David Frimpong recalls standing in the lobby of a Finch-Weston highrise recently — it was the building he grew up in, along with his older brother, sister and a single mom — when a group of kids approached with a question.

“No, I’m not a rapper!” Frimpong laughs, recalling his answer. “I’m a real estate guy, a real estate investor.”

Instantly, Frimpong says, the kids saw a successful Black business person — not singing, not dancing, not an athlete — who comes from their neighbourhood, an experience Frimpong and his business partner, Danyel King, never had growing up.

“We had always seen a void in the market for Black inspiration,” said King. “Growing up, the people that you look up to are celebrities, basketball players … but then, when you think about the amount of people that succeed and get to that level, it’s such a small amount.”

Frimpong and King have come a long way since then, following similar but separate routes. Both were raised by single parents both studied at Carleton University and both eventually found their way into the real estate game.

The pair met through a mutual friend in 2019 and are now real estate agents and investors in the Niagara and Port Colborne areas.

They hope to pay that success forward through their Millennials to Millionaires podcast (M2M Inc.) and real estate investing seminars. Guests on M2M have included Toronto Argos GM Mike ‘Pinball’ Clemons, real estate broker Brad Lamb and Hutsy Financial founder Tefari Bailey.

King said he had an appetite for entrepreneurship from an early age and always knew he wanted to pursue a career in business — though he quickly realized studying at Carleton was not for him.

“I felt like I was going to school for business and learning from professors that have never run a business,” he said of his time in Ottawa.

Returning to Toronto, he bought his first property at 21 and then opened a car dealership. Shortly after, he focused on real estate and says he sold more than $50 million worth of properties during his first year as an agent.

Since then, he’s become a real estate developer and investor, with an eye on launching several projects in the Niagara Region.

Frimpong has more than 10 years of real estate experience as an agent and investor and is also looking to launch various real estate developments, including PC Modern Towns, 30 stacked condo units in Port Colborne, an early stage project still awaiting approval from the city.

Frimpong dreamed of being an architect early on but turned to real estate after graduating with a degree in economics from Carleton. Frimpong and his older brother bought their first property when he was 21 — just like King — putting down $11,000.

Now, both are teaching others the lay of the real estate land through their M2M podcast and platform.

Frimpong says their light bulb moment came during the pandemic in 2020. At the height of the lockdown, with idle time aplenty, Frimpong and King launched their first M2M episode on Aug. 24, 2020. They now have 41 episodes under their belts and thousands of subscribers on YouTube and Instagram.

Frimpong says the platform is committed to empowering millennials and Gen Zs with financial literacy, expertise, and entrepreneurial guidance. Next, they’re looking to launch a subscription-based service offering financial literacy courses that would help to create a supportive community for aspiring entrepreneurs.

The pair are also hoping to inspire people at their first daylong real estate conference in Toronto, called M2M-CON.

King says the conference will feature networking and master-class sessions on real estate, investing and financial literacy and its keynote speakers include Daniel Guaragna, founder of The World Class Sales Agency, Ian Dunlap, podcaster from Earn Your Leisure Network, and Catriona Smart, founder of That Good, a creative agency that focuses on brand storytelling.

“That said, the knowledge isn’t enough if you don’t apply it,” King says. “They say the richest place in the world is the graveyard. If you don’t apply it, you’re going to die with the knowledge. Surrounding yourself with the right people is key.”