Michael Jordan has an extensive stock portfolio of companies. Still, the largest Black-owned construction management and general contracting firm in the United States turned down his offer to invest.
C. David Moody Jr., founder of C.D. Moody Construction, recalls the early startup days of his Atlanta-based company when he could’ve used investment but opted out of it to see what he was capable of doing on his own.
“Well, I use the stock market for my investments, but I think I couldn’t have a partner, not because I’m difficult to work with. I just wanted to run my own show,” he said on AfroTech’s Black Tech Green Money podcast.
“I mean, Michael Jordan was going to invest in my company in the early ’90s.”
Moody continued. “I still got the picture where he signed ‘congratulations and good luck’ to our construction company. At the last minute, I went to his financial guy and turned him down.
“He said, ‘You the first person to ever turn ’em down.’ Now I said ‘I turned ’em down ’cause I wanted to know what I could do on my own.’”
The Morehouse and Howard University alum proved right by believing in himself. In his 35+ years of operating his construction company, Moody scaled the business from $1 million annually to $70 million annually with commercial projects for Disney, Home Depot, the Olympic Stadium, Morehouse College Leadership Center, Turner Baseball Field, Philips Arena, and many more.
Moody attributes his early financial guidance to his father, a former professor and vice provost at the University of Michigan. His father provided him with valuable advice that set him on the right path.
“My dad grew up in the Depression, and things were tight, and he grew up very poor in Louisiana,” Moody explained. “He always taught me to save. He said, ‘I don’t care if you save but $10.’ So when I started my business — which we started under-capitalized like all of us pretty much do — whenever I made a few dollars, I was scared to spend it. I did reinvest it and made sure I could take care of my family.”
For over two decades, Moody’s company has consistently been featured on BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine’s “Top 100” list of the nation’s largest Black-owned industrial and services companies. Additionally, the Atlanta Business Chronicle has recognized Moody’s firm as one of Atlanta’s top 25 commercial contractors and top 100 private companies.
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