Mandy Bowman, Founder and CEO of Official Black Wall Street, joins ChedHER to discuss the story behind launching Offical Black Wall Street, how the app connects consumers to Black-owned businesses, and what's in store for this year's Black Entrepreneur of The Year Awards.

chedHER

How Official Black Wall Street Connects Consumers to Black-Owned Businesses

joining us now is Mandy Bowman founder and Ceo of Official Black Wall Street mandy, so glad to have you on this morning, What's the story behind Official Black Wall Street and why did you launch this First? Thank you so much for having me. Um I launched official Black Wall Street many years ago in 2014. I had noticed that there were a lot of black-owned businesses in my neighborhood of Brooklyn New York that were closing down, especially during the rise of gentrification, when you had a lot of big box stores coming into those neighborhoods and taking a lot of that business away. Um and so for me, I had just learned about Black Wall Street in Tulsa Oklahoma, which really affectionately reminded me a lot of Brooklyn, so I said, you know what, let me go out and support as many of these businesses, it's possible since I can't give them alone to stay in business, the least I can do is patronize and hopefully get others to do the same. Um and so Official Black Wall Street went from being a spreadsheet where I would literally just compile businesses in Brooklyn new york that I could patronize. Um and I found so many amazing businesses that I just wanted to share them with the world. So it grew from a spreadsheet to social media pages and the community kind of, you know, continued to grow. Um so I launched the website in 2015 and it was like a year, year of milestones. Since then, 2016, I raised funds for app development 2017, I launched our first app um and since then we have been growing and learning and just a month ago we launched our most recent version of the app, which I'm super excited about, but for me it was really important that, you know, I dedicate a lot of my efforts in time to making sure that black owned businesses, businesses received the support that they deserve and deservingly. So when, when you look at the app and for those who are not familiar with it, what are some of the features on the app that empowers the black community? Oh, there are a few that I'm really excited about. So for one, we currently have over 6000 businesses listed um in over 400 cities around the country Um and businesses in 10 other countries around the world and growing. Um users can download the app and find products and services um from quality black-owned businesses, everything from bakeries to accountants. Um we also know how important it is to remember that there are real life human beings behind these amazing businesses. Um and the app gives you the ability to learn more about the owners of each of those businesses. Um you can search for your location as you can see um see all the businesses near you and be alerted whenever you're near a physical business, users are also able to share their collections of their favorite products and services um and show support for those by liking and up voting and commenting. Um even on the business owners side, we have a lot of really good stuff business owners, you know, we not only help business owners find, you know, customers that are eager to support, but we also provide resources and opportunities for growth just by joining our business owners receive free legal services so that they're able to protect their business without breaking the bank on legal fees. In addition to all of that, we know that you recently launched O. B. W. S Capital to provide you know, funding opportunities and financial workshops for black founders. Why is this so needed? Oh, providing funding opportunities and workshops for black entrepreneurs, definitely needed. Now, more than ever, we know that when black entrepreneurs seek bank funding, they are denied at a much higher rate than equally qualified entrepreneurs. We also know that even when it comes to the world of venture capital, black women receive less than 1% of all VC funding. So it's really crucial that we create these different avenues to help bridge that gap. We're just days away from august, which is gonna be the official kind of black business month and we know that you are also planning a special award ceremony this year. What's in store for the black entrepreneur of the Year Awards? Oh, I'm really excited about this. So this is our third annual black entrepreneur of the Year awards, um we started this three years ago because we really wanted to make sure that we were celebrating and honoring black entrepreneurs doing amazing things in our community. So this year, the black entrepreneur of the Year award sponsored by Clover. Um we are hoping to recognize one black entrepreneur doing really great things in their community, Will be given away over $15,000 in cash grants so that they can help grow their business. Also free O. B. W. S membership and a lot of resources to go with it to help them continue growing really quickly before I have to let you go here, what advice do you have for other black founders out there? I would say number one is to sharpen your marketing skills, you know, create a multilevel channel, a multi channel marketing plan um and budget that will help your products, you know, get in front of more consumers, you know, there are a lot of free platforms out there for knowledge like you to me or the official Black Wall Street platform um to list your business and grow your audience, there are so many free tools out there to increase awareness of your brand. Um the second one, I will say one of the biggest lessons I've learned this year is to prioritize yourself and remember that being an entrepreneur is a journey, not a destination and as an entrepreneur, you are the most important person in your company. Um so prioritize rest and treat yourself with kindness Um, just as much as you prioritize getting things done. I personally found that inspiration usually finds me a lot easier when I take the time to just be still and prioritize myself. I absolutely love that. I mean even outside the entrepreneurial experience, I think we can all benefit from giving ourselves grace when we can often be kind of our biggest critics, mandy, really appreciate your time and your insight, certainly the work that you're doing, mandy, bowman, founder and Ceo of Official Black Wall Street.