Supporting black-owned businesses helps to create economic opportunities for black communities, fosters diversity in the marketplace, and can help to address systemic inequalities and injustices in society. There are multiple ways to support black-owned businesses, and a lot of resources are available to help you find them!
Directories and marketplaces
There are many online directories available to help you find black-owned businesses, both locally and online. Here are just a few of these resources to help you locate a variety of businesses to connect with:
This regularly updated directory provides a list of restaurants, stores, and services that are 100% black-owned. Search by location, keyword, or business type to find exactly what you’re looking for!
Support Black Owned is a directory with a wide variety of black-owned business categories. Services such as medical, legal, real estate, and more are a few of many listed on SBO. If you’re looking for anything from home goods to streaming services, this website will have you covered!
Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, started Black Business Greenbook to support and protect black businesses. Find fashion, food, books, home goods, and more on this site!
Black Woman Owned is a community specifically geared toward promoting and growing black woman-owned businesses! This website is not only a platform built to find new brands, but also a means of marketing for small businesses owned by black women.
Blaamazon is a marketplace for black and minority-owned businesses. This organization’s mission is to promote economic and social change for people of color. This is an excellent place to both find companies to buy from and connect business-to-business as a vendor.
This directory leads you to thousands of Black-owned restaurants across America, and works with GrubHub and DoorDash for easy deliveries from your restaurant of choice!
Social media
Aside from online directories and marketplaces, social media is another great resource when it comes to discovering black-owned businesses. LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook are the most popularly used social media platforms, and they can all help you in your search for new companies to follow and purchase from.
Thousands of Facebook groups are dedicated to the networking and support of black-owned businesses. Many of these focus on small businesses in your area! Shopping from local black-owned businesses supports both the business owner and the local economy.
Following and checking out accounts through hashtags on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter can help you find new businesses and boost the visibility of brands through engagement. Follows, likes, and shares are great ways to support small businesses!
Try looking through related hashtags on different platforms. Hashtags like #BlackOwnedBusiness, #BlackEntrepreneur, and #BlackBusinessOwner are commonly used as business-promoting hashtags.
Instagram has incorporated a shopping feature over the past few years that allows you to shop in-app through various posts.
Major retailers
Some large retailers have dedicated sections in-store or on their websites to promote the black-owned brands they offer. Check out some of these sections from some of the largest retailers in the US:
Find small businesses to support through Etsy! Find the section highlighting some of their popular black-founded handcrafted stores here. Another similar option would be Redbubble, which is full of incredible work from black artists!
How can I best give support?
While purchases are a fantastic way to show your support, there are more ways to further help black-owned businesses grow. Online sharing, following, and likes can bring small business accounts more attention due to social media algorithms. Word-of-mouth reviews and recommendations can also go a long way when it comes to promoting the growth of businesses. Promote the growth of black-owned businesses through purchases, social media attention, and by spreading the word about your favorite companies!