BWG Business Solutions, LLC provides diversity, equity, and inclusion education, training, and consulting to businesses and institutions. BWG stands for “Black, White, Green,” stemming from the idea that “diversity is not about black and white, but green,” and the company contends that when companies focus on DEI, they will become more profitable. ^{1 2} The company’s founder is Janice Asare.

BWG is part of the City of New York Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) Program. ³

Founder

Janice Asare is the founder and principal consultant of BWG Business Solutions. ⁴ She is a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant, speaker, workshop facilitator, writer, author, and professor. ⁵ In her DEI work, she focuses on establishing environments that are anti-racist and anti-oppressive. ⁶ Her work is centered around the goal of the “liberation of Black people, in particular Black women.” ⁷

Asare founded BWG Business Solutions in 2018 in Norwalk, Connecticut. ⁸ The company was dissolved in January 2020, ⁹ and then incorporated in New York, New York on January 22, 2020. ¹⁰

While running BWG Business Solutions, Janice Asare is also a contributing writer to Forbes magazine, Business Insider, and Fast Company. Since 2017, she has been a professor at Sacred Heart University and was previously a visiting assistant professor at Baruch College and an adjunct professor at State University of New York College at Old Westbury. She hosts the “Dirty Diversity” podcast where she focuses on DEI issues and topics both within and outside of the workplace. ¹¹

Asare received her bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, her master’s degree from Louisiana Tech University, and her doctorate from Hofstra University. ¹²

Asare is the author of two books, The Pink Elephant, a guide on how to make more equitable workplaces for all employees, and Dirty Diversity, which looks at how businesses can improve their DEI efforts. ¹³

Consulting Activities

Janice Asare uses programs, seminars, and discussions to educate on anti-racism and anti-oppression within workplaces. BWG’s website displays its various collaborations, contributions, client work, sponsorships, speaking engagements, and partnerships that include a variety of corporate and private businesses, government institutions and departments, and educational institutions. BWG’s work with educational institutions includes Kansas City Public Schools, New York University, Yale University, Hofstra University, University of Connecticut, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, State University of New York College at Old Westbury, and Hendrix College. BWG has also worked with large corporations, including Amazon, Google, Papa Johns, PayPal, and Nordstrom. ¹⁴

Writings

Many of Janice Asare’s pieces in Forbes focus and promote the need for DEI training and hiring DEI consultants, changes within workplaces, systemic race and race issues, and white supremacy and power. ¹⁵ At the bottom of each article, she showcases her company, BWG Business Solutions, referring to it as an “award-winning consultancy,” as well as her two books, her LinkedIn newsletter, and her podcast. ¹⁶

In a piece for Forbes, Asare advocated for a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to racism, stating that a person should be removed from their workplace, regardless of whether the action occurred while at work or outside of work. She goes as far to say that “it is not enough to fire people who engage in racist acts. We must create as many barriers as possible so that those types of individuals are not able to survive or thrive in the organization. Along with providing ongoing and continued education for all employees.” ¹⁷

Asare attempted to persuade readers in another Forbes article to give to mutual aid groups instead of charities and nonprofits because mutual aid groups are “based on anti-capitalistic systems.” She states that the chief executive officers of charities and nonprofits are paid high wages, while employees are largely dissatisfied with their wages, arguing that this demonstrates that charities and nonprofits benefit from exploitation. ¹⁸

In a piece co-written by Asare, she praises big businesses that have shown their support for the Black Lives Matter Movement, as well as those that donate to nonprofits that promote left-of-center racial issues. The piece argues that businesses must hire DEI experts, like herself and her co-author, and should not negotiate or discount the prices a DEI consultant charges. The authors state that the “success of your organization depends on it” and if an organization does not focus on DEI, then it will fail. ¹⁹

1. About. BWG Business Solutions. Accessed March 4, 2022. https://www.bwgbusinesssolutions.com/
2. “Meet Janice Gassam.” Voyage ATL. March 19, 2020. Accessed March 17, 2022. http://voyageatl.com/interview/meet-janice-gassam-bwg-business-solutions/
3. Clients. BWG Business Solutions. Accessed March 15, 2022. https://defendingedstg.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/BWG-Solutions-Clients-www.drjanicegassam.com_.pdf
4. Janice Gassam Asare. LinkedIn. Accessed March 7, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicegassamphd/
5. Bio. BWG Business Solutions. Accessed March 7, 2022. https://www.bwgbusinesssolutions.com/bio
6. Team. BWG Business Solutions. Accessed March 7, 2022. https://www.bwgbusinesssolutions.com/team
7. About. Janice Z. Gassam Asare, Ph.D. Accessed March 16, 2022. https://www.drjanicegassam.com/
8. BWG Business Solutions. Connecticut Business Search. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://service.ct.gov/business/s/onlinebusinesssearch?businessNameEn=z6iSnERR1PJvv2MqT8hWPfiwkpB67avLuu18BDrqFuDddFSwZ1vY3DUtxXp9YZGa
9. Business Filing Form – Certificate of Dissolution. Secretary of State of Connecticut. January 23, 2020. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://ctds.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/#t0000000PNLu/a/t0000000z0M5/1kVUTymogJ_QuPISy2fXTVXHze3DAtixiH_z_dJhbKE
10. BWG Business Solutions. Open Corporates. Accessed March 4, 2022. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ny/5693353
11. Janice Gassam Asare, Ph.D. LinkedIn. Accessed March 14, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicegassamphd/
12.  Janice Gassam Asare, Ph.D. LinkedIn. Accessed March 14, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicegassamphd/
13. Book. Janice Z. Gassam Asare, Ph.D. Accessed March 16, 2022. https://www.drjanicegassam.com/book
14. Clients. BWG Business Solutions. Accessed March 15, 2022. https://defendingedstg.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/BWG-Solutions-Clients-www.drjanicegassam.com_.pdf
15. Gassam, Asare, Janie. “The Evolution of Whiteness.” Forbes. February 22, 2022. Accessed March 17, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2022/02/22/the-evolution-of-whiteness-in-the-united-states/?sh=4746b9697626
16. Gassam Asare, Janice. “Has Diversity Become a Dirty Word?” Forbes. May 27, 2020. Accessed March 17, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2020/05/27/has-diversity-become-a-dirty-word/?sh=727ef3fa5a9b
17. Gassam Asare, Janice. “Should We Fire All the Racists?” Forbes. January 5, 2022. Accessed March 16, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2022/01/05/should-we-fire-all-the-racists/?sh=389a149c3da1
18. Gassam Asare, Janice. “How We Can Foster Greater Equity Through Mutual Aid.” November 30, 2021. Accessed March 16, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2021/11/30/how-we-can-foster-greater-equity-through-mutual-aid/?sh=4fd821492323
19. Kaushal, Ashish and Gassam Asare, Janice. “Money Talks: Why Companies Should Compensate Anti-Racist Educators.” Medium. August 20, 2020. Accessed March 16, 2022. https://medium.com/@consciouslyunbiased1/money-talks-why-companies-should-compensate-anti-racist-educators-e4fee0ca4953