CHICAGO (CBS) — Promoting Black-owned businesses on Black Friday; the economic impact has a ripple effect throughout the community.
The Morning Insiders introduce us to husband-and-wife entrepreneurs who are trying to create opportunities for other Black businesses on the busiest shopping day of the year.
Alongside the ice skating rink at Millennium Park is a welcome sight on these chilly days, but they’re serving up more than coffee at Momentum Coffee.
“People say they want to change the world. We say we just want to change the world around us,” said Tracy Powell, who owns Momentum Coffee along with his wife, Nikki Bravo.
The couple are champions of Black businesses and budding Black entrepreneurs.
“The overall mission of Momentum Coffee is really to empower people in different ways,” Bravo said.
With Black Friday almost here, Bravo and Powell are encouraging shoppers everywhere to consider Black businesses for those holiday gifts.
“Historically, we’ve struggled economically and so one of the things we have to understand is we get to keep dollars circulating in our neighborhoods,” Powell said.
Powell and Bravo have joined the ad agency OKRP to promote what they’re calling Black Shop Friday. On their website you can find a list of 700 Black-owned businesses in the Chicago Area.
“So that way you can shine a light on the local businesses by saying, ‘You’re shopping anyway, we know you want to help in some way, why don’t you add one Black store to your shopping cart this year?’” said Rahul Roy, chief operating officer at OKRP.
The businesses see Black Friday as just the introduction to the goods and services they offer and the start of strong sales throughout the year, which they say will create a ripple effect of higher employment and investment in the Black community.
Take Momentum Coffee’s South Loop location. They’ve set aside space for people launching businesses.
“They can get good coffee. they can create community by meeting one another and it furthers our mission of creating equitable wealth and shared prosperity in under resourced communities,” Bravo said.
“Sometimes in our community we find ourselves looking outside for help, always looking for other folks to come into our communities but really our strategy’s been — the answer is already in the community. it’s within us, it’s with small businesses,” Powell said.
Black Shop Friday is setting the stage for every day of the week. We have a link to the Black Shop Friday website, where you can find a list of those 700 Black businesses.