February 9, 2012

Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself – Don Peebles

If you check out the top ten Forbes list for African Americans, you’ll see very familiar names in entertainment.  You’ll see Oprah, Bill Cosby, Jay-Z, Puff Daddy and Tyler Perry. Not a huge surprise that the wealthiest in our community made it big in entertainment. However, entertainment is not the only path to huge success.

Allow me to introduce you to the richest non-entertainment African American mogul, Don Peebles.

Don Peebles is a real estate developer who got his start in Washington, DC. He dropped out of Rutgers University after one year and became a real estate appraiser.  He built one of the most successful tax appraisal appeals businesses in Washington, DC before his foray into real estate development.

I just finished reading Don Pebbles’ “The Peebles Principles”.  The book is a very easy read and great motivation for aspiring entrepreneurs.  The book chronicles his rise from a single parent home in Washington, DC to becoming a multimillionaire.  He’s broken the race barrier in many of his business ventures and continues to raise the bar. Don Peebles is a true African American success story.  He built his empire from the ground up. In his book, he proves that with hard work, knowledge, and vision anything is possible.

His total net worth is $350 million as of 2009.  He owns and operates the largest African-American owned real estate development firm, the Peebles Corporation. He owns buildings in Washington DC, San Francisco, Detroit, Miami, and Las Vegas.