No products in the basket.
Since #BHM ended almost three weeks ago, we’ve been thinking about what we do as individuals to keep the dialogue going, but also how to intertwine our actions into the everyday, and making sure it eventually becomes something we no longer need to actively think about or even discuss.
We want to get into why it’s important to support black owned businesses, small businesses, and local businesses too.
If you start to think about the area you live in and what you can contribute to its improvement, supporting the above three is a good place to start.
No matter what industry you fall under these days, it is undeniably difficult to push past competition in a consumer driven world, especially when large corporations can drive down price points due to mass production.
If we wish to save our economy and give back to our communities, steering away from the addictive behaviour of fast product turnover and the throw away nature we’ve come to adopt is key.
For small and local businesses they rely heavily upon the initial custom from their surrounding communities, and for e-commerce on their community following on social platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
This is why it’s important to get out and about around your local and surrounding areas, identify new business, go in store, chat to the employees and get to know the brands. This is not only beneficial for the business owner, but it is the beginning of building interactive communities (something not so common in the current state of affairs we live in), crucial for rejuvenating the economy, and human development itself.
Unfortunately, data tells us that support for black owned businesses picks up on occasions, or when awareness is high, and then drops when it is no longer trending. This creates a significantly un-level playing field amongst communities that harbour large ethnic groups and minorities.
It is equally as important as supporting your small, local businesses if you want to see a richer, more equitable community that continues to grow and give back.
In order to bridge the racial ‘wealth gap’ and in turn balance the status between races; Businesses owned by people of colour don’t only need support during black history month, blackout days and Juneteenth, they need all year-round continuous support, like all small and local businesses do.
In order to provide that, when seeking to support black owned businesses, you need to do some research and find something you genuinely like and want to commit customer loyalty to, so you repeat your purchases and provide ongoing contribution towards the business’s growth.
Then it’s a matter of recommending them, telling your friends, your family, buying them gifts, posting on social media, spreading awareness and leaving them a review too (reviews are the best way for new customers to learn the quality of products before they purchase them, and therefore form trust).
It’s the same for supporting small and local, these are necessary actions to building an equitable community that sees all its people thriving.
Supporting another’s success, won’t ever dampen yours!!
It’s time to band together, help one another, build thriving communities, and flourish – even if it means abandoning that well known, familiar, convenient ‘one roof houses all’ type of corporation!
