Black women-owned businesses and black-owned brands are growing rapidly in the small business owners’ corporate world.
Let’s explore a few Black women entrepreneurs who are leaving their imprint through both established and innovative businesses.
Black Women Entrepreneurs to Inspire You
Businesses run by female black entrepreneurs launched in various ways. Starting a business was not easy – it’s never easy!
Here are brief descriptions of Black female business entrepreneurs who paved the way for Black women entrepreneurs who followed in their determined footsteps.
Sheilisa Burgess
Black women entrepreneurs are not the only ones celebrating the launch of Fria, one of the fastest-growing female-owned businesses. Burgess has developed a jewelry line that employs advanced technology, including thermal heat transfer and evaporative cooling, to help alleviate hot flashes.
Maya Penn
Penn collaborates with fellow black women entrepreneurs to create a fashion line that utilizes sustainable materials such as organic cotton, hemp, and bamboo. Her collection, named Maya’s Ideas, broadens her business into the fashion industry while incorporating global activism, making her a sought-after speaker. Additionally, her book, You Got This, serves to inspire teens and young adults.
Natalie M. Cofield
Cofield is the founder and CEO of the Walker’s Legacy Foundation, a resource and support organization dedicated to entrepreneurial women of color. Additionally, the foundation operates an online business accelerator to assist women of color in their professional growth.
Essynce Moore
This young black entrepreneur is a fashion designer who launched her line when she was 6 years old. Moore is also an actress and author. Her Essynce Couture line has expanded to include clothes and body products for teens.
Tiffany Aliche
Aliche is the founder and CEO of both Budgetnista and The Live Richer Academy. At one point in her life, Aliche became homeless and moved in with her parents. Her goal is to provide life-changing financial education for women worldwide.
Asmau Ahmed
Ahmed began her work career as a chemical engineer. She also earned an MBA from Columbia Business School. Those two fields gave her a great background – after 8 years of research – to launch Plum Perfect.
Plum Perfect offers a tailored digital shopping experience specifically designed for women of color. Simply upload a selfie, create your color signature, and explore recommended products.
Asia Newson
This Super Business Girl began her entrepreneurial journey by creating and selling candles featuring her distinctive pink, yellow, and light blue candles. She then sought to motivate her peers to launch their own businesses, implementing strategies acquired from her workshops. These workshops are designed for middle and high school students.
Swivel Beauty
Swivel Beauty was cofounded by lawyer Jennifer Lambert and editor Jihan Thomas. Both women were frequent travelers and despaired of finding quality hair care in unfamiliar towns and cities. They developed Swivel Beauty, an App that connects women of color to hair professionals.
Nathalie Walton
Walton is CEO and cofounder of Expectful, which focuses on holistic care for moms. Via the Expectful site, women can take part in meditations and events. They can also join support groups. Expectful is staffed with experts, including those in the field of nutrition and post-partum care.
Mikaila Ulmer
Getting stung by a bee on two occasions led Ulmer to learn more about bees. She entered a local business competition by making flaxseed lemonade. She tweaked a 1940s recipe from her great-grandmother, substituting honey for sugar. She donates a portion of the profits of her Me and the Bees Lemonade business to help save honeybees.
Arlan Hamilton
Hamilton founded Backstage Capital after discovering that fewer than 10% of venture capital deals were allocated to women, people of color, and members of the LBGT community. Backstage Capital aims to address this imbalance and promote economic equality for these groups. So far, Backstage Capital has facilitated investments from over 180 companies for small businesses.
Tracy Reese
One of the most famous black women to wear a Tracey Reese design is Michele O’Bama, who sported one of her creations at the Democratic National Convention. Reese’s newest line is Hope for Flowers, which focuses on ethical sourcing of materials to create a sustainably manufactured line with economic and social value.
Janice Bryant Howroyd
All she had was a cell phone. Howroyd didn’t have office furniture – she didn’t even have a fax machine. Yet when Howroyd moved back to her hometown of Tarboro, North Carolina, she was able to launch and grow Act1 Group, today a leading employment agency with consulting services.
MoAnA LUU
The ManLUU fashion house, founded by MoAnA LUU, is an American fashion house featuring Creole luxury styles. Luee also excels at brand transformation, including a redesign of the leading fashion and culture magazine, Essence.
Cathy Hughes
Hughes is the first African American woman to lead a publicly traded media company. Hughes was at one time homeless and was turned down for a loan by 31 banks before she obtained a loan and bought her first radio station.
Today, the self-made Hughes is one of the wealthiest women in America. She founded and chairs Urban One, Inc., which includes 56 radio stations.
Vimbaji Kajese
Kajese and her staff are known as “diversity crusaders.” Kajese realized that only 1% of the stock images used for advertising included people of color. Striving for social and economic equality, Kajese is the founder and CEO of #Adtags, to improve the stock image content to include people of color, to be used by companies worldwide.
Binta Niambi Brown
Brown was a lawyer for international corporations before becoming co-founder and co-chair of the Black Music Action Coalition. She is also the founder of Omalilly Projects, an artist management and production company. She’s a music executive at Keep Cool/RCA Records. Brown is also a prolific fundraiser who focuses on raising money for political, humanitarian, and cultural initiatives.
Kimberly Bryant
Bryant is the founder and CEO of Black Girls CODE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching computer programming and technology skills to young Black women. Her goal is to train 1 million young Black women by the year 2040. Google has contributed over $2 million to support this initiative, and Nike has recently partnered with Black Girls CODE to sponsor an event.
Anne-Marie Imafidon
One day, while attending college, Imafidon looked around the classroom and realized she was one of only 3 women in the class. She is the founder of Stemettes, Girls Do Stem Too, a social enterprise which strives to inspire and support young women of color in the fields of science, engineering, the arts and math.
Oprah Winfrey
No list of inspiring black women entrepreneurs would be complete without Oprah Winfrey, one of the most prominent and widely recognized public figures in the country. Her legendary business success and extensive philanthropy in various social services sectors have made a significant impact. She has offered long-term funding resources to many underserved communities.
Madam C.J. Walker
Walker lived from 1867 to 1919 in the rural American South. She accomplished the American dream through her hard work, producing and selling a hair care product (and later expanded body care line) for African Americans. The regime of using her products was known as The Walker Method. She was one of the first American women to become a millionaire.
How many Black business owners are there in the US?
According to Fundera, there are more than 2 million businesses owned by Black people.
The majority of Black businesses started are in the health care field. The highest percentage of the businesses are in Washington, DC.
What percentage of black-owned businesses are owned by black females?
According to Fundera, black women business owners account for 35% of all Black business owners.
Image: Depositphotos
