Robert Blackwell Jr.

Origin

Robert Blackwell Jr. founded Electronic Knowledge Interchange — EKI — in Chicago in 1998.⁹ The firm provided technology strategy consulting to corporations and government entities during the internet era, a period when Black-owned technology businesses were rare and institutional access to corporate procurement pipelines was structurally constrained. EKI's growth required building client relationships in networks that were predominantly white and male. Blackwell built them.

He also founded Killerspin, a professional table tennis brand that organizes tournaments, produces content, and sells premium equipment. The choice of table tennis as a second venture reflects a specific entrepreneur's logic: identify an underserved market, build the infrastructure it lacks, and own the brand position before the market catches up.

Path & Decisions

In 2000, Barack Obama lost the Democratic primary for Illinois's First Congressional District to incumbent U.S. Representative Bobby Rush by thirty-one percentage points. The loss was comprehensive. Blackwell hired him as a technology strategy consultant for EKI at $8,000 per month — a retainer that eventually totaled approximately $112,000.⁸ Blackwell has consistently maintained that Obama delivered genuine strategic value to the firm. Obama needed work after the loss. Blackwell offered it.

Blackwell's decision to hire Obama follows a pattern that appears elsewhere in his career: identifying asymmetric value in a person or entity before the market does, investing in that value through a service relationship rather than waiting for the price to adjust, and holding the relationship for compounding return. Whether this constitutes a deliberate strategy or a series of well-timed judgments is left to the reader.

Recent Ventures

EKI-Digital has since evolved into Quant16, a digital transformation and AI consultancy serving public and private sector clients in Chicago and nationally.⁹ Blackwell was recognized as a Crain's Chicago Business Notable Black Leader in 2024.⁵

He also founded TESC.Love — The Entrepreneurial Saving Cities — a movement advocating for large organizations to do business with Black-owned companies, with a stated goal of directing $40 billion in business transactions toward Black enterprises by 2028.⁶ Walter Hughes was named CEO of TESC.Love to lead its operational expansion.

Blackwell built EKI during the 1990s internet era, when Black-owned technology consulting firms were systematically excluded from the largest corporate procurement pipelines.⁹ Enterprise IT contracts at major corporations flowed through relationship networks that were predominantly white and male. Building a client base required navigating those networks at a structural disadvantage.

His use of political relationships — standard practice in Chicago's contract economy — created an additional constraint specific to Black entrepreneurs: when those relationships are scrutinized, the scrutiny rarely applies equivalently to white-owned firms working the same channels. The 2008 LA Times investigation of his relationship with then-Senator Obama applied a level of public attention that comparable white entrepreneurs in identical contractual positions did not face during the same cycle.⁸

In April 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that Robert Blackwell had employed Barack Obama as a technology strategy consultant at $8,000 per month between 2000 and 2002, for a total of approximately $112,000.⁸ The article noted that several months after his final consulting payment, Obama wrote a letter on state Senate letterhead urging Illinois officials to provide a $50,000 tourism promotion grant to Killerspin. With the support of other officials and an Obama aide who later worked part-time for Killerspin, the company eventually received $320,000 in state grants between 2002 and 2004.

An Illinois ethics advocate reviewed the situation and stated that Obama's disclosure 'was a more complete disclosure than you see 80% of the time in Illinois' and that the letter 'did not rise to the level of a conflict of interest' because Obama did not have decision-making authority over the grant.⁸ Obama's spokesperson said Obama did nothing wrong, characterizing the letter as a state senator backing a project developed by a constituent.

No criminal charges were filed against Blackwell or Obama. Blackwell maintained that all consulting work was legitimate and that the grant applications were appropriate. The story received coverage as a political controversy during the 2008 primary cycle and was not pursued further. This platform presents the documented facts without adjudication.

EKI-Digital — the firm Blackwell founded in 1998 as Electronic Knowledge Interchange — evolved into Quant16, a digital transformation and AI consultancy.⁹ Blackwell has led the firm's pivot toward quantitative analytics and AI-driven consulting services. He was recognized as a Crain's Chicago Business Notable Black Leader in 2024.⁵

TESC.Love — The Entrepreneurial Saving Cities — is a movement Blackwell founded to demonstrate that the free enterprise system can work for Black Americans if given access.⁶ The organization's stated goal is to direct $40 billion in business transactions toward Black-owned enterprises by 2028 through its Lead Partner Program, engaging major government entities and Fortune 1000 companies.

Killerspin continues as a professional table tennis brand under Blackwell's leadership. As the company approached its 25th anniversary, it expanded programming for individuals with autism.⁷ In 2024, Killerspin had a historic visit to the Vatican in recognition of Blackwell's commitment to using business as a force for social good.⁷ Barack Obama served two terms as President of the United States; the consulting relationship with Blackwell was not a disqualifying factor in his campaigns or presidency.