Kenyan-born CEO strives for success as one of few women of color in financial services

Akinyi Williams has a master's of education from Harvard University, an MBA from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor's in business from Metro State University.

Yet she's still considering adding J.D. to the end of her name.

"I always have to prove myself, "Williams said. "I have to do extra."

A law degree, she hopes, might counter the negative responses she receives while seeking growth capital for Cheyenne Mortgage Capital, where she is CEO of the firm she founded in 2022 for borrowers "who fall through the cracks."

In her career, the 47-year-old has been a senior loan officer at Wells Fargo and consultant at UnitedHealth Group and Accenture. In 2018, Williams, as president and chief operating officer, and her husband, Travis Williams, as chief executive, founded Western Capital, an alternative real estate financing firm.

But despite all those titles, professional qualifications and accomplishments, some people still mistake her for a receptionist.

"I don't look like a loan officer," said Williams, who is originally from Kenya. "I most certainly don't sound like a loan officer."

Or at least not one many expect to find in a male-dominated financial services industry where women of color account for just 4% of C-suite roles, according to McKinsey.

White men, meanwhile, make up 64% of executive-level managers and white women, 23%, McKinsey found. Diverse or female-owned firms manage only 1.4% of more than $82 billion in assets under management, according to Knight Foundation research.

Williams, working as a flight attendant while getting her business degree, wanted to increase her earning potential and follow her mother, who worked at Barclays Bank in Kenya, into finance. Having grown up poor as one of nine children, Williams needed to send money home to relatives as well as pay bills here.

She also founded and supports Hope for the Child, a nonprofit organization she established that has built and operates two schools in Kenya. The schools, which also offer health and nutrition services, have graduated more than 5,000 pre-K through fourth-grade students.

Williams returned to Kenya earlier this year as the organization finished a project to bring water to one school and began a water project at the other. The nonprofit is testing commercial production of sunflower oil and corn in pursuit of sustainability and job creation.

When Williams started Hope for the Child in 2007, she was working on her MBA degree at the U's Carlson School of Management. She was a senior lecturer there this spring, teaching a class on doing business with the poor, including supporting access to products, markets and equity. Her message to students, whom she led on a trip to the Dominican Republic: "When you're creating solutions for business, think about the 4 billion people at the bottom of the pyramid."

Williams and her husband, who has more than 25 years of experience as an investor in the private lending industry and real estate finance, used their savings and her Accenture income to fix and flip more than 80 properties. They started Western Capital to fill a gap in the market for alternative financing services.

Travis Williams credited his wife with a four-fold increase in Western Capital's business after she joined full time in 2019. To serve customers Western Capital couldn't underwrite or who wanted to borrow smaller amounts, Akinyi Williams opened Cheyenne Mortgage.

She used savings for Cheyenne's first few loans. Those loans, Travis Williams said, are collateralized, backed by a mortgage, so they're secured. The loans are for non-owner-occupied properties, typically investment or rental properties, Akinyi Williams said. Cheyenne has made loans throughout the country. Many customers are immigrants, and 80% to 90% are people of color, Williams said.

Cheyenne has done so many loans that it runs out of money to lend until customers, typically borrowing on six- or 12-month terms, repay their loans.

Williams feels insecure, though, like she has failed because Cheyenne has yet to attract investors. That made her want to go back to school for that law degree.

"Black women as loan officers are unicorns," Williams said. "The fact that I cannot get funded for a service that's profitable for everybody like Cheyenne is egregious."

Williams said it's annoying her husband is successful with his bachelor's degree while she's considering adding a third graduate degree. In some conference calls, people have told her she "should talk more like Travis," who is white.

"I have to grind to prove myself good enough," Williams said. "There's a lot of grind."

But there's no stopping Williams in her pursuit of her next "upward movement."

"You conquer one thing, and you're ready to set sail and conquer the next," she said. "Isn't that human nature? You set a goal, achieve it, and set your eyes to the next goal. It's my energy, my personality. … I need to figure out the best possible use for my time here on Earth. I get the most fulfillment when I empower others, especially to reach greater heights."

Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Lake Elmo. His e-mail is todd_nelson@mac.com.