So today, 27th June 2020, is the first official Black Pound Day! Black Pound Day was founded by Swiss, of So Solid Crew. The mission of Black Pound Day is to build and promote the economic power of the black community by support Black-owned businesses.
The power of the Black pound
The Black community has an incredible amount of spending power. According to an IPA study, the BAME community has a purchasing power of £300bn. This study was conducted in 2013, so just imagine what the purchasing power of today could be.
A Google Inclusive Marketing Study found that 69% of Black consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand whose advertising positively reflects their race/ethnicity. Businesses have started to take notice of Black spending power. Businesses have started to take notice of Black spending power. More companies are trying to cater to the Black community, although not always successfully. As a Black community, we also know that the businesses that tend to have our best interests at heart tend to be Black-owned. We need more businesses, those that provide healthy hair care products, therapy with Black counsellors, nude clothes that are nude for more than one skin colour, Black radio and media that represents us.
Until the queen that is Rihanna Robyn Fenty came along, very few makeup brands had a diverse shade range. Even if they did, the darker shades were not always stocked on the shelves. Rihanna came along and dropped 40 shades in the first launch of her foundation range in 2017, which has now expanded to 50 shades in 2 finishes. Fenty Beauty made $72m in its first month, which only goes to show that the need is there and there is money to be made. Other beauty brands have rushed to diversify their shade range since.
Unfortunately, not all Black-owned businesses will do as well as Fenty Beauty, as they don’t have the name or access to capital that Rihanna does. So I’m going to focus the rest of this post on smaller and more local Black-owned businesses.
A case study: the Black hair industry
In the UK, the Black hair industry is estimated to be worth £88m. This doesn’t surprise me. I’m just thinking about the hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds I probably spend on hair products, hair salon and styling services, as well as hair extensions. Let’s not even mention the value of my time spent in the salon chair or on my wash days. But I digress.
Black hair shops
Many products and hair shops are not Black-owned. The Black community doesn’t necessarily have a strong foothold in a market where we are the main consumer. The majority of shops that specialise in selling Black hair products are owned by south-east Asian families. Take Pak Cosmetics, for example, London’s biggest retail chain for Black hair and beauty products is owned by an Asian family.
A lot of the other smaller “independent” black hair shops, which are also Asian-owned, often group together to bulk buy products at a discount. This allows them to sell at low prices. This can create a difficult operating environment for Black-owned hair shops, who may not be able to compete. These shops may lack access to the capital to buy products at large volumes and take advantage of the bulk-buying discounts. But, there has been a rise in online Black Hair shops such as Byooti, Antidote Street and Afrocenchix, to name a few.
Black hair products
Another issue in the Black hair industry is the products that are sold. Some of the non-Black owned products lack expertise on Black hair, may be poor quality and also full of damaging chemicals. Having recently gone natural, I’ve educated myself a lot on the products that I’m putting in my hair. A study by the Environmental Research Journal found that 78% of hair products that target Black women contain chemicals linked to respiratory issues, obesity, infertility and cancer.
I know I didn’t trust any white or Asian hairdressers with my hair as I was growing up – I’ve been burned one time too many, literally. At the same time, I’ve bought a lot of non-Black hair products over the years. I will no longer settle for products that do more harm than good, but I am also making more of a conscious effort to source good quality natural hair products from Black-owned hair brands because they do exist.
As a brief side note, it is positive to see other large brands cater to the black community. For example, Pantene, owned by Procter & Gamble, launched the Gold series in 2018. This was developed by an all-black team of 11 PhD students, 40 hairstylists and a dermatologist. This is amazing to see, but I’m pretty sure that Procter & Gamble can survive without our money. I’m not saying that we should boycott non-black businesses, but rather that we should spend more with Black businesses that need our support.
Why we should support Black-owned businesses
Black startups tend to have a lack of capital in comparison to their non-black counterparts. Credit markets do not necessarily operate in the same for certain races and genders. Many Black businesses and entrepreneurs rely on sales for their survival and growth. A study by Rate My Investor and Diversity VC, which polled over 10,000 founders in the US found that only 1% of venture-backed founders were Black.
Black-owned businesses do exist outside hair and beauty, where the black community are big spenders. They cover all aspects of life, whether that is leisurewear, restaurants, events, arts and crafts. You just need to look at the UK Black Business Show and the Black British Business Awards which are getting more competitive every year.
The beauty of supporting Black-owned businesses
By buying Black, we are building the economic power and representation of the Black community. We are also building generational wealth, as many Black businesses are giving back to the Black community in a way that other businesses will not do. Supporting Black businesses is a vote for equality with your wallet. Black businesses are out there and are ready to serve their customers with good products and services.
Black businesses have agency over our lives and are diversifying the Black narrative. Take BYP Network, the Black LinkedIn, is a professional network which connects Black professionals. Its founder, Kike Oniwinde, is on a mission to change the Black narrative and create a future where all people see themselves represented across all industries. We can’t necessarily wait for the corporate world to get their act together when we can invest in our economic power right now. We don’t all need to start our own businesses because that’s not for everyone. But we can use some of the corporate coins we are earning and redirect it into the Black community. Economic empowerment and financial strength are powerful.
Who you give your money to, is you give your power to.
Frederick Douglass
Conscious consumerism is not new. More generally, people have been trying to buy “green” and buy “fair trade” for many years. At the same time, we could also be buying Black. The rise of support for black entrepreneurs has grown over the past few years, but I wanted to sprinkle some more momentum on the movement.
So, what can you do?
Well, it’s simple. You can buy Black. You can buy Black today, every Black Pound Day (once a month), and on days in between too.
Buying Black should not be radical. It is another way to celebrate Black business and Black Britishness. As I said in my Black Lives Matter blog post, we need to celebrate Black joy, Black content and help breed Black success.
Buying Black should be a habit, not a special event, which easily fits in with our other purchasing habits. I pledge to be conscious with my precious pounds and I hope to support more Black-owned businesses. I’m going to put my money where my mouth is. What are you going to do?