AfroZen founder Adanna Murrell on building a niche company using online resources
The Wilmington entrepreneur found a following with quarantine couples: "If you have an idea, you've got to execute on it," she said.
In 2020, this 12-part series highlighted inequities minority business owners face in Wilmington so that they could be seen and addressed. The series asked: What's working in supporting Black and Latinx founders? What isn't? It was funded by the Wilmington Alliance, a local nonprofit focused on economic development and inclusion, creative placemaking, and community-based violence intervention.
Twelve weeks, 12 Black and Latinx business owners’ stories. Here’s what we learned from our Wilmington Alliance partnership series.
The Wilmington entrepreneur found a following with quarantine couples: "If you have an idea, you've got to execute on it," she said.
The I Am B.E.A.U.T.Y. founder, a native New Yorker, chose Delaware as her home base. She sees it as a place of opportunity — along with some challenges for Black entrepreneurs.
The entrepreneur chose to launch his coffee shop and gallery in the city's West Side for its diverse community. Here's what he has planned for the growing business.
"There's not diversity, equity and inclusion when it comes to collecting art from Black artists," says the Jamaica-born gallery owner.
Here's how her gallery is helping to evolve the Delaware fine art scene through access.
On networking, growth and giving back as a Black-owned creative agency.
Here's how United Tech Project's founder is using his own life story as inspiration for sharing tech skills with young Delawareans, despite the many challenges along the way.
Tynisha Lomax's six-year-old tea business has been a rollercoaster ride.
"There's a bigger picture that most entrepreneurs, especially Black entrepreneurs, are unaware of," said Jason Aviles, cofounder of the growing healthy goods company, on the access disconnect for local businesses.
"There's a mindset of you're not good enough to come to the table, but you are good enough for us to use you," said cofounder Tamara Varella about support for Black and brown entrepreneurs.
Castañeda launched her traditional and vegan Mexican food biz against the odds. At some point, the odds need to work in her favor for it to succeed.
From lack of federal relief funding to lack of contracts, here's what one popular Black-owned founder is really going through.