| | | |
Aeon board member selected as 40 under 40 honoreeMinneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - March 2009By David Hawley
Awale Rage, 30
Vice president, bank store manager, Wells Fargo
Born in Somalia and displaced with his family by civil war when he was 11 years old, Awale Rage remembers the day he opened his first savings account at a bank in Nairobi, Kenya.
'The best thing I like about my work is helping people become financially successful.'
“The bank manager welcomed us to the bank and my mother said, ‘This is the guy who has the keys to the vault,’ ” Rage recalled. “I said to myself, 'that’s for me.'”
Today, Rage is manager of a Wells Fargo store on Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis, where his clients include Latinos, Arabs, Somalis, Eastern European immigrants and many small-business owners.
“He is an outstanding leader with a bright future, and he also is helping develop others to be future leaders for our company,” said Kelly Gosz, community banking president for Wells Fargo Minnesota.
Since taking charge of the Central Avenue location in 2007, Rage has turned it into a high-performance branch with team members who speak eight languages. He helped create and is current co-chair of the Pan African Connection, a resource group for Wells Fargo team members, and he also volunteers in the Somali community, teaching personal finance and business skills.
Rage also serves on the board of Aeon, a Minneapolis nonprofit organization that builds and renovates housing for low-income people.
“Aeon’s vision is to have a roof over everyone’s head,” Rage said. “What better way to make a difference — not just in creating housing, but in building homes that people can be proud of.
“The best thing I like about my work is helping people become financially successful,” Rage added. “That’s what it’s all about. I’m trying to do my part aggressively.” |
