#BuyBlack: How Bevel Got It Right
Black businesses will get customers to #BuyBlack by solving black issues. This counters the idea that it's the responsibility of the people themselves to support a business simply for being black owned. The #BuyBlack hashtag represents a mission to build a stronger black economic base and more promising cultural mentality towards group economics. But a threat is approaching. There's a reason why group economics works in particular cultures and I want to explore why. Because this movement will fall apart if responsibility remains in the hands of the shopper and not the seller. This is the breakdown.
I'm an Igbo man in America. I shop at Nigerian grocery stores very regularly. Not because I have been told to, or because I want to build collective wealth or 'keep Nigerian money in the Nigerian community'. I buy from them because they're the only ones with egusi, ejele, okporoko and a list of other things that people outside of my culture can't pronounce let alone offer. When hunger hits, I'll go out of my way to find a Nigerian grocer because Kroger's Mac and Cheese will never win a choice battle for my stomach against ishi ewu and 33 Beer.
Above: Ishi Ewu, mmmm.
Outside of food, I'm friends with an Igbo realtor who I will reference when I'm ready to buy my first home. Not because it's 'the right thing to do', but because she understands that as the first son of my family I'm expected to build and maintain a home in my ancestral community, as well as maintain the homes of my great grandfather, grand father and father. She knows that some home layouts are more accommodating to the frequent cooking, unexpected visits, meetings, loud music, long-term guests and large families that are typical of the African household. In making my decision, the fact that her knowledge and experience caters to my culturally specific needs makes her my top choice. And it doesn't stop there.
If you enter communities often cited for patronizing the businesses of their own community, such as the Chinese, Hispanics, Arabs and Jewish communities, you'll see the same thing. There is no '#BuyChinese' campaign in Chinatown. Instead, you have businesses that Chinese immigrants can enter without a translator, that provide rare, culturally necessary goods and services. I could barely imagine being a Muslim american or Jewish american and feeling extremely limited in my options at a conventional American grocer. Where I as an Igbo man prefer my culture's foods because I was raised on them, adhering to specific dietary laws like practicing Jews and Muslims is another story. These examples are from communities cited for their high level of group patronage by voices advocating #BuyBlack. Citations that often don't come with investigation as to why the patronage is there. But am I simplifying the issue?
In 1972, the U.S. Census Bureau recorded 195,000 black-owned firms. By 2007 that number had grown to 1.9 million, outpacing the national average.
In these examples, the onus is on the business, not the buyer, to solve community specific issues. Still, the Black American culture faces an unspoken challenge in promoting our own group economic model. The first, the culture is American's only completely American ethnic demographic. The enduring legacy of slavery featured a concerted effort to erase knowledge of and adherence to practices from the previous historical legacy of captives. As a result, The Black American culture is young and almost purely developed in America. Unlike willing-immigrant cultures that are continuations of legacies from Europe, Asia, and Africa, everything culturally specific to black Americans permeates the whole of American culture. Black Americans food ingredients and cultural goods are therefore, a readily available everywhere. This takes away the opportunity for exclusivity enjoyed by many cultures. There's also no real language or religious barrier for the majority of black Americans that would naturally spur group-specific patronage. The factors are simply different, so what's the solution?
A targeted is more likely to come to you because it's the only thing to do, not because it's the right thing to do
Today the Buy Black movement is coming from a place of altruism. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do. Unfortunately right and wrong is subjective and not a stable enough foundation to build a culture of group economics on top of. What doesn't shake are the businesses that bring solutions where they can't be found. Without the economic benefits of cultural exclusivity, the problem solvers in our economy are not known for prioritizing issues specific to the black community. This creates an opportunity for a group economic model based strongly on real problem solving as opposed to preference for one ingredient over another. The ground is very fertile for finding and solving issues Black Americans face that others either don't see or don't understand. A targeted customer is more likely to come to you not because it's the right thing to do, but because it's the only thing to do. To get people to #BuyBlack businesses must #FocusBlack because that is how group economics works. But, this is why I'm optimistic.
I'm far from the only one who believes this concept. A generation of companies like Bevel with their black hair specific signature cutting blade see the picture as it is. Bevel's standpoint isn't that you should buy a generic razor because founder Tristan Walker is black, making it the right thing to do. Their strategy is to solve a problem specific to their community. Bevel's making buying the Bevel Razor the only thing to do for people like me who look like a Babe Ruth bar after using products that aren't for me. Tristan's continued success will reach as far as that message is promoted. I love the #BuyBlack movement and look forward to seeing the deserved wins of those who got it right.
Video: Bevel's found Tristan Walker shares why he founded his company, and how he secured $24 million in funding for his concept from investors such as Nas.
Are you in Houston? We would love to see you at Breakfast and Brew, our business and professional networking event this Saturday morning! Look forward to connecting with you this weekend. - Derick Ofodirinwa, Founder
RSVP: http://bit.ly/2uxMvN1
