Displaying items by tag: Growth

Since April, when the $2 trillion COVID-19 Stimulus Bill was passed and the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) began to address COVID-19’s financial hits, the first study to look at the novel coronavirus’ impact on Black and Latinx business owners, conducted by the Color Of Change and UnidosUS, found that 45 percent of these businesses will have to close by the end of the year, and only one in 10 reported that they had received funding.

OneUnited Bank, the largest Black-owned bank in the country, is proud to announce the launch of its Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program. OneUnited Bank, a Preferred SBA 7(a) lender, is offering PPP loans to its existing and new customers on a nationwide basis through its state-of-the-art online and mobile banking platform.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A $500,000 grant from the National Park service will be used to renovate buildings along Tulsa’s former Black Wall Street, nearly 100 years after the area was largely destroyed and as many as 300 people were killed in one of the nation’s deadliest outbreaks of racial violence.

When Detroit resident Gwen Jimmere started her hair company, she only had $32 in her banking account and was just laid off from her full time, corporate job all while going through a divorce. She would run her small business from her basement while taking care of her infant son.

Launched in 2013, Jimmere created Naturalicious by making products in her kitchen and selling them from her home. The brand now serves over 700,000 customers worldwide with great reviews. She is the first African American woman to hold a patent for a natural haircare product.

Today, Jimmere is celebrating the seventh anniversary of her company with a new 4,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Detroit. The new office will be home to 13 full-time employees including those from Services to Enhance Potential (STEP), a nonprofit that connects businesses with people with special needs looking for employment. The new location is equipped to meet increasing orders due to customer demand.

In addition to the new manufacturing facility, Jimmere is also gearing up to open her first flagship Naturalicious salon. Naturalicious Certified Stylists will be there to provide excellent service while educating customers on how to care for their hair texture and what product ingredients to use in a relaxing setting. Her goal is to expand to more brick-and-mortar locations to spread the brand’s message.

Source https://www.blackenterprise.com/detroit-entrepreneur-opens-4000-sq-ft-manufacturing-facility-for-her-haircare-company/

Jay-Z has clearly been busy. Not only did he join the billionaire’s club, but the venture capital (VC) fund he co-founded recently led the round for allergy-friendly food startup, Partake Foods.

Partake Foods is a black-owned company that makes health-conscious food products. They recently closed a $1 million dollar round of seed funding.

Meet Lesley Riley, CEO of Mama Biscuit®, the family-friendly, all-natural, gluten-free gourmet baking company. What started as a loving tribute to her grandma’s 127-year old family recipe for mouth-watering southern biscuits to comfortable cobblers has now become a popular must-have with over 60 scrumptious products and 32 items in rotation.

Detroit based design firm, Hamilton Anderson will be expanding their firm to Atlanta in partnership with Atlanta-based urban design firm, SHAPE. The expansion will increase its dedication to urban design and development across the country.

When Emmanuel Irono moved to the United States from Nigeria in the 1980s to attend Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, he dreamed of working as a banker at a premier financial institution. Instead, Irono found himself cleaning the school’s dining hall and a local Burger King at night to put himself through school and support his extended family in Nigeria after his parents died.

Resources for entrepreneurs are now available in Dallas’ southern sector with the opening of the Dallas Entrepreneur Center at the Southwest Center Mall in Oak Cliff. More than 450 individuals recently toured the new offices at Redbird and talked with business owners about opportunities available to help launch their businesses.

Chef Creole will soon share its unique fusion of Haitian-Bahamian culinary tradition with the plethora of tourists and visitors who come through Miami International Airport on a daily basis.

Owner Wilkinson Sejour, affectionately known as Chef Creole, is well known around Little Haiti, but he has managed to attract the attention of county commissioners, a famous chef, big-time developers and scores of loyal customers. Banks, however, have managed to overlook Sejour’s popularity. Still, he has been able to open up six Chef Creole locations, the latest at the airport next week.