20 Black-Owned Brands to Watch

Great brands have the power to shape culture – always have, always will. Their ability to reach and appeal to massive amounts of people; their capacity to touch our hearts and minds; and the influence they exercise in shaping the economy, society and diverse communities we live in, is profound.

It is imperative that the brands we interact with each day are as diverse as the people they serve. Unfortunately, there’s a long way to go, especially for Black Entrepreneurs.

Kauffman Fellows and MaC Venture Capital conducted an analysis of over 260,000 profile images of startup founders in the USA – and the evidence found is alarming:

- Black people are underrepresented in the executive ranks of startups by 82%
- More than 75% of all rounds raised go to all White founding teams
- While the Black working-age population is 13%, startup executive representation is only 2.1%

“Why?” you might ask. One obvious answer lies in the systemic inequality and the chronic underrepresentation that continues to prevail in the business world: in 2018, under three percent of investment professionals at VC firms were Black.

Clearly, more Black business founders need to be recognized and funded – so they can plug their brands into culture, making it more representative of the very people it’s made up of.

This list of 20 Black-Owned Brands to watch is meant to give you a taste of the brilliant business ideas and inspirational entrepreneurial ingenuity out there.

Download the full list of 20 Black-Owned Brands to Watch as a free PDF here.

Enjoy!