Harvard credential

Robert Shumake completes the Harvard Data Science Initiative Agentic AI Intensive

A 2.5-week intensive in agentic AI — autonomous systems that plan, reason and execute — completed June 9–25, 2026, with a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Data Science Review (verification UTHW-KVJS).

Program: HDSI Agentic AI Intensive
Issued by: Harvard Data Science Review
Dates: June 9–25, 2026
Verification: UTHW-KVJS

Smart Money Black AI Program See the full AI work

In short

Robert S. Shumake PhD completed the Harvard Data Science Initiative Agentic AI Intensive in June 2026, earning a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Data Science Review (verification code UTHW-KVJS). His capstone rebuilt the curriculum for people who will never have access to Harvard — entrepreneurs in Africa and incarcerated people in the United States. That capstone became the Smart Money Black AI Executive Program, launching at the National Business League's 126th Annual Conference in Atlanta, August 19–22, 2026.

Curriculum

What the intensive covered

Agentic AI: autonomous systems that plan, reason and execute without continuous human direction.

AI agent architecture and autonomous task execution
Prompt engineering for reliable agent behaviour
Multi-agent systems and orchestration
Deploying AI across operations: content, acquisition, analysis and decision-making

The capstone: Harvard's curriculum, rebuilt for people without access

The intensive is a certified course: participants must complete a capstone project to earn the Certificate of Completion. Shumake's capstone was to study the Harvard HDSI curriculum and rebuild it for communities that will never set foot on campus — entrepreneurs across Africa and incarcerated people in the American prison system.

Not everyone can go to Harvard. The working premise of the capstone is that everyone deserves access to the education Harvard provides. Free AI courses are now deployed through the seven religious universities to communities across Africa, and to federal prisoners through the Sacred Study Beyond Walls program.

The Smart Money Black AI Executive Program

Rather than keeping the training for personal use, Shumake built it into a structured four-week course with a personal AI Executive Coach, designed for entrepreneurs with no technical background.

It launches at the National Business League's 126th Annual Conference, August 19–22, 2026, at the Hilton Atlanta Hotel, under the theme "Economic Sovereignty," before more than 1,000 Black business owners. The National Business League is the nation's oldest Black business organisation, founded by Booker T. Washington in 1900.

Each participant receives AI training, 1,000 Manus AI credits, a feature in Smart Money Black Magazine, distribution across ten newspaper platforms, and an international travel certificate upon graduation.

Why it matters: the AI adoption gap

According to McKinsey research, 79 percent of Black-owned businesses have not yet adopted AI tools, against 52 percent of all U.S. businesses. As AI reshapes every industry, that adoption gap threatens to widen the racial wealth divide.

The response is deliberately direct: take Harvard-level education to the people who need it most, at a price working entrepreneurs can meet, through an institution that has served Black business owners for 126 years.

From the Ford plant floor to a Harvard AI credential

As documented in the Amazon #1 bestseller Climbing Your Inner Mountain: Ten Steps to Reaching Any Goal (Take the Land Publishing, 2013), Shumake began as a janitor at a Ford Motor Company plant in Detroit, spending three years listening to business audiobooks while pushing a mop cart. He left Ford and earned $194,000 in his first year in real estate, $600,000 in his second and one million dollars in his third.

By 2011, Black Enterprise ranked his firm, Inheritance Capital Group L.L.C. of Southfield, Michigan, tenth nationally among the largest Black-owned private equity firms, with $200 million in capital under management across two funds — figures independently verified by KBL L.L.P., Certified Public Accountants and Advisors.

The Harvard credential applies that same self-directed learning method to artificial intelligence.

“The same methodology that took me from sweeping floors at Ford to managing $200 million works in AI. The constraint was never intelligence or capital. It was access to information. This program eliminates that constraint.”
Robert S. Shumake PhD

Questions

Harvard AI training, answered

Did Robert Shumake study AI at Harvard?

Yes. Robert S. Shumake PhD completed the Harvard Data Science Initiative Agentic AI Intensive, June 9–25, 2026, and holds a Certificate of Completion issued by Harvard Data Science Review under verification code UTHW-KVJS.

What is the Harvard Data Science Initiative Agentic AI Intensive?

It is a 2.5-week concentrated training presented by Harvard Data Science Review in agentic AI — autonomous systems that plan, reason and execute complex tasks without continuous human direction. The curriculum covers agent architecture, prompt engineering, multi-agent systems and AI deployment for business operations, and requires a capstone project for completion.

What was his Harvard capstone project?

He rebuilt the Harvard HDSI curriculum for communities without access to Harvard: entrepreneurs in Africa and incarcerated people in the American prison system. The capstone became the Smart Money Black AI Executive Program and a set of free AI courses delivered through his seven religious universities and the Sacred Study Beyond Walls prison program.

What is the Smart Money Black AI Executive Program?

A four-week AI course for Black entrepreneurs with a personal AI Executive Coach, launching at the National Business League's 126th Annual Conference, August 19–22, 2026, at the Hilton Atlanta Hotel. Participants receive AI training, 1,000 Manus AI credits, a magazine feature, distribution across ten newspaper platforms and an international travel certificate.

How can the Harvard certificate be verified?

The Certificate of Completion was issued by Harvard Data Science Review in June 2026 with verification code UTHW-KVJS.

Access & verification

Sources: Harvard Data Science Review Certificate (verification UTHW-KVJS, June 2026); Black Enterprise, BE100s, June 2011; McKinsey research on small-business AI adoption; National Business League.

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