African American Boy Told He Would End Up in Prison at 18 Becomes Founder of Insurance Company

African American Boy Told He Would End Up in Prison at 18 Becomes Founder of Insurance Company

  • At 19, Marco ''Marc'' Gray is the founder of BankFlow Empire, an insurance company that teaches people about how to make money
  • Growing up, he was told by his educator that he would end up incarcerated or dead by 18, but he proved his teacher wrong
  • He now earns a six-figure income in the insurance industry and is also using his knowledge and influence to empower others

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After years of learning about the insurance industry, Marco ''Marc'' Gray has founded BankFlow Empire, a company that teaches people how to make money.

Gray, 19, picked up lessons about the industry from his uncle as a child growing up in the United States of America. His uncle, Malcolm "MJ" Harris, is an internationally recognised CEO, Executive Producer, and lifestyle/business influencer with multiple businesses.

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While in high school at 17, Gray used to stay up all night watching and studying his uncle's sales training programmes.

Marco Gray
African-American Boy Told He Would End Up in Prison at 18 Becomes Founder of Insurance Company. Photo credit: Marco Gray
Source: Facebook

Learning how to sell

''During that time, I learned everything from how to sell to learning about the insurance industry. Because in my mind, I knew I could be as successful as my uncle in the industry if I humbled myself enough to listen and learn everything from him,'' said Gray in a Facebook post.

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The teenager now makes a six-figure income in the insurance industry and is also using his knowledge and influence to empower others, particularly Black people.

Taking advantage of social media

Gray has leveraged social media to teach others what he learned from his uncle through videos. ''I couldn’t be happier than to see others get what they want,'' he said.

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Not long ago, as he turned 19 years old, he uplifted thousands with his journey as he recounted how his teacher once told him he would end up in prison or dead by 18.

''You’re gonna end up in prison or dead by 18' ... that’s what my teacher told me when I got kicked out of school as a kid. As I turn 19 today, all I can say is: They Were Wrong,'' he recalled.

Not only did he overcome the odds, but he also did what people never thought was possible.

Read his post below:

“Unbelievable voice”: Inspiring student wows SA with uplifting vocal performance

In other news, Briefly News reported that a beautiful school pupil impressed South Africans with her confident rendition of Andra Day's classic, "Rise Up". It seems the student, named Shardenay Thompson was performing at her schools Junior Prize Giving and definitely had the crowd feeling pumped up.

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Heading online, Kloof High School shared the clip on their Facebook page.

"What an extraordinary performance by Shardenay Thompson, in this morning's Junior Prizegiving. Well done Shardenay, you have made us proud," they captioned the heartfelt post.

Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Denika Herbst avatar

Denika Herbst (Editor) Denika Herbst is a Human Interest writer at Briefly News. She is also an Industrial Sociologist with a master's degree in Industrial Organisational and Labour Studies from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, which she completed in 2020. She is now a PhD candidate at UKZN. Denika has over five years of experience writing for Briefly News (joined in 2018), and a short time writing for The South African. You can reach her via: denika.herbst@briefly.co.za.

Kelly Lippke avatar

Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.