socially conscious investing to rebuild America’s promise. The tour brings together private investors, educators, nonprofit organizations, religious institutions, and government leaders to create positive change in local communities.

Ephren Taylor has achieved a great deal of success and has been called this generations “Warren Buffet and Jack Welch.” However, what motivates Taylor the most is the ability to contribute as a thought leader to ideas for new solutions to problems that have plagued communities for years, decades, and in some cases, centuries.

What Warren Buffet is for baby boomers, Taylor is for today’s generation X and Y ‑ a rapidly emerging premier financial expert. CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Made first million by 16
• Youngest Black CEO of a Publicly Traded Company
• Oversees over 250 Million in Assets
• Starting Investment Clubs at schools across the nation
• Developing national business plan competition for university students
• Started business ventures at the age of 12
• Works with superstar entertainers such as Snoop Dogg and Fat Joe
• Diverse client list ranges from Stock Market Day Traders to Hip Hop Icons

SPEAKING TOPICS

• Diversify or Die! What nonprofits & churches need to do to survive in the new economy.
• Getting P.A.I.D. @ Any Age
• Corporate Social Responsibility: The new avenue for increasing the bottom line
• Think Without a Box: How to kill your useless friend Conventional Wisdom
• Creating Success from the Inside Out
• Ensuring a Green Future

MULTIMEDIA SAMPLES

 

Learn more about Ephren Taylor from this FOX News morning show spot.

 

 

Ephren discusses his varied successes and plans for the future on "The Big Idea".

Click the image on the left to play the clip.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT Ephren Taylor

"On behalf of the Office of Multicultural and Minority Affairs and UNCP students, faculty and staff and the visiting Robeson County Communities, Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Ephren did a wonderful job in explaining how anyone, at any age can achieve success. So needless to say, the program "Success At Any Age" on Thursday, September 7th was a success.

Ephren's conversation with our students, faculty, staff, and community was very insightful. We truly appreciated how he so passionately told his story, which was so inspirational and encouraging. We all commend him on his success and humility.

In my lifetime, as an educator and the numerous talks that I have attended, I must confess that "Success At Any Age" was one of the most moving and meaningful talk on so many levels. It is something that every male and female, regardless of race, color or creed must hear. And in my 15 years in higher education, I have never seen the ardent passion from one individual, as I did from Ephren.

The message behind his story cannot be found in any textbook, therefore was priceless!

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke's Office of Multicultural and Minority Affairs was honored by Mr. Taylor coming to our campus, to share what so many of our young men and women need to know about what it takes to succeed at any age."

Making Millions By Changing The Lives of Others

March/April 2008 - By Robyn Collins

At age 25, Ephren Taylor is the youngest black CEO of a publicly-traded company with a tremendous heart for helping ailing communities.

To sit down with Ephren Taylor is to enter the presence of drive, determination, and charisma. Taylor represents an unbelievably rich history of overwhelming success in mind-blowing rapidness of time. Getting into the game at the very “mature” age of 12, Taylor was well on his way to the big bucks.

By age 16, he had acquired his first million. Within the next few years, he founded numerous companies. Today, he serves as the youngest black CEO of a publicly-traded company and oversees millions in assets. He keeps his hand in many consulting groups and various businesses – and he travels the country as a public speaker. He has a tremendous heart for raising people up and for building up broken-down communities, because Taylor puts his money where his mouth is.

A trailblazer from the beginning, Taylor is continuing to find innovative ways to increase community health and personal wealth.

Millionaire Blueprints sat down recently with Taylor to get the facts on how he has achieved phenomenal success as one of the premier financial experts for this generation.

What would you say was the first step toward becoming the incredible success you are today?

So how did you learn about computers?

So, you just made a video game?

How did you turn this into a money-making venture?

What happened next?

It started when I asked my mom to buy a new video game for me. You see, we might have had the video game system, but we would only have two games that came with it like Super Mario and some other Mario game. Anyway, I asked if we could get a new one, and she said, “Why don’t you figure out how to make your own game?”

I was in the bookstore and there was a book by André LaMothe about programming and developing video games called How to Make a Video Game in 21 Days. I got my parents to buy the book for $39. I didn’t realize you needed to have a computer, needed to know how to program a computer, and have an advanced understanding of math and physics to use the book.

I stayed every day after school to work on the computers. I read that book over and over and over, until it finally began to make sense. I taught myself how to program computers. I made a game called the “Clone of Pong,” which was boring as all get-out, and an Asteroids knockoff. I decided to make a 3-D game; this was the last chapter in the book. I worked on it for two weeks. Finally, I had created this video game that was as good as things out there at the time. It was really simple; it had no plot, but lots of weapons. Somebody saw it and offered me $10 for a copy of the game, so I started selling it. I wanted to be the next black Bill Gates. Michael Jordan was making $90 million; Bill Gates was making $90 billion – big difference.

My work with computers alerted me to the miracle of the Internet. I knew there was money to be made, so I started a Web development company making $200 a pop for Web sites. My parents really thought I was selling drugs when I got paid $3,800 for two weeks of work.

How did that happen?

There was a company out of Florida that was contracting for a company in New York. They did healthcare products for the World’s Strongest Man Contest, and they needed a vehicle for selling their products. So, I built this Web site with e-commerce and everything. I applied for the job with my alias, G-PROG. It just showed my skill sets, (for example, C and C++ computer technician certifications, video game development, and more). They never considered that the person might only be 13 years old. I read so many programming books that my skills were expansive.

How did people find you to hire you?
They found me because I was on discussion boards and in chat rooms.

What about making it official?
I called my system Flame Software. I filed as a limited liability company (LLC).

How did you know how to do file the forms?
You can read books on how to raise capital, file taxes, anything. I was doing legal filings myself, because I didn’t know any lawyers.

How did you decide that you wanted to own a company?
I spent all of this time and effort to build this Web site for $3,800, but the people who used it got paid $800,000! I realized I was on the wrong side of the equation. I was just a techie, and I needed to be the owner of the company.

What did you do about it?

Ephren Taylor Becomes America's Youngest African American CEO of a Publicly-Owned Company: City Capital Corporation (CCCN)

City Capital Corporation (OTC BB: CCCN.OB) today announced the appointment of Ephren W. Taylor II as the Company's new CEO. At 23, Taylor Is America's Youngest African American CEO of a Publicly-Owned Company.

Mendota Heights, MN (PRWEB) May 10, 2006 -- (OTC BB: CCCN.OB) City Capital Corporation today announced the appointment of Ephren W. Taylor II as the Company's new CEO. In April, the Company acquired the ECC Vine Street Real Estate Acquisitions, LLC ("ECC Jazz") in the historic Jazz District of Kansas City. Mr. Taylor served as CEO and Chairman of ECC Jazz, which as a wholly owned subsidiary of Ephren Capital Corporation (AmoroCorp.com) The appointment makes CEO Ephren Taylor, at 23, one of the youngest CEOs of a publicly traded company in the U.S., as well as the youngest African American CEO of a public company.

Although only 23, Mr. Taylor has over a decade of experience building successful companies and a solid network of team members and resources for the expansion of CCCN. Strting at age 12, his first company designed 3-D computer games. He grew his second company, a job searc portal for teens and college students called GoFerretGo, to a street value of $3.2M, #4 of all teen businesses nationwide (YoungBiz Magazine). He was recognized as Kansas Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002 by the Kansas Department of Commerce or his exceptional investment strategies, originally developed to assist churches with their investment and funding needs. He later expanded the concepts to include other non-profit endowments, especially those of entertainment and sports figures. In February AmoroCorp took over management of Snoop Dogg's "Snoop Youth Football League" endowment, and on May 3 the company sponsored a Guest List Only (G.L.O.) event at the Kentucky Derby, honoring Chris "Ludacris" Bridges.

ECC Jazz also developed from these concepts, which Mr. Taylor defines as "Empowering Communities With Socially-Conscious Economic Development" The decision to go public provides additional resources to accomplish this mission.

"We create true win-win-win developments, and even share profits from the venture and other benefits with the community itself," Taylor said. "Instead of telling a city what we want to build and what kinds of incentives we expect, we ask them to tell us their long-range goals, for revitalization and community-building. Then we partner with them -- utilizing every available incentive to literally create our own market."

The company counts over 225 years of combined expertise in all key areas, almost ten times the age of the founder himself. "And that extensive experience gives us incredibly fast turnaround on projects, while creating extremely good returns on investment for our client-partners." Current projects include the Kansas City Historic Jazz District, a 214-unit condominium, a 400-home subdivision, and over 150 homes in Cleveland's historic 7th Ward.

John Wiley & Sons Release City Capital CEO Ephren Taylor's Book, "Creating Success From The Inside Out"

Marketwire

Posted: 2007-12-04 09:30:46

HOBOKEN, NJ, Dec. 4, 2007 (Marketwire delivered by Newstex) --
http://at.marketwire.com/accesstracking/AccessTrackingLogServlet?PrId=335477&ProfileId=051205&sourceType=1

Publisher John Wiley & Sons has released City Capital Corporation (OTCBB: CCCN) CEO Ephren Taylor's new book, "Creating Success From The Inside Out: Develop The Focus And Strategy To Uncover The Life You Want," distributing to bookstores nationwide. The 272-page book details Taylor's path from rural beginnings, through his first business at age 12 to CEO of an international public company by age 25. It challenges young people and those of all ages to think beyond the present, take on their fears and lay down their excuses.

"True success begins when we simply find that inner spark, that talent, that passion in our lives, and go after it to the exclusion of all the other things." -- Ephren Taylor

City Capital engages in socially conscious investing to empower urban communities by creating affordable housing for working-class families and bringing in new technology initiatives. The company's popular Credit-Investor program allows private individuals to participate using only their credit and no cash to help the company create thousands of needed quality, affordable homes in cities such as Kansas City, Cleveland, Detroit and others. City Capital's Goshen Energy Resources division recently signed a distribution agreement with Verde Bio Fuels to distribute 10,000,000 gallons of Goshen's bio-diesel product in the United States. Plans are underway with officials and community leaders in five cities for locally run plants to produce the biodiesel product.

"Initiatives like these are what set City Capital apart," said Taylor, "because it really is all about having a greater vision and going beyond traditional thinking about urban needs and solutions. We feel a for-profit company can do business in a socially conscious way, and bring value to clients and shareholders alike."

Taylor's Urban Wealth Tour will visit 25 cities in 2007, where he speaks at colleges, universities and high schools and meets with local government and community leaders to find creative solutions to pressing urban issues. He has served as keynote speaker for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Future Business Leaders Of America and many other national and regional government and business conferences. Taylor is a weekly commentator on Fox Business Network and is regularly featured by other national broadcasts as well, including ABC's 20/20, Montel Williams, Tom Joyner and CNBC's Business Nation. He has served on several national business panels and roundtables including the Wall Street Economic Summit and the White House Initiative on HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges & Universities).

Taylor believes that every person has what it takes to succeed, if they can find the inspiration and creativity to think about success in the proper way. It's not what they wear, what they read, or where they go to school that determines success for today's young entrepreneurs, but how they think. In this book, Taylor, along with co-author Emerson Brantley, offers readers straightforward advice on how to tell if they're going in the right direction, and how to avoid the success-killers of life, their own fears and excuses. Inspirational, motivational, and informative, "CREATING SUCCESS FROM THE INSIDE OUT" is the smart and timely response to the typical book of business advice.