“Black” is transcendent – the culture, the music, the food, fashion, and tastes. If this is not clear to you, you probably also enjoy your food bland. This is not a shot. It is a reinforcement of the fact that your last car commercial probably had a black person in it and the last branded clothing item you appreciated was on a black person.

Now, this piece is about Black economics which tends to be about heroes. Individuals who “made it” and are eager to tell everybody else how it should be done. Why is that? Heroes are not welcome here. The laziness around the narrative of Blacks not supporting Black Owned businesses is lazy if we are being honest. 

There is a phrase in Latin - Post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this). Since event Y happened before event X, therefore Y is the cause of X. 

Back to Black economics, since black businesses are not thriving, black people do not support their businesses. Simple and lazy enough yet convincing on the surface. One layer below this surface is the $1.6 trillion in buying power of the Black American Consumer. This goes to banks, grocery stores, fashion providers, entertainment companies,  tech platforms, auto companies and other service providers which are overwhelmingly owned by the white majority. This also explains why the black dollar does not circulate in the black community. How do we change this? There are many things we could do but none of them are going to come from heroes or saviors. 

At VIPSOCIO our focus is on the Ground Game of Black. This is the “no excuses” approach to working with Black Owned businesses in recognition of the arduous journey towards excellence. Our commitment was demonstrated on Sunday November 20, 2022, at the kickstart of the Black Business Expo in Atlanta GA with the lofty goal of empowering Ten Thousand Black Entrepreneurs in the US. This commitment will expand into other cities.

The economics is simple. Ten Thousand vendors in the US connected to Five Thousand Black Owned Companies as far flung as Kenya, Ghana, and Cameroon. Then leverage payment systems like Flutterwave, Black Owned, and partner with the Pan African Chamber of Commerce to accelerate the incubation efforts of Black Owned companies. 

What you get is Ten Thousand vendors in the US, Five Thousand companies in Africa and Tens of Thousands of transactions. Products with raw material sourced from Black owned companies, manufactured by Black co-packers or artisans and Sold by Black Entrepreneurs (BBB) - Sourced by Black, made by Black Companies, distributed by Black on black owned platforms. This is not a game of heroes, it is the Ground Game.

At an average transaction price of $10 this will generate tens of millions without any multiplier effect. If you sell necklaces in the U.S you could order your beads seamlessly from Ghana from a vendor in a community creating jobs and you could also get a much better price for it and pass the savings to your customers. This goes for the single buyer as much as it applies to an HBCU or Black Sorority looking for unique carved branded elephants.

You remember the reference to Post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this).  Now, this is the narrative we must tell. Because I am committed to sourcing, procuring and supporting Black, the argument about the Black businesses dissipates.  I am committing to supporting black businesses because with time, revenue, and development we build an ecosystem that supports all aspects of Blackness and creates healthy communities for us to live in. Be a part of the Ground Game and support these businesses.

Authors: Ben Tubuo & Innocent Wamey

Learn More About VIPsocio Marketplace