Black entrepreneurship is on the rise in our community.  As the CEO of WDB Marketing, I am blessed to encounter amazing entrepreneurs on a daily basis.  Entrepreneurs that are not only trying to make a dollar but make a difference. Our network is filled with diverse business owners. We have clients that are inventors, organizational leaders, franchise owners and even creators of retail products with national distribution. Our diversity in business is growing and in turn, so is our impact. I recently read an article about Courtney Adeleye, a young Black woman who pledged $30 million towards a fund for Black women.  As an entrepreneur, Courtney made millions with her haircare brand The Mane Choice, and wanted to invest it back in the very people who made her rich, Black women.  She is the perfect example of the impact our success can have on our community, recycling our dollars into resources.  She may not have known this when she was born, but Courtney Adeleye was DESTINED FOR BUSINESS.  Why? Because her success is tied into the destiny of others.  This type of greatness is brewing all around us. The next wave of entrepreneurs will be the one’s who will change the trajectory of our communities.

Statistics show that if we all spent 10% of our money in our community amongst small and black owned businesses, we would create 1 million jobs.  

1. We create jobs and opportunities.  Let’s be honest.  An African American business is more likely to hire someone from within the community, regardless of their background history. We know that one of the hardest challenges our community faces is being over-policed; increasing our chances of having felony records and less than stellar background checks.  It is not to say that we should expect Black businesses to hire anyone, however, we are more culturally sensitive to the disadvantages that have been placed on us. We give our young brothers and sisters a fighting chance to redeem themselves, get on the right track and get themselves together. 

2. We spread the wealth.  I am so proud to see the number of multi-million Black businesses I see sprouting up all across the country.  But what I am even more proud of is there continuous efforts to give back and spread the wealth they are blessed with.  Ariel Investments, one of the largest Black investment firms in the world has a school program where each first grade class starts out with an investment fund of $20,000 that follows them until graduation.  My company, WDB Marketing, nowhere near the size of an Ariel Investment, hosts a young entrepreneur award where we grant the winner over $10,000 in not only prizes but also mentorship for their business. And we all saw the social media frenzy when Black billionaire Robert Smith paid off all the student loan debt for the graduating class of Morehouse. These examples are just a small drop of what our impact can be the more we continue to grow in the business world.

3. We create our own ecosystem to sustain each other.   Past statistics show that our dollar leaves our community within 7 minutes.  I firmly believe that this stat is dying.  We are becoming more conscious of where our dollars go and making sure it circulates in our communities first.  The more successful one business becomes; the greater likelihood the next one will become because of the support they can now receive.  It is like building an anchor.  We are creating strong anchors in our communities that will be able to support everything around it.  

4. We control our destiny.  We hear the outcries all the time, another big box is leaving our community and taking all the jobs with them.  Why, because they have no personal ties to our community so their decision to leave is easy.  Being a Black business doesn’t guarantee that you can survive and never leave a community but being from an area creates a sense of loyalty and a better understanding of the investment it will take to make that community thrive. 

5. We build legacy.  Master P recently had a conversation about creating generational wealth.  Because he sacrificed and built a company, he has increased the odds of his children’s success.   Entrepreneurship gives us the ability to pass on a legacy, an investment, an asset to our children and to our community.  Look at the wealth of families such as the Heinz family or the Ricketts.  They have built enough wealth to give the next 5 generations a head start, and we must do the same.  We can no longer be focused on the next year, we must focus on the next 100 years, that will be our legacy.