'Black-owned business, where art thou?'
If you cannot get out and join the #BlackLivesMatter protest for social justice, there are a number of ways you can support the cause. One of those ways is through supporting Black-owned businesses.
If you are having a tough time trying to find a Black-owned business to support, there are several websites and resources available to quickly find a business that suits what you are looking for.
After doing some research, I curated a list of directories each with its own special niches for what a consumer is looking for.
Official Black Wall Street - Founded by Babson College graduate Mandy Bowman in 2015, Official Black Wall Street became the largest app and digital platform dedicated to increasing the visibility of Black business by allowing consumers to discover, support, and leave reviews on Black businesses. With over 1,800 businesses and counting, the Official Black Wall Street has apps across the iOS and Google Play platforms in addition to its Facebook and Instagram pages to help find a Black-business to suit your needs.
We Buy Black - Also founded in 2015 by Howard University graduate Sharif Abdul-Malik, We Buy Black is the largest e-marketplace for Black-owned businesses. We Buy Black is a hub for businesses and consumers to buy and sell any product from beauty products, to toys, to jewelry. It has dubbed itself ‘Black Amazon’ for the wide variety of goods it offers. We Buy Black has apps available on both iOS and Google Play platforms. It also has a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube page.
Chez Nous Guide - Officially launched on June 2, 2020 by Kristyn Potter, Chez Nous Guide was born out of Potter’s desire to help businesses operated by historically marginalized people that were being ravaged by not only the coronavirus pandemic, but also social inequality. The Chez Nous Guide is a volunteer-run online directory of businesses, organizations, and events that give people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQIA community a platform to share their products and projects. The Chez Nous Guide also acts as a travel guide where users can offer advice and discuss their experiences. It has Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter pages.
Where U Came From - Where U Came From publishes crowdsourced listings and referrals of Black-owned businesses and allows users to search for businesses by category or keyword. It also shows the top-rated companies from each category first with rankings determined by peer-to-peer referrals. Where U Came From has iOS and Google Play apps.
EatOkra - Founded in 2016 by New York-based couple Anthony and Janique Edwards, EatOkra an app on both the iOS and Google Play platform that is the first directory of Black-owned eateries. The app features over of 2,600 Black-owned restaurants across the country and allows the user to search by cuisine and location using its built-in geotagging feature. According to its website, “Since its initial release, EatOkra has connected over 150,000 users to restaurants, bakeries, cafes, food trucks, bars and wineries across the country.”
There are many more directories to help find and locate Black-owned businesses. Though directories make it easier to find more well-known Black-owned businesses, the invention of social media has made it simpler to find Black-owned businesses and products. Facebook and Instagram now have their own Marketplaces and Twitter acts as a marketplace in some instances. Looking for specific hashtags such as #BlackBusiness or #BuyBlack are easy ways to curate your own Black business directory. Gone are the days when word-of-mouth were the only ways to hear about Black-owned business.
“The discovery of a thousand Black-owned businesses begins with a single search.”
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