It All Started With Soccer
International athlete, strategist, innovator, mentor and entrepreneur, Jeremiah J. White, III, is a highly sought-after sports professional. His broad range of expertise, experience and confident disposition, have added to his success as a business owner.
Known for his creative ability and technical expertise, White’s strong business acumen derives from a professional background that includes athletics, technology, globalization, marketing and strategic planning. His aptitude in foreign relations and linguistics have opened the doors for international business opportunities in Liberia, Ghana, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the UK. White is also responsible for connecting American businesses with companies abroad to diversify their portfolios.
Defining moments: Number one was when I started to play soccer because it connected me to a community that was focused on development and improvement. It shaped my mindset early on to be able to work with groups of
people and to work on self improvement and self-development. The second was when I became a professional and it taught me how to have a professional work ethic.
Significant accomplishment or project: Becoming a professional was number one, and number two was probably starting a software company and number three, investing in the creation of soccer programming and investing in soccer teams; they all are pretty important to me.
Advice to young people: Young people who want to be athletes are going to have to have a lot of luck, to be in a very strong and positive developmental environment, as well as grit, and work ethic, to persevere and have the desire to be the best.
How to build relationships within the African Diaspora: I think we need to put a ball on the ground and play soccer. Just invite everyone and have some good music, some good food. I think sports are one of the best ways to build bridges between cultures. It doesn’t matter what the sport is, getting one another together is what counts.
The important thing is just being open and accepting of everyone and trying to build a dialogue through the bridge of sports. Sports don’t lie. People respect the work that athletes put in and if someone is competing against you, you have to respect their journey because if they are a good competitor, you kind of put yourself in their position in terms of what it took to get where they are, to be a formidable opponent.
