CHICAGO — Over the course of the past year, Charles Alexander, Mark Edmond, and Jamel Lewis have developed the first Black-owned gourmet sliced bread brand, The Black Bread Company.It all started when Edmond went to the grocery store."My wife gave me a grocery list, and at the top of the list was bread. I wanted…
Cadence Cash is a Raleigh-based fintech platform founded in January of this year that helps small businesses—especially those owned by minorities and women—access capital quickly. Business owners can get access to cash faster by submitting invoices through the Cadence Cash app. [We first profiled Cadence Cash in March.]Juneteenth is an especially fitting time to highlight…
Liberation Station, focused on sharing Black stories, opens downtown Raleigh bookstore Axiossource
Photo courtesy of Colors of Yoga RaleighThe COVID-19 pandemic has decimated small businesses over the past year, but Black-owned businesses have been hit the hardest. According to an August 2020 report from the New York Federal Reserve, the number of small business owners nationally who are Black dropped by 41 percent in the early days of the pandemic…
Brands and retailers, such as Nordstrom, Ulta, and Walmart, have celebrated Black History Month all month by spotlighting Black-owned businesses. We've rounded up some of our favorites below. Shop locally, impact globally.This month, Nordstrom is spotlighting Black-owned businesses, such as LaQuan Smith, The Oula Company, and Sami Miro Vintage. They've also signed the Fifteen Percent…
Triangle women-owned businesses face challenges but supportive ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ Raleigh News & Observersource
Fayetteville will soon be the home of a new Black-owned private school. The school's founder says his team's goal is to develop a group of young people that will take the city to new heights.The founder of the Genesis Christian School Tre'vone McNeill said it came from humble beginnings. Three years ago, it was a…
Profiles were written by: Colin Campbell, Jennings Cool, Connie Gentry, Edward Martin, David Mildenberg and Ebony Morman.Decades of talk about the importance of empowering minority-owned businesses has led to limited success. The gap between Black and Caucasian household incomes widened in recent years, partly because of the pandemic’s impact. Wealth-building remains a challenge for many…
Sekou Kaalund, a graduate of Raleigh’s Enloe High School, has made it big in banking. This week, he visited Charlotte to look at U.S. Bank’s growing Queen City operations, of which he has an increasingly important role.In December, Kaalund joined the fifth-largest U.S. banking company as head of Branch and Small Business Banking, overseeing 2,200…
Raleigh is the first stop for a new pop-up tour called The Melanated Yoga Experience, an event that aims to support Black-owned businesses and bolster health, wellness and stress relief.The class, which is led by a Black instructor, will also feature a social mixer and shopping event with Black-owned businesses. The Melanated Yoga Experience on…