Black-owned businesses and Black entrepreneurs, in general, are few and hard to come by. In Atlanta, there are only about 60,000 Black-owned businesses. The lack of representation of Black people and minorities as a whole is disappointing, but it’s not their fault.
The marginalization of these groups of people allows for repeated failure because it places them at a disadvantage. Spectra Myers and Pamela Chan explore the “financial challenges of low- and moderate-income African-American Entrepreneurs in the South” in a survey by the same title.
When delving into why so many Black-owned businesses fail, they discovered the issue was that “…the history of African American disenfranchisement, which today accounts for much of the difference in success between Black-owned and white-owned business.” But it’s time for that to change.
There are a lot of young Black trail-blazing business owners, but I want to highlight a few that hit close to home. All these Black entrepreneurs are based in the greatest city ever, Atlanta!
Joshua Morgan- The Follow Up
Joshua Morgan is a recent Georgia State University graduate who owns a clothing brand called The Follow Up. Josh describes his brand as “an accountability partner and affirmation.” A way to remind people that “having a goal is great, but setting it out isn’t enough to make it happen,” you have to follow up. The brand offers a variety of hoodies and t-shirts that make affirming your goals look stylish.
Areion Jones- Areii’s Hair Products
Being a full-time student working a job and owning a company seems nearly impossible, but not for this female entrepreneur. She understands what she wants in life and is making early strides to get it. It all started with her hair blog called @areiihairjourney on Instagram. The page made waves in the natural hair community.
“My page ended up going viral and people started asking me how I grew my hair,” Jones recalled.
Initially, Jones attributed her hair growth to Wild Hair Growth Oil and tried to reach out to the company in hopes of a collaboration. When they did not respond to her multiple attempts to work together, Jones took this as inspiration to start her own company. Now, her hair company line is expanding to selling durags, hair clips and beard oil!
Antoine Manning-Homage Year
Antoine Manning started Homage Year as a way to have a creative outlet for some hardships he was going through at the time. The brand sells everything from necklaces to pillows to bags and has now blossomed into an innovative and trendsetting company that’s been featured in Forbes, Essence and Vogue Magazine.
I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Antoine a few times and interviewing him, and I actually own one of his purses! I can definitely say he is so humble, nice and genuine. He is so deserving of the successes he’s had thus far, and I know this is only the beginning for him. He’s on to great things!
Nia Jordan- Beauty by NiaJay
Nia Jordan is a makeup artist based in Atlanta. I began following her a couple of years ago, and though I don’t know her personally, she actually made me want to get into makeup more. I love the way she beats people’s faces! She is an extremely talented makeup artist. To me, her quality resembles celebrity makeup artist quality.
She also teaches one-on-one makeup classes, consults as a stylist and models! Also, she has recently done upcoming artist Liv Heavenly’s makeup and Latto’s younger sister Brooklyn, proving she is on her way onwards and upwards!
Although the journey may be difficult, it’s worth it to close the economic and social racial gap…so support a black-owned business today!