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SUPPORT BLACK BUSINESS: Black business-owners are flourishing

IT’S NO secret that the black community has been financially and economically disadvantaged for centuries.

We’ve struggled to break into the high-stakes world of business to such a degree that in 2016, two professional women from London launched a movement on Twitter, known as UKBlackOwned.

The idea behind this was to draw attention to some of the amazing entrepreneurs who have broken the mould and managed to make their mark in the hugely competitive commercial sphere, and it took off to an unprecedented degree.

Since then, the movement has helped open our eyes to some of the best that black-owned businesses have to offer, so here are three of the men and women whose fantastic enterprises deserve to be in the spotlight.

Shear and Shine Grooming

As the owner of Shear and Shine in Croydon, Aaron Wallace wanted to provide a high-quality service that revitalised and reinvented the perception of black barbershops. Following the lead of many other modern business owners, he decided to embrace the power of technology to build a customer experience par excellence, and that meant creating an app-based booking system.

The effectiveness of such innovations had already been proven by industries like retail and online gaming, as evidenced by companies like https://casino.betfair.com/, whose app allows people to play casino games on the go 24/7, and it was this level of convenience Wallace wanted to replicate.

So successful was he in doing so that in 2016, he was able to launch a line of products specifically designed for men of colour, which you can check out online here: https://www.shearandshinegrooming.co.uk/.

AleroJasmine

The brainchild of then-21-year-old Aasiyah Abdulsalam, AleroJasmine is a clothing line dedicated to individuality. Each piece in the range is handmade and created according to the principles of sustainable fashion.

Utilising intricate prints and textures, these gorgeous clothes have a strong African infusion, and we’re huge fans. The company’s latest summer collection has some especially swoon-worthy pieces, from bralets to bikinis to co-ords.

They’re ideal for building a capsule holiday wardrobe, but still versatile enough to style up with jeans and jackets once you come home again. You can check out the range by either heading to https://alerojasmine.com/ or taking a look on their Instagram page: @alerojasmine.

New Maroons

Our instantly recognisable artistic style is a strong part of black culture and identity, and New Maroons takes this idea and runs with it. The greetings card business offers achingly chic and stylish images with a uniquely Caribbean twist, and they’ve been flying off the shelves.

Created by Kieron Haughton, a designer based in Cheshire, the collection was inspired by the lack of cards and gifts that accurately represent the black community. Haughton, therefore, decided to change that, by bringing his works to UK shops and supermarkets – a goal which was hugely advanced thanks to exposure from the UKBlackOwned movement.

If you want to take a look at some of the pieces from his collection, you can view and purchase them online at https://www.newmaroons.com/.

As this article goes to show, the black community is continuing to make its mark on the business world, and with new entrepreneurs emerging every day, we envisage some very exciting years ahead.

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