Darryl E. Baylor

He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sankofa Global Trading Company and the Co-Founder of the second generation business solution company in his family, which operates under the name of Iron Currency Solutions Inc. (ICS). He co-founded these two companies with his long time friend and business partner Gala Y. Fary.  Darryl has more than 30 years of international business experience in both corporate and government settings.  Through these companies he has pursued his passion of creating unique business platforms  to help to bring social-economic improvements to the lives of people across the globe. His experience of knowledge includes law, information systems, project management, history, sociology, psychology, education, construction management and business management. Darryl has owned and managed restaurants; owned both nonprofit and for profit business; and taught in the field of IT, history, counseling and psychology.   He has led international projects in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East among others that have impacted the lives of many people in those regions of the world. He is also a 21 year veteran of the United States Armed Forces.  He is the son of two unsung civil rights leaders, who both were instrumental in the Civil Rights movement in the south. 

 

Both parents are HBCU graduates of Alabama State University, as well as Darryl; carrying on the family tradition.  While attending ASU Darryl’s father, Donald E. Baylor Sr., became heavily involved with the civil rights movement during the 50’s and 60’s.  While attending ASU, after 4 years in the U.S. Air Force, he became a frequent driver for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  On one such occasion Don Sr. went to jail along with Dr. M.L. King Jr. in Birmingham, Alabama.  On another occasion Don Sr. was arrested while sitting at the lunch counter at Woolworth as they fought for the rights of black people across the segregated south.  Although Don Sr. was working as a driver and salesperson for Kent’s Cigarette Company up until he was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama while driving Dr. King, he later was blackballed and never worked for another company other than companies and businesses that he actually started; going from being an entrepreneur to being a business owner and educator. Don E. Baylor Sr. founded a successful Business Solutions Company in Birmingham across the street from the historic football stadium, Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama and operated for 10 years.  

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A short time later he became the first black to be the Director of the Small Business Administration in the State of Alabama in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama around 1979 along with the first black man to be elected mayor of Birmingham, Alabama Richard Arrington Jr.  Don’s wife, Alberta Shade Baylor, who also was a very active civil right activist in her own right, became the first black to be a Director of Special Education and she also was on the Board of Directors of University of Alabama until she retired after 33 years in education.  She would say one of her greatest achievements was being a leading educator which helped to bring Head Start to Alabama in 1965 after meeting with, what would soon be known in 1966 as, the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California.  This was the same year Alberta would give birth to their third child, Darryl E. Baylor, on February 7, 1966. Together Don and Alberta partnered with 24 different black entrepreneurs, teaching them how to be successful business owners while operating their own businesses which included restaurants, real investment (both residential and commercial), a construction company, and an insurance company.  Darryl also has two siblings. His sister Kimberly is the Associate Director of the BCIA (Birmingham Construction Industry Authority) and Adjunct Professor at Tuskegee University.  His brother Donald E. Baylor II is International Business Development Director and Senior Economic Advisor - Office of the President at SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Council).

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It is with this legacy that Darryl E. Baylor has owned and operated  the following businesses: Liberty Legal Document Service LLC, C.O.M.P. 2000 (Non-profit -Computer Outreach Ministry Program 2000),Titanium Security Services, LLC, NEX Generation Technology LLC, (Highly Interactive Living Spaces) HiLife Spaces LLC, ICS(Iron Currency Solutions Inc.) and Sankofa Global Trading Company.