MATTAH Business movement is designed to facilitate the re-education of Black people into a highten Black consciousness, and to facilitate the economic prosperity of Black People through effectively coordinating Black consumers with Black product manufacturers, retailers, service providers, and organizations.
The cornerstone of the re-education system is the development and implementation of a comprehensive Black curriculum disseminated through the MATTAH, Black schools, faith based institutions and various media formats such as movies, music, television programming, books, audios, videos, and the web.
The foundation of the economic prosperity component is our function as a global Black channel of distribution, a bridge, connecting Black people who desire Black products and services with Black people who provide Black products and services.
We want to create; flowing through MATTAH’s channel of distribution hundreds of basic goods and services produced by Black companies from around the world. The product line, as well as the services offered, is being constantly expanded. Members of The MATTAH Movement can earn additional steams of income through direct sales and other income generating components, the MATTAH has incorporated a commissions based compensation plan similar to that of traditional network marketing.
The MATTAH Movement has developed the `Black Matrix’, a Compensation Vehicle that re-directs funds retained in the Black community to it` participants, similar to typical network marketing companies. This can cause a person looking at MATTAH to mistakenly consider The MATTAH Movement as a typical network marketing company.
While The MATTAH Movement does not criticize typical network marketing companies, it is imperative that we set the record straight on the question of whether The MATTAH Movement is a typical network marketing company. The answer is NO! The MATTAH Movement is just that, a MOVEMENT! Our `Black Matirx`is a hybrid.
MATTAH features components of network marketing and conventional retail marketing but with a distinct purpose. To retain and re-direct at least 10% of the funds spent in the Black community each month.
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Ken Bridges founder of MATTAH
by Glenn Ellis
I was one of the thousands of people whose life Ken Bridges touched personally. And like all the others, I felt my relationship with him was so personal and special.
We met during the early 1970s while Ken was working on a master’s degree in business from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. I was at the time fresh to Philadelphia from Birmingham, Ala., and an undergraduate at Penn. He was like the few other African-American students at Wharton, looking to learn as much as possible about how the American economic system worked.
Coming from his hometown of Detroit, Ken, more than most of his counterparts, arrived at Penn with the focus and vision that would allow him not to become a statistic, as did many of his African-American classmates who would not finish the MBA program.
I remember our paths crossing several years later, when his first words were ones of joy and excitement in telling me that he had married a woman from Birmingham. “Glenn, I tell you, this sister is a queen!”
For the following 20-plus years, Jocelyn never lost her place on the “throne” of Ken’s heart. No matter what he was doing, no matter where he was, no matter whom he was with – when it was Jocelyn’s time, it was Jocelyn’s time. As they began to have children and raise them, this same philosophy applied toward his family.
At this point in his professional career, Ken had his Wharton MBA, and had become one of the most sought-after marketing specialists on African-American consumers. Corporate America benefited from this expertise. Ken was responsible for the successful efforts of companies like Scott Paper; Coca-Cola; and Proctor & Gamble to reach African-American consumers.
Somewhere around this time, Ken realized that his talents and knowledge were not being utilized in ways that benefited him and his family to the fullest.
After leaving corporate America, he got involved in Amway, a multi-level marketing system, where he reached the highest rung of success—Diamond Level. He spent some time with a similar company called P.O.W.E.R., and experienced similar success in applying his efforts to enterprises that promoted self-sufficiency and economic development among African-Americans.
All of this work led Ken to become the visionary designer of the most widely executed model of African-American entrepreneurship of its time—Dick Gregory’s Bahamian Diet.
Ken developed and implemented the marketing system that saw Gregory’s product become a national phenomenon. It was a multi-level marketing system that allowed Black folks all over America to develop businesses, based on the sale and distribution of a Black-owned product, manufactured and owned by Blacks.
But it was not until after encounters that Ken had with Dr. Edward Robinson Jr., of Philadelphia, that the vision for what would become his life’s mission became clear.
It was in conversations with Robinson that Ken realized that self-esteem realized through economic development was nothing without “race-esteem.” History had shown numerous African-American millionaires, but Ken realized that ultimately, it would only be wealth in the presence of “race-esteem” that would lead to the true improvement of the quality of life for African-Americans.
This new realization led to Ken, along with his long-time friend from Wharton, Al Wellington, to create The Matah Network. The name Matah was chosen for its definition: “those people of African descent who give and buy Black.” Bridges and Wellington launched the Matah program in November 1997 with the goal of teaching Blacks the importance of redirecting their now-nearly $600 billion spending power with each other.
The Wharton School graduates came up with this concept after conducting a poll during the 1995 Million Man March sponsored by Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan. With a million African-Americans gathered in one location at the same time, Ken and Wellington knew it was important to find out what was on the minds of Black people. With the help of students from Howard University, the study was conducted and analyzed. Its basic finding was that Black folks were looking for economic development.
Ken Bridges’ life ended while in his continuous process of working toward the full realization of the Matah concept. The company had established itself literally all across America, with thousands of people participating in its growth, as well as purchasing and consuming the many products it distributed.
The night before he died, Ken had closed the biggest product distribution deal in the company’s history. He was en route home the next morning when, against advice from his partner Wellington, and his “Queen” Jocelyn, Ken stopped at a gas station along the interstate to fill up, instead of at a local station before he got on the road.
Anthony Phillips, a Matah company member, was a part of a conference call Ken had with regional directors and other executives of the company after the meeting. He remembers the excitement and enthusiasm in Ken’s voice during the call. “Very soon, my brothers and sisters, you will be the next 30 African-American millionaires with a consciousness,” Ken said, according to Phillips. Phillips was among the group of colleagues at Ken’s office who were waiting for his return on Friday morning. Ken never made it home that day.
Anthony Phillips left what he considers to have been his last job in corporate America to join The Matah Network. He owes a debt of gratitude to Ken, not just for sharing the plan for self-sufficiency and economic independence, but for crucial lessons in life. “Ken spent a lot of time talking with me about the importance of balance. He said it is important to make balance in life a goal. Your family, your health, your wealth, each part of your life should have its own goal, and you have to stick to it,” said Phillips.
In my own experience, out of the 30 years I’ve known Ken, I’ll always remember an incident a few years ago. I had a business disagreement with a prominent and well-respected African-American man who had spent his life serving the community, while developing independent wealth. I was clear that this man was wrong, and others agreed. I was starting legal action when I received a call from Ken. He asked me to come out and speak at one of the Matah presentations.
While there, he pulled me aside and said, “Glenn, I heard about your situation, and I want to encourage you to apologize to the other party. We have to develop respect for the elders in our community. This is not about right or wrong, it’s about recognizing our elders. If you can see the wisdom in this, it will make you a better man, and it will allow those who are elders to live in ways which make them more accountable for the role they play in our community. This has no place in a court of law. This is our business.”
I told Ken right then and there that he didn’t understand. But months later when I happened to see the man in question for the first time as we both stood, ironically, in front of a Matah exhibit booth at a Black Business Development Conference. At that moment, Ken’s spirit seemed to rise from within me. Without making a conscious effort, I rushed over and offered my sincere apology to my “elder” for any disrespect I had shown in my hasty and emotional actions. He graciously accepted, and we embraced. I saw Ken later, and tried to tell him what happened, all he said was, “Pass it on, my brother, pass on the wisdom.”
That moment embodied what I will always remember about Ken.
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