St. Paul man works to connect people of color with jobs in banking, IT

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - After spending more than a decade in the banking industry, a St. Paul man is branching out on his own. In his new role, Clement Marriot is working to connect people of color to careers in banking and finance.

In 2021, Marriot launched "Empowers Staffing," a recruiting and temp staffing agency specializing in IT, banking and finance.

His road toward entrepreneurship began during his years in the banking industry at Wells Fargo.  "Everyone that I saw that looks like me were people in very entry-level positions. I started thinking, and I thought ok, is it by choice?," says Marriot. Now his focus is on creating a diverse talent pool.  "I want to help by pushing the narrative and changing the narrative that people believe that IT is unobtainable," says Marriot.

Bridging a gap and connecting people of color to career opportunities in an industry that Marriot says has fallen short on diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Marriot says,"I think that a lot of the employers that are struggling right now to find candidates, they can fix that situation."

Matthew Oribhabor says that the agency helped land him his first banking job in the U.S. "They'll give you the necessary training to prepare you so that you can function in any environment," says Oribhabor.

For Marriot, Oribhabor's success is just one step in the process toward building a more diverse workforce. "I just have the belief that I’m going to be able to succeed, I’m going to be able to make the change, I’m going to be able to create some sort of awareness," says Marriot.

Marriot says that there are a lot of career opportunities available right now. For more information on his agency, click on the link below.