by Shernay Williams
Word In Black—There are several websites and apps working to make buying Black easier.
Did you know there’s Black-owned toilet paper? The Leafy Products company, which specializes in eco-friendly and 100 percent bamboo paper, was founded by a group of Black friends. And it’s not the only Black-owned toilet paper company out there.
We have created a roundup of platforms and directories that are making it easier to shop Black-owned businesses.
“If we are able to put it in the palm of someone’s hand, then I think we’ll see a lot more people willing to [buy Black],” standup comedian and Blapp founder Jon Lester says in the Word In Black video.
Inside the Blapp app, you can enter your location to find Black-owned businesses near you. So far, Lester says the platform can point its users to 40,000 Black businesses in the U.S. Soon, it will support online shopping, as well.
“So [it’s] a Black Amazon of sorts,” Lester says.
Blapp is one of a handful of platforms hoping to make it easier to find Black-owned businesses.
8 More Platforms to Shop Black Businesses
Here’s a list of the other ones we found:
EatOkra: an app helping you locate Black-owned restaurants near you
Miiriya: an app allowing you to buy Black-made products in one place
National Black Guide: a Black business directory, events, and news platform
Buy from a Black Woman: a directory of Black women-owned businesses
Blk + Green: an online marketplace carrying toxic-free, Black-owned beauty products
Black Dollar Network: an app allowing you to buy Black-owned products and services in one place
Black Nile: a marketplace featuring luxury Black-owned brands and services
Sadiaa: a Black-owned beauty directory
Lester says there’s enough room for all these platforms to help the Black community retain its $2.1 trillion spending power.
“You can go out; you can march,” he explains. “Trouble only comes knocking when Black folks start to circulate our money… By the time we as a community get to [the point where] 5 percent, God forbid 10 percent or 20 percent of our spending is Black-owned, we will feel it. Black folks will feel it.”
