EmpowerMint.AIEmpowermint.AI

About EmpowerMint.AI

The capital was never the problem. The access was.

Community-powered crowdfunding, blockchain transparency, and a process built to move fast for the founders who have been kept waiting longest.

Mission

Remove barriers. Deliver capital.

EmpowerMint.AI provides minority and underserved entrepreneurs with fast, equal access to business funding through community-powered crowdfunding and blockchain transparency.

Our goal is simple: remove barriers, deliver capital, and help diverse businesses grow.

Vision

Access, in every founder's hands.

To create an ecosystem where access to capital is equally available, fast, and in every entrepreneur's hands — empowering diverse voices to build wealth, shape industries, and inspire generations.

How it works

Three stages, one open record.

A raise moves in order, and each stage writes itself to the ledger. Backers can see where their money went. So can you.

Stage 1

Bring your business

Submit your business and your funding goal. Review is built for speed and equal footing — not for gatekeeping.

Stage 2

The community backs it

Your network and the wider EmpowerMint community fund the raise, contribution by contribution, until the goal is met.

Stage 3

Funds release on the record

Contributions, milestones, and disbursements are written to the blockchain. The trail stays public and permanent.

Leadership

Who's building this

Portrait of Dorsey Smith Jr.

Dorsey Smith Jr., MBA, CNE

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, EmpowerMint.AIFaith-Driven Entrepreneur and Business LeaderGeorgia Associate Broker · Board Member, Care Cuts

Dorsey Smith Jr. is an entrepreneur, real estate professional, philanthropist, and faith-driven community advocate committed to expanding economic opportunity for minority and underserved founders.

He earned a Master of Business Administration in Business Administration and Management from the University of Phoenix–Atlanta Campus and a bachelor's degree in Business and Marketing from the University of Phoenix, with academic studies in business management, marketing, and international marketing. He has continued his executive and professional development through business certification programs offered by Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland, the New York Institute of Finance, and IBM. His professional education also includes a Real Estate Certificate from the Georgia Institute of Real Estate and the Certified Negotiation Expert designation from the Real Estate Negotiation Institute.

His strong Christian faith serves as the North Star for his personal life, leadership, and business decisions. He believes leadership is a form of stewardship, and seeks to lead with integrity, humility, compassion, accountability, and service. These values guide his vision for EmpowerMint.AI and its mission to help entrepreneurs overcome barriers, access opportunity, and build sustainable generational wealth.

Beyond his business leadership, Dorsey serves on the Board of Care Cuts, where he contributes his leadership, business experience, and commitment to charitable service. His board involvement reflects his belief that meaningful success should restore dignity, strengthen communities, and create opportunities for others.

Credentials

  • MBA, Business Administration & Management — University of Phoenix, Atlanta
  • BS, Business & Marketing — University of Phoenix
  • Harvard University
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Maryland
  • New York Institute of Finance
  • IBM
  • Real Estate Certificate — Georgia Institute of Real Estate
  • CNE — Real Estate Negotiation Institute
  • Georgia Associate Broker
  • Board Member, Care Cuts
Portrait of James Marrisette Jr.

James Marrisette Jr., MBA

Chief Operating Officer, EmpowerMint.AIOperational & Financial Auditor · Regulatory Compliance · Audit AnalyticsCity Government Performance Auditor · Managing Partner, J and D Consultants

James Marrisette Jr. is an operational and financial auditor whose career has been spent answering one question on behalf of the people funding the work: where did the money go, and can you prove it? That discipline is the operational backbone of EmpowerMint.AI — the same accountability a public ledger promises backers, applied to how the platform itself is run.

He serves as a City Government Performance Auditor, examining how public programs spend and perform. Before that he worked more than a decade at a major retail corporation, first as an Operations Auditor covering operations across the United States and Canada, then as a Staff Corporate Auditor — work centered on regulatory compliance, internal controls over financial reporting to support management's SOX assessment, and audit analytics. He began his management career as an Operations Manager in Atlanta for the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States.

James also builds and advises businesses of his own. He is Managing Partner of J and D Consultants LLC and founded Linear Prism Investments LLC, giving him a founder's view of the capital access problem EmpowerMint.AI exists to solve — not just an auditor's.

He holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Business Administration, both in Business Administration and Management, from American InterContinental University, and earned SQL certifications from Kennesaw State University. His technical toolkit spans AuditBoard, Microsoft Power BI, and Trintech Cadency, and he holds an edX verified certificate in Contract Law offered by HarvardX, an online learning initiative of Harvard University. He is based in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Credentials

  • MBA, Business Administration & Management — American InterContinental University
  • BBA, Business Administration & Management — American InterContinental University
  • SQL Intermediate Certification — Kennesaw State University
  • SQL Introduction Certification — Kennesaw State University
  • Contract Law Certificate — HarvardX
  • Financial Analysis & Reporting
  • Microsoft Power BI
  • Operational Management
  • Performance Auditor, Government
  • Managing Partner, J and D Consultants

North Star

To honor God through principled leadership, serve people with compassion, create access to opportunity, and build a legacy that empowers families and communities for generations.

Dorsey Smith Jr., Founder & CEO

  • Integrity
  • Humility
  • Compassion
  • Accountability
  • Service