ByBlacks Magazine » Business
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Read profiles on Black Canadian entrepreneurs and business owners. Founded in 2013, we've been empowering self-identified Black Canadian writers to cover topics ranging from new Black Canadian entrepreneurs, Black Canadian business profiles, Black Canadian history, and profiles on Black Canadian artists.
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
1M ago
Roller skating has long been a part of Black culture. In Canada, the first recorded rinks popped up in Montreal and Toronto around the 1880s.
Fast forward to the 1970s, and roller disco became widespread. However, it was within the Black and gay skating communities that this style of skating truly found its roots.
In Toronto, people had various options for roller skating venues, such as the renowned Victoria Rink on Huron Street and the Granite Club Roller Rink at 519 Church. Roller skating held a universal appeal, transcending age. Competing arenas vied for customers through newspaper ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
5M ago
For twenty years, between 1969 and 1989, The Underground Railroad restaurant was a staple in the Black community in Toronto and beyond.
Founded by Toronto Argonaut quarterback John Henry Jackson, teammate Dave Mann, musician Archie Alleyne and restauranteur Howard Matthews, the Underground Railroad Restaurant fused soulful Black-American food, with music and history under one roof. The inside of the restaurant was decorated to share the history of the Underground Railroad, and the plight of Black enslaved people with write-ups and teachings of important historical Black figures d ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
8M ago
What does it look like for a brand to move beyond “product” to “purpose”? For SheaMoisture and SheaMoisture Canada, it takes the form of supporting Black-owned businesses on both sides of the 49th parallel.
The 2023 Essence Festival was the perfect setting for the premiere of SheaMoisture’s docuseries called The Next Black Millionaire, which highlights the journeys of the three recipients of the brand’s Next Black Millionaire Fund.
Launched in 2021, the Fund set out to support three Black entrepreneurs with a $100,000 grant, business coaching, online and in-store retail distribut ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
10M ago
The Founder of RÓUN Beauty is solving a problem many may have not considered before: how wasteful hair extensions and synthetic braiding hair is and the harm it is causing our environment.
Seyi Adaghe is tackling this head-on by creating plant-based eco-friendly braiding hair and a recycling program for synthetic hair to allow people to still look fly while protecting the planet.
Seyi grew up getting her hair braided in various cornrow styles. “On special occasions like Christmas or family vacations, I’d step it up by adorning the ends of my cornrows with beads or getting long bra ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
11M ago
In my previous two articles, I have focused on the productive elements of the Black ecosystem. The employment landscape and entrepreneurial space are changing dramatically as the Black community finds innovative solutions to grow.
But it would be a mistake to view the Black ecosystem only from the narrative of Black people as workers and producers for the Canadian economy. We are valuable as consumers, too, and a new study proves that.
The Modern Black Consumer in Canada by Moses Mawa of SilverTrust Media and John Stevenson from CulturaliQ is the first to examine the Black Canadian experienc ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
11M ago
Yaw Anti-Adjei Hubert never intended to fall in love with St. John’s, Newfoundland, when he moved there to pursue his education at Memorial University.
Yaw initially moved from Ghana to Canada to find opportunities to thrive as a young man full of potential. Yaw had been a barber, among other endeavours, while in Ghana and when he initially moved to Toronto. Still, he thought he was hanging up his clippers when he got accepted to Memorial University for a Master's degree in Philosophy.
Despite thinking this career path was over, Yaw was influenced by his now business partner Gustavo to found ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
1y ago
CEO April Showers invented Afro Unicorn®, a character celebrating representation, as a “conscious brand with the mission to positively uplift and impact women and children of colour.” Afro Unicorn® represents the beauty and “uniqueness of vanilla, caramel, and mocha complexions” while providing women and children with the confidence they need to embrace who they are—“unique, divine, and magical.”
“Afro Unicorn started in the e-commerce industry in 2019. Back then, it was an organic, grassroots brand, and I was pressing shirts and selling them through my eCommerce store, adding logos to T-shi ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
1y ago
When Adesola Ogunsakin graduated from medical school in 2017, the next step was already written for her: residency. The only hurdle getting from point A to B was the numbers in her account that told her she couldn’t afford the next step or her rent. So she turned to what held currency aside from money: ideas.
Ogunsakin asked herself, “What is it about me that I can offer to this world? What can I do?” Bags were her answer. What was meant as the darkest point in her life produced a light blub moment attributed to her evergreen business: The Retro Bag.
She started with an online presence ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
1y ago
United Colours of Fashion founders Christine Eruokwu and Rufina Ajalie did not move to Saint John, New Brunswick, expecting to have the impact that they do on their community.
Before moving to Canada, Christine worked for an educational non-profit in Nigeria, organizing fundraisers for school uniforms and hot lunches for under-served children in public schools. A philanthropic focus soon became the root of Christine’s business in Canada.
With a spirit of positivity, Christine moved to Saint John, New Brunswick as an international student in 2014. She experienced many cultu ..read more
ByBlacks Magazine » Business
1y ago
Working long days, spending hours on end alone, and making tough personal sacrifices comes with the territory if you’re an entrepreneur. The entrepreneurial lifestyle takes a huge mental toll on a person, and understandably so, it requires huge investments on both the personal and financial side.
Several studies have shown that entrepreneurs experience high rates of stress and mental health issues like depression, anxiety and substance abuse. According to Fortune magazine, 30 per cent of start-ups fail due to “founder’s blues". A 2019 Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) found that 62 p ..read more