Boston Ujima Project, Inc. Welcomes 2026-27 Solidarity Institutions Fellow, Segun Idowu

The Boston Ujima Project, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Segun Idowu as our 2026-27 Solidarity Institutions Fellow.

Idowu will be working with Ujima on the critical questions of institution-building and translating proven models within the solidarity economy to permanent institutional infrastructure. His economy-building work as a Ujima member, President and CEO of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), and as Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion with the City of Boston, will inform his work with us in building institutional relationships and new power. 

Ujima has demonstrated the possibility of community-controlled capital; Idowu will help determine what institutions will help Ujima (and others) produce research, develop governance models, shape public policy, and help the work scale and replicate over a defined geography. Over his term, Idowu will convene Ujima members, staff, and aligned stakeholders across Greater Boston to build institutional knowledge, and to take lessons from Ujima’s work into frameworks that can strengthen the broader field. He will also advance a signature institutional project, defined jointly with Ujima leadership.

Join us in welcoming Segun to the Ujima team!

About Segun Idowu:

Segun Idowu is an accomplished visionary, builder, speaker, and leader. A lifelong resident of Boston, he is a proud product of the Boston Public Schools. Following his graduation from Boston Latin Academy, he matriculated to Morehouse College where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in History with Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and Golden Key Society honors. In 2014, Segun and his colleague Shekia Scott organized the Boston Police Camera Action Team (BPCAT), a community advocacy group whose successful efforts made Boston the first city to utilize body-worn camera policy that was largely written by the community rather than local police unions.

In November 2018, Segun began his tenure as the first President and CEO of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, Inc. (BECMA), the statewide advocacy organization for Black businesses. In this role, he helped transform the organization, including growing membership by 300 percent and helping to reshape the procurement process for Massachusetts, which led to contracts worth $500 million being awarded to minority-owned firms. During the COVID-19 pandemic, BECMA and its partners ensured that 50% of the roughly $700 million in pandemic aid provided by the Commonwealth was awarded to minority-owned firms. 

From 2022 to 2026, Segun served as the Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion for Mayor Michelle Wu. In this position, he executed a vision of Boston as a resilient, economically equitable, and vibrant city that created opportunities for residents to build generational wealth. Notable achievements include providing $35 million in grants to 1,500 small businesses, with more than 70% identifying as minority-owned; establishing the most robust Legacy Business Program in the nation; creating the SPACE grant program, an ARPA-funded initiative to fill vacant storefronts in major commercial hubs that was heralded as a national model; launching the city's first Office of Nightlife Economy; and doubling the amount of City contracts awarded to diverse firms. Among numerous awards, Segun has been recognized by Boston Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the City of Boston" every year since 2020. The Boston Business Journal has listed him as a "Power 50 Movement Maker." In 2020, the Boston Globe recognized him on the front page of their Sunday edition as a "Man of the Moment" and as a "Bostonian of the Year."