Having a strong support system is crucial for any business, but even more so for Black-owned businesses.
“So that we can support one another and also obviously get the products out to the community,” said Lexus Pointer, owner of Ntuneyu Holistic Healing, one of the businesses featured at this month’s Black Power Marketplace.
Which is exactly what The Black Power Marketplace is focused on.
“All of these different vendors come together and we get to poor the dollar back into the Black community, but we also get to celebrate our businesses while also just supporting one another,” said Heaven Vega, youth worker for Community Justice Initiative, the group that organizes the marketplace.
Stressing the importance of cooperative economics can result in an increase in local spending of profits within the community. It’s something that, in the Black community, can be traced back to times of segregation.
“After a certain time, we got to a point where we didn’t have to support our own businesses because we were allowed in all businesses and from the trauma we incurred during that time, we actually went on to value other businesses more than ours,” said Pointer.
This is why Black business owners are using the Black Power marketplace to stress the importance of putting more focus on other Black businesses to help them succeed.
“To highlight the fact that our businesses are struggling and so this is something that we actually need and something thats going to be good for us,” Pointer said.
“Networking, it’s super important. Making sure that just because you don’t know that they’re there…let’s put them out there,” said Sherae Gayle, an employee for Beads and Bengals.
And educating their community on the needs of black businesses and how to help them thrive.
“Education is key. People learning this information is really important and so if its happening frequently and people are leaning constantly and people are confident in what they receive then that will allow us a certain momentum because its happening so often,” said Diallo Payne, lead builder for the Community Justice Initiative.