The Economics of Black Liberation

We know that money talks and in particular within the black community, it walks. I wanted to bring my own perspective to the conversation on what our community needs to do in order to take our rightful place in the world and excel economically. We need this to thrive, not just individually but as a nation.

I think initiatives like “buy black” and “black pound day” are good but not good enough. Why? Because it relies on us to shift our purchasing habits and our mindsets. Even though we believe that we should buy black, we don’t do it. It’s the same reason we don’t go to the gym even though it’s good for us, or why we won’t quit sugar or meat. You get the point.

That level of behaviour change is actually very difficult to achieve on an individual level basis and almost impossible on a community basis. Instead we should look to own the businesses and supply chains related to things we already buy.

We all inherently know what these are – hair, beauty and cosmetic products, trainers, fashion, ethnic food products. There are more – apple products, designers etc etc. Black people buy a whole lot of stuff. We are consumers-in-chief.

So here are some steps we can take to get into ownership.

1. Buy shares in companies that produce the products you buy. This way you will also benefit from their share prices going up and any dividends arising from their profits. Note that any investment in shares is not without risk but please understand the underlying principle.
2. Buy the retailers who sell the products you buy. This one is for business owners and entrepreneurs. Instead of just starting our own companies and going through the hassle of proving the concept, why don’t we save our pennies and buy the beauty supply store, the ethnic supermarket etc. We already spend so much money in these establishments and we are creating generational wealth for other races when we do.
3. Buy the wholesalers that sell to the retailers. We don’t just want the store fronts, we want the whole supply chain right through to manufacturing. We also want to own the brands themselves. We need to explore how we leverage black owned private equity to buy the companies that we already invest our coin in. It might sound fanciful but it’s entirely possible.
4. Run the companies that make the products we like and employ and promote our own people. Even if we can’t all be entrepreneurs, there are a number of us that will make it to the C Suite and we should be headed there with this goal in mind: to run inclusive companies that benefit, employ, pay and promote our people. Our people need safe and inspiring places to work that treat them well and enable them to provide good lives for their families.
5. Sit on company boards. Boards make decisions and influence the culture of organisations. We deserve a seat at the table and we can get them. This is a natural by-product of owning more of the supply chain and leveraging our collective consumer power. Boards can prevent companies from racist advertising and from other anti black policies. Boards are powerful.

There are so many things we can be doing, what are you going to do?