From public housing and hardship to becoming the first in his family to graduate from college, Jermaine Morgan refused to become another statistic. Today, the Columbus native is a real estate investor, licensed general contractor, and founder of Divine Investment—using what he built for himself to help build something better for others.

Some people spend their lives trying to overcome where they came from.

Jermaine Morgan decided to build beyond it.

Today, the Columbus native and licensed general contractor builds homes from the ground up. But before there were new homes and construction projects, Morgan learned the business by seeing potential in places others often overlooked — purchasing distressed properties, renovating them and bringing them back to life.

In many ways, the progression mirrors his own journey.

Before Morgan started building something new, he first had to rebuild the direction of his own life.

His story begins in public housing in Columbus, Georgia.

It includes poverty, loss, difficult choices and circumstances that could have written a very different ending.

But somewhere along the way, Morgan made a decision:

The cycle would stop with him.

And eventually, rebuilding became building.

Growing Up in Columbus

Morgan knows what it feels like to grow up without much.

Beginning around age nine, the A.J. McClung YMCA became more than somewhere to play. It was a safe place and, at times, somewhere he could count on getting a meal when there wasn’t food waiting for him at home.

Outside those doors, life could be considerably harder.

Morgan has spoken publicly about growing up without consistent hot water and experiencing housing conditions no family should have to accept.

Surrounded by difficult influences, he became involved in selling drugs at only 11 years old.

Then tragedy struck.

His brother and best friend were killed by gun violence.

The loss, encounters with law enforcement and a growing realization of where his own choices could lead forced Morgan to confront the direction of his life.

He had seen what could happen.

Eventually, he decided something different would happen to him.

“I’m Gonna Be That One”

Morgan remembers coming across a statistic about people growing up in underserved, poverty-stricken communities.

The possibilities weren’t encouraging.

Some would die young. Others would become incarcerated. Many would remain trapped in poverty.

But Morgan remembers seeing another possibility buried among those outcomes.

Someone could make it.

Someone could become extraordinarily successful.

Someone could become a millionaire.

Morgan never forgot it.

“I never forgot reading that,” Morgan recalled. “I was like, you know what? I’m gonna be that one.”

It wasn’t a denial of the world around him. Morgan knew those realities better than most.

It was a decision that they wouldn’t determine his future.

Long before Morgan began building properties, he began building something more important:

A different expectation for his life.

Breaking the First Cycle

Faith became an important part of Morgan’s transformation.

So did education.

He earned his GED and eventually attended Columbus State University, where he became a member of the men’s basketball program.

Then came a milestone bigger than basketball.

Morgan graduated.

He became the first person in his family to earn a college degree.

For someone who had once dropped out of high school, the accomplishment represented far more than a diploma.

It changed what was possible in his family.

The kid who once read the odds and thought, I’m gonna be that one, was beginning to prove he was.

And he wasn’t finished.

From Public Housing to Public Service

Morgan went on to become a firefighter.

There was something fitting about it.

A young man who had once depended on people and places in his community for safety and stability was now making a career out of serving others.

But Morgan also wanted to change his family’s financial future.

He wanted freedom. He wanted opportunity. And he wanted to learn how to create it.

That desire eventually led him to Kelsey Kennon.

Fifteen Minutes That Changed Everything

Morgan called Kennon with a straightforward request.

Teach me how to invest in real estate.

Teach me how to create the kind of lifestyle and financial future for my family that you’ve created for yours.

Kennon’s answer was simple:

Meet me at my office.

In 15 minutes.

There was one problem.

Morgan was at the fire station.

He could have asked for another day. Instead, he asked permission to step away and headed straight to the meeting, still wearing his work uniform.

That image captures Morgan’s mindset at the time.

He wasn’t yet an investor.

He wasn’t a general contractor.

There was no Divine Investment.

He was a firefighter in uniform sitting across from someone who knew something he desperately wanted to learn.

And he showed up ready to listen.

The very next month, Morgan purchased his first investment property at a foreclosure auction.

He learned.

Then he acted.

And once he understood the process, he repeated it.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Find the opportunity. Understand the numbers. Buy. Renovate. Learn.

Then do it again.

One phone call opened a door.

Morgan walked through it.

Seeing What Others Couldn’t

As Morgan gained experience with foreclosure auctions and renovations, he learned how to evaluate properties, understand risk and recognize potential.

But his advantage wasn’t only financial.

Morgan understood certain neighborhoods because he understood the people living in them.

He had been one of those kids.

In one example highlighted nationally by Auction.com, Morgan purchased a property in an area where other investors discouraged him from buying.

They saw too much risk.

Morgan saw possibility.

He renovated the property, brought it back to market and received multiple offers.

Then something else happened.

Other investors began purchasing properties around it.

One renovation encouraged another.

A neighborhood investors had been hesitant to enter began attracting new investment.

That’s the ripple effect Morgan believes real estate can create.

One house can’t transform an entire neighborhood.

But somebody has to be willing to build first.

Those early investments did more than create financial opportunity for Morgan. Property by property, they gave him an education in construction.

Every renovation taught him something.

And eventually, restoring what already existed evolved into a desire to build something new.

When the Builder Failed

Years after purchasing that first property, Morgan set his sights on another milestone: becoming a licensed general contractor.

On December 20, 2025—his wife’s birthday and one day before his son returned home on military holiday leave—Morgan took the licensing exam.

For him, it wasn’t simply about adding another credential.

Morgan had always believed his responsibility as a husband and father was to lead through example—to continually pursue the best version of himself and show his family what relentless effort looked like.

He had gone from high school dropout to college graduate.

From public housing to real estate investor.

Now he wanted to become a general contractor.

He failed the exam.

Morgan was devastated.

He cried. He felt embarrassed. And perhaps hardest of all, he knew his son was coming home the next day.

Before the exam, his son had texted him to say he was praying for him.

Morgan had spent years teaching his son to persevere, push himself and refuse to give up.

Now he had to look him in the eyes and admit that Dad had fallen short.

When his son came home on December 21, Morgan told him what happened.

His son’s response reminded Morgan of the very lesson he had spent years teaching him: coming up short doesn’t make you a failure. Giving up does.

For once, the lesson traveled in the opposite direction.

From son to father.

Morgan’s spirits lifted.

He hadn’t seen his son in months, so instead of obsessing over the exam, he spent the holiday leave being present with him.

Then his son returned to Oklahoma.

Morgan locked in.

He studied.

He went back.

And on his next attempt, he passed.

For Morgan, earning his general contractor license was another milestone.

But failing first may have taught the greater lesson.

For years, Morgan had shown his son what success looked like.

This time, he had the opportunity to show him something just as important:

What getting back up looks like.

From Rebuilding to Building

Today, Morgan’s work has entered another chapter.

The investor who once built his experience renovating distressed properties is now a licensed general contractor building homes from the ground up.

It’s a natural progression in his career.

It’s also a fitting one.

Morgan knows what inadequate housing feels like because he lived it.

He remembers growing up without consistent hot water. He remembers being the kid living in a neighborhood others might have already written off.

Now he gets to create something entirely different.

A foundation.

Walls.

A roof.

A place where another family will build memories.

A home.

There is something almost poetic about that progression.

Morgan spent the early part of his real estate career taking neglected properties and giving them another chance.

Now he can start with an empty piece of ground and create something that wasn’t there before.

He went from restoring possibility to building it from the ground up.

A Divine Investment

The name of Morgan’s company is Divine Investment.

It’s fitting, because when you look at his life, investment has never been limited to money.

The YMCA invested in a child who needed somewhere safe.

Mentors invested knowledge in a young man trying to find another way.

Morgan invested in his education.

He invested in his faith.

He invested in his family.

He invested in real estate.

And now he invests his experience into building homes.

Morgan builds for a living today.

But in many ways, he’s been building his entire life.

He built a new direction when the old one could have destroyed him.

He built an education after dropping out of high school.

He built a career in public service.

He built knowledge.

He built financial opportunity.

He built a business.

And now, quite literally, he builds homes.

Full Circle

There is something powerful about where Morgan’s journey has taken him.

The child who once needed the YMCA as a safe place eventually returned to support and minister to young people there.

The young man whose circumstances could have landed him behind bars became a firefighter serving his community.

The high school dropout became the first person in his family to graduate from college.

The kid who grew up experiencing inadequate housing became a real estate investor who restored homes others had overlooked.

And today, the kid from public housing is a licensed general contractor building new homes from the ground up.

That’s more than professional success.

That’s full circle.

Jermaine’s journey is also a reminder that few people build anything meaningful entirely by themselves.

The YMCA mattered.

Faith mattered.

Education mattered.

Mentorship mattered.

Kelsey Kennon mattered.

And years later, when Morgan experienced failure, the encouragement of his son mattered.

At pivotal moments, someone invested something in Jermaine Morgan.

What makes his story special is what he did with those investments.

He built upon them.

And eventually, he became someone capable of investing in others.

The Power of Being the One

Years ago, Jermaine Morgan encountered a statistic that could have convinced him the odds were already decided.

Poverty.

Violence.

Incarceration.

Another life shaped by the circumstances surrounding it.

But Morgan remembers seeing another possibility.

Someone could make it.

“I’m gonna be that one.”

So he became the one.

The one who changed direction.

The one who went back to school.

The one who became the first college graduate in his family.

The one who showed up to a life-changing meeting still wearing his firefighter uniform.

The one who took what he learned and turned it into action.

The one who failed an important exam, admitted it to his son and tried again.

And eventually, Morgan learned that being the one was never only about becoming successful himself.

It was about what his success could make possible for someone else.

A better home.

A stronger community.

A different example.

And a son who gets to grow up seeing firsthand that his father’s greatest strength isn’t that he never falls short.

It’s that he keeps building anyway.

Because breaking a cycle is only the beginning.

The real work is building something better in its place.

For Jermaine Morgan, that has become more than an investment.

It has become his purpose.