How Kinly can help Black Americans build generational wealth

After the protests following the murder of George Floyd, Donald Hawkins began looking into modern banking platforms for the Black community. He found that there was close to none in his search. That revelation sparked Hawkins’ desire to start a banking platform of his own. One that could serve a more meaningful purpose for Black communities.

In 2020, Hawkins founded Kinly, a financial services company that intends to help Black America build generational wealth. The banking services company officially launched in June 2022 and has hit the ground running. It is improving financial livelihoods through financial education, Black-focused spending, and long Y wealth building.

Kinly and Haven Life recently partnered to offer affordable term life insurance to Black Americans directly through Kinly’s app. We invited Hawkins to answer a few questions about Kinly and its key services. He also explained how Kinly can help Black Americans meet their financial goals and close the racial wealth gap.

Here are his responses:

What is Kinly?

“Kinly is a financial technology company that proudly serves the unique needs of Black America and allies. Kinly’s goal is to empower members to take control of their finances by providing access to financial education, saving and investing tools.

“The Kinly app helps members manage day-to-day finances by offering early access to direct deposit funds, no hidden fees, overdraft protection, access to over 55,000 ATMs worldwide, and the Kinly Visa® Debit Card.

“Our app is a gateway to managing your finances with transparency and quick access to your funds through digital banking. We’re embarking on an ambitious journey to be the trusted financial partner for Black America and for those who want to support Black-led institutions.”

How can people use Kinly to improve their finances?

“Kinly focuses on improving financial outcomes through many of its company benefits. It offers financial education, saving and wealth building, early access to paychecks, overdraft protection up to $100, no overdraft fees, no monthly fees and no minimum balances, and the company has members covered with the Kinly Visa Debit Card. Kinly also has fee-free ATM service at over 55,000 AllPoint locations, and FDIC insured deposits.

“Kinly has created an affiliate marketplace, partnering with mission-aligned organizations in giving our members access to a broad range of financial services solutions to aid in their financial journeys.”

How does Kinly benefit future generations of Black Americans?

“Given the fact that around half of Black America is unbanked or underbanked, the importance of developing a consistent and reliable wealth building platform cannot be emphasized enough. A staggering 18% of African Americans do not have any relationship with banks at all.

“Phase one for us is to make that connection, build the relationship. As we continue to scale and grow as a company, we definitely want to get involved in many other solutions for the community, whether that be high-yield savings accounts, business banking, credit lending, and the like.”

What else should people know about Kinly?

“We recognize that it’s not enough for people to just say, ‘Hey, great, you look like me, I trust you.’ So we’re actively doing things within the community, and also through the features we provide to ensure that we help develop that trust.

“That’s why we provide a lot of those fee-free options, and no hidden fees, and no minimum balances. That’s an investment that we make in the community. And we hope the return on that investment is a more financially savvy customer.”