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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Well, he's a 15-time NBA all-star, a philanthropist, and now Shaquille O'Neal is stepping into the infrastructure space. The NBA legend is joining Jackmel Infrastructure as a founding partner. Earlier today, Romain spoke with Jorge Mora, co-managing partner at Jackmel Partners, and Shaq about why this new venture is personal.
Well, you know, there's a tremendous need in the U.S. for better infrastructure. You know, you see it in your roads, you see it in your airports, your train stations, and I want to help make that change. And, you know, Jack Mel is the partner that can help me do that. You know, when I met Jorge and Nick, you know, they approached me and, you know, we kind of have the same values.
I like to invest my time and money where it can make a difference in people's lives and have a positive impact on the community. So, you know, I thought it was the right thing to do because I live in a town where we definitely need better infrastructure. So if I could partner with a company like Jack Ma, I'd do it every time.
And a lot of cities, of course, across the U.S., Shaquille, are in that same position. I mean, one of the deals that the infrastructure project had been involved in was, of course, the redesign, redevelopment, if you will, of LaGuardia Airport in New York.
And Shaq, I mean, as somebody who spent 19, 20 years in the NBA, I'm sure you've been to pretty much every airport in the United States and beyond. When you look at the infrastructure in the transportation space, what does it say to you?
But it says that, you know, whoever has the contract is doing a great job. And I know the work that Jack Mel does. My hometown is Newark, and part of that airport has already been redone. You know, I would definitely love to be involved in, you know, the expansion of that one.
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Chapter 2: What motivated Shaquille O'Neal to enter the infrastructure sector?
We're going to be looking at other spaces. I mean, the transportation space in particular is one of our core focuses. And we also recently did an investment into the energy space. Unfortunately, we can't disclose it, but it was a large, almost $100 million investment. And then we're also going to look at digital.
What we try to do is we try to pair the competencies that we have in-house with the different sectors we're investing in. In the digital space, we happen to have a senior advisor who has done an enormous amount of investing in digital for the last 25 years. In transportation, we happen to own a design engineering firm that has worked in close to 100 airports in the US.
And so we're trying to stick to what we know, where we can bring some added value. And then by having Shaquille as one of our founding partners, we can really focus on the community engagement into those big projects. We mentioned LaGuardia a couple of times.
If you've flown in or out of LaGuardia, you can see that there's all these local businesses that are in the terminal, restaurants, et cetera. And it also has the impact on the employment in the community.
Our value add is that we're going to try to bring that organic and more natural connectivity that a group like Jack Mel can bring to a project like that when partnering with large infrastructure investors, either strategic or financial.
Well, expand on that a little bit, because, I mean, as someone who goes to LaGuardia almost every other week, it's very obvious that there is an intent with that redesign to highlight local businesses. And I am curious as to what that conversation looks like. Jorge, are you you're talking with the airport authority or are you talking with just the local government leaders?
What is that conversation? It's a combination of all of that. It's understanding which businesses in the local community we want to bring in, what investors from the local community we would like to group into our investment group to just tie to the community, to make sure that their needs are being listened to. So in any new project, for example, new work has been talked about.
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Chapter 3: What are the current challenges facing U.S. infrastructure?
It hasn't been announced yet. Hopefully it will be in the next few months or year. When that happens, having Shaquille as our partner, having the fact that he grew up there, I think will give an edge to any group that we work with in delivering that community and engaging with them properly. Maybe, Shaquille, you can talk just a little bit about Newark and your connections there.
Obviously, you were raised there, and you've been a big investor there long prior to this deal with Jack Moe.
Yeah, when I met with Jorge and Nick, I told him I wanted to do business that's going to have positive impact on local community. Born and raised in Newark.
airport uh many times and you know would love to be a part of this you know project you know that just you know goes with legacy you have a kid who was a meeting with juvenile delinquent now he's partnered with a company like jack metal and we're redoing the airport you know we're making the airport better so you know this would be big if we could all land that deal but again when i met with uh nick and or i told him i said i want a positive impact on local community that's all we want to do we want to you know help create jobs
That's definitely something I want to be a part of.
Do you have any ambitions for having more deeper ownership in the sports world in terms of sports franchises?
Actually, no. I've always been the, I can remember when I was taking my business marketing class, professor gave me a book on the side. He said it was the dummy's guide of starting your own business. And my favorite chapter was joint ventureship because I realized that in order to be a great leader, you have to have people that are smarter than you. as teammates.
So I applied basketball to business and I was like, you know what? I need to get guys that are better in whatever space I'm trying to invest in than I am. Imagine me trying to run the five guys by myself. Imagine me, you know, trying to run Reebok by myself.
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Chapter 4: How does Shaquille O'Neal plan to impact local communities through infrastructure?
Imagine me trying to do this infrastructure by myself. So you have to get great teammates. I mentioned this early. I won championships with Kobe Bryant. D-Wade, I'm winning with Ernie, Kenny, and Chuck. So, you know, when it comes to, you know, finding great partners, Jorge and Nick are the best in this business and we will definitely win.
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Chapter 5: What specific infrastructure projects is Jacmel Infrastructure involved in?
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