Hamilton non-profit marks 5 years of support for Black-owned businesses, hopes to make bigger impact
A non-profit organization that supports Black-owned businesses in the Hamilton area celebrates its fifth anniversary this week, and one of its leaders said the group wants to make an even bigger impact in Ontario and Canada.
Ashleigh Montague, co-founder of Blk Owned, said while they started in Hamilton, where most of the businesses they support are located, they've also partnered with organizations in the Niagara Region.
Montague said they are now ready to take Blk Owned even further.
"When I think years from now I am seeing more of a national impact," Montague told CBC Hamilton.
"Within the next three years, I see expanding geographically within Ontario, strengthening the reach that we have been able to foster over the last five years."
Montague and her sisters — Alexandria Montague and Abygail Montague — co-founded Blk Owned on June 2, 2020 at a time when people around the world had taken to social media to post black squares after the resurgence of Black Lives Matter, and, specifically, the murder of George Floyd by white police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.
Since then, the organization created an Instagram page to showcase Black-owned businesses, launched, and has hosted markets, events, and workshops along with a Black-owned business directory that highlights and showcases businesses to the community.
In 2022, Blk Owned launched a trailblazer program to help young Black entrepreneurs gain fundamental skills to help improve their business. They've had three cohorts of participants since.
In all, they've supported hundreds of Black entrepreneurs, Montague said.
'Entrepreneurship is really lonely'
Blk Owned has received funding from Toronto Pearson airport's Uplift Fund, as well as the Hamilton Community Foundation, Montague said, which has allowed them to launch the community platform and a hybrid version of the trailblazer program.
Montague said the trailblazer program runs over a two-month period with online and in-person components.
At the end of each cohort, participants receive an award and networking opportunities with more established businesses, with the other participants and with facilitators, Montague said.
The in-person segment has been held at Sheridan College the past two cohorts, she added.
"Because of our expansion of our program... we've had people connecting with businesses from the Brampton region, the Scarborough region, all the way through to London," she said.
"With our work with the Southwestern Ontario Black Business Network, we've been able to stretch our reach all the way to Windsor."
Gugu Mpofu is the owner of Oaesis Within, an organic body care and wellness company. She told CBC Hamilton that she was one of the first participants in the trailblazer program, adding that "they've really helped propel my business."
"They had mentors who were part of the Hamilton Business Centre and I ended up joining their startup company plus program where I got a grant of $5,000," Mpofu said.
"I've always had the support of Blk Owned, whether it's just through their programming, through their vendor markets, through their networking events, and also through them recommending me into spaces where I was able to have wholesales," she added.
Mpofu, who also serves as community relationships co-ordinator at Blk Owned, said the organization is more than a support system.
"Entrepreneurship is really lonely, very scary, and starting my business, I was worried about being the only Black or racialized person in the room, and just having Blk Owned it's like somebody to lean on," she said.
"I can always go back to them if I'm feeling like I need a resource or if I feel like I need to join a market or if I need to network with other people … and that's something that's very precious."
Anniversary celebration on June 5
Matheus Brasileiro, the founder and owner of vegan Brazilian bakery Sau Bake in the Hamilton Farmers' Market, has been in business for more than two years — first in Toronto, and then Hamilton.
They said they learned about Blk Owned through a friend and participated in the trailblazer program last year, adding that it was "very helpful."
Brasileiro said the support Blk Owned provides to small businesses is like "having someone that gets your back and understands the struggle that you go through as a Black business and small business."
"You can't run a small business without a community, without having support, and one of the big reasons that I [got] to where I am right now with my little shop … was knowing that I had Blk Owned [to support me]," Brasileiro added.
To mark the fifth anniversary of Blk Owned, Montague said the organization will be hosting a community celebration on June 5 at CoMotion On King, the co-working space out of which staff work.
Montague said part of the free event will be "taking a look back at the last five years, but also taking a moment to reflect on where we're going to be going, moving forward from here."
Later in the summer, on July 13, they will also be hosting a fundraiser and awards gala, called the Garden Party at the Royal Botanical Gardens, where Blk Owned will be honouring seven business owners in the Hamilton community, Montague said.
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