Target to spend over $2B with Black-owned companies by 2025
by Sherri KoladeMichigan Chronicle Target announced recently to spend over $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025, Black Enterprise reported. Target made the pledge to add more products to its shelves from over 500 Black-owned businesses and work with more Black retail companies to enhance retail operations and shopping experiences, according to the article. Target will also introduce new opportunities to assist its Black-owned resources in growth for their businesses. Those resources entail a new team geared to giving vendors support to help propel Black-owned companies optimize their brands
Diary of a Serial Entrepreneur: Five things I’ve learned
Yimaj “Steve” Kalifa has mastered the art of reinvention – and, he has been so successful at it, that executives from major corporations and federal agencies now seek him out for advice. Often life has chapters, he likes to say, but sometimes you have to write whole new books to succeed. Growing up near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kalifa’s first reinvention was realizing the power of context and environment. He had to near the center of the global economy, where his outsider status would let him see new opportunities that U.S. natives and industry veterans might overlook. So,
The Business of Black Beauty: Why More Black Women Aren’t Represented
By Megan Kirk Actor and comedian Chris Rock released a film in 2009 centered around Black women and the beauty industry. Taking a closer look at the relationship between Black women and their hair, the film “Good Hair” uncovered truths about the significant role Black women play in the multibillion-dollar industry. It also helped to highlight the versatility of Black hair and why Black women dominate the hair and beauty business. In 2019, Essence magazine reported that African Americans spend $1.2 trillion each year on hair and that number
A CEO at Work and at Home, Shauntae Lewis Excels as Certified Grant Writer
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Shauntae E. Lewis heard the naysayers – loud and clear. “I heard ‘you won’t amount to this’ and ‘you’re not good enough,’” Lewis, a certified grant writer who owns and operates Grant Life Consulting in Florida. “My inspiration came from a sense of fear and those things that I had heard in my life – in the professional world,” Lewis recalled. With her four children and her faith as inspiration, Lewis has done more than achieve. She has succeeded. A U.S. Air Force veteran,
New Business Alliance Launches with $1 Million Investment Aimed To Give Black Business Owners Better Advantages
By Megan Kirk Detroit’s Black small business owners will soon see a new coalition in place to better serve their needs. Several Black entrepreneurs held a press conference to unveil a new partnership with help from TCF Bank. The Metro-Detroit Black Business Alliance will develop programs and initiatives that will help create revenue and sustainability for all Black business owners in the city. Created in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the alliance highlights the specific and unique roadblocks Black businesses endure. Spearheaded by Charity Dean, founder of Dean
Wells Fargo Makes Major Investment in Six Black-Owned Banks
By Stacy M. Brown The banking giant has selected six African American minority depository institutions (MDIs) for equity investments. Broadway Federal Bank in Los Angeles, Carver Federal Savings Bank in New York, Citizens Savings Bank & Trust in Nashville, Commonwealth National Bank in Mobile, Ala., M&F Bank in Durham, N.C., and Optus Bank in Columbia, S.C., are receiving critical equity capital, because of Well Fargo’s generous contribution. The financial commitment structure means that the investments are in the form of critical equity capital, which is foundational to the MDIs’ ability
How Can We Narrow the Black Homeownership Gap?
By Chuck Bishop, Head of Diverse Segments for Wells Fargo Home Lending Despite ongoing challenges due to the pandemic, Black Americans joined the many homebuyers looking for a space to call their own during the past year. But even against that backdrop, the homeownership gap for the Black community remains significant, and concerns remain about the overall effect the pandemic-slowed economy and historic challenges will have on long-term homeownership goals. During Black History Month, and throughout the year, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges the Black community faces when
Entertainment Icon Snoop Dogg Announces National Distribution of His Very Own INDOGGO® Gin
Bringing a laidback California style to the spirits industry, Entertainment Icon Snoop Dogg’s INDOGGO® Gin is easy to mix, easy to drink and hard to forget. On the heels of a successful limited launch last Fall, Entertainment Icon and Hip-Hop legend Snoop Dogg has announced his INDOGGO® Gin is now available nationwide. INDOGGO®, crafted with a laid-back California style, is the ultimate remix of seven premium botanicals infused with all-natural strawberry flavor. INDOGGO® was developed by the King of “Gin & Juice,” in partnership with Keenan Towns and Marc
Morehouse, Spelman and Bank of America launch Center for Black Entrepreneurship
Today, Bank of America, the Black Economic Alliance Foundation, Morehouse College, and Spelman College announced the development of the Center for Black Entrepreneurship (CBE), the first-ever academic center of its kind to assemble, educate, and empower a new class of Black entrepreneurial talent. The CBE will be located on the campuses of Spelman College and Morehouse College in southwest Atlanta. Spelman plans to house the CBE in its new academic facility, the Center for Innovation & the Arts, and Morehouse will house its CBE within a new
Black Real Estate Agent Program Launches to Support Aspiring Black Agents
By Danielle Sanders HomeLight and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) announced a partnership and the launch of the joint Black Real Estate Program. The HomeLight-NAREB Black Real Estate Agent Program will provide financial, educational, and career support for aspiring Black real estate agents across the country. The goal is to help agents achieve high-production success. The goal of the program is to improve the rate of homeownership for Black Americans. BLACK REAL ESTATE AGENT PROGRAM IS CRUCIAL TO IMPACTING CHANGE According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, Black