Campaign connects customers with Black-owned businesses in Halifax

At a time when many people are seeking ways to support Black-owned businesses,a non-profit group in Halifax has come up with a way to help seven Black entrepreneurs reach more customers.

The Buy Black Halifax campaign was organized by the non-profit group ACCE HFX, whichstands for Arts, Community, Culture, Economics.

"We said, 'There's this want to give, but how can we amplify a want into a relationship with a business?'"said co-founder Bradley Daye.

The murderof George Floyd in Minneapolis last month has led many more people to look for ways to invest in Black communities.

Organizers of Buy Black Halifax are putting together 300 bags for salethat will contain products from seven different Black-owned businesses from around Halifax. The idea is that people who purchase the bags will sample products from each business and consider shopping from them in the future.

The price hasn't been settled on, but should be somewhere between $100 and $120, although the value of the goods is about $200 when purchased individually.

The businesses and types of products include:

• Delectable Desserts cakes and cookies.
• R&B Kitchen soul food such as mac and cheese, jerk chicken andoxtail.
• tREv Clothing fashion and lifestyle design.
• Bad Publicity cosmetics andeyelash extensions.
• Bailly Fragrance vegan and cruelty-free fragrances.
• Queens & Kings Natural Products whipped shea butter, beard oil andsugar scrubs.
• SankofaAfrikan Gifts jewelry, clothing andkente cloth face masks.

Black business owners like Ashley Miranda (Lorde) say they struggle to break inoutside of their home communities, which is one reason why Miranda saidshe joined the ACCE campaign.

She's the owner and CEO of Bad Publicity Cosmetics, a business she began three years ago that sells makeup and eyelash extensions.

"I find, being a Black female entrepreneur, it's kind of hard to reach certain levels of audience because you're so stuck into your own zone, your own community. It's hard for networking purposes," she said.

Miranda saidshe often struggles to be taken seriously as a Black female entrepreneur, with some people seeing her "as a Black girl from the hood."

"They feel like maybe you're not smart enough, or maybe you didn't have schooling for it, or maybe you're just not equipped for this," she said.

In addition to expanding her customer base, Miranda hopes other Black entrepreneurs and young women will see her success and be inspired.

"I also want to be a role model for the young girls out here, just to let them know that no matter what you do you can follow your dreams. No matter how slow it may move, or how fast it may move, or how much competition you think you have out there, just believe in yourself and believe in your brand."

Community support fund

Daye saidit was tough to select businesses to contribute to the bags. ACCE began with a list of roughly 100 businesses that have products that could be offered.

"We wanted to make sure that they were established enough to handle the demand that was going to be asked of them, but we also wanted to make sure that they were small enough that this would mean something to them in that it would help them tap into a market that they weren't used to," Daye said.

He hopes to repeat the Buy Black Halifax bag, highlighting different businesses in the future.

Fifteen per cent from the sale of the bags will go into two different funds created by ACCE: the African Nova Scotian Compassion Fundand an African Nova Scotian Business Growth Fund.

Daye said ACCE hasn't yet laid out exactly what criteria the funds will be used for, but the compassion fund will be for immediate community needs like scholarships or school supplies, while the business growth fund will help people who want to start a new business or work on an existing small to medium-size business.

ACCE will also accept direct donations to the two funds in addition to the bag sales.

The organization will spend June 17-23 promoting the bagsand sales will go live on June 24.

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