The world of entrepreneurship has seen the emergence of distinguished people, including teen entrepreneurs. In the U.S., the more than 40 million black population is making serious waves in various sectors of the American economy even in the face of hurdles such as access to capital due to years of racial and economic discrimination.
These young entrepreneurs are among the group of black entrepreneurs making a name for themselves in various fields of endeavor.
These teen entrepreneurs focused on incredible business ventures, from providing financial literacy solutions to establishing beauty brands, among others.
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Below are some of the most successful young entrepreneurs who caught our attention in the year 2023.
Eleora Ogundare
Eleora Ogundare is the founder of Eleora Beauty Inc, a business that was inspired by her health challenges. Eleora was born with sickle cell anemia and underwent a painful stem cell transplant. She also underwent chemotherapy treatment which caused her hair to fall. Young Eleora found her condition traumatic and a blow to her self-confidence.
“My hair was my confidence because the kids I was around, they had like the long, nice long hair,” Eleora told CBC. Nonetheless, she decided to cut her hair in response to the treatment she was going through.
After a successful treatment, Eleora decided to use her predicament to assist people facing similar challenges. This led her to start the Eleora Beauty line with the help of her mother. Eleora Beauty specializes in making hair and beauty products that promote healthy hair growth, the company says on its website. “Our products are all-natural and are inspired by a driving desire for men and women alike to express beauty and confidence through strong and healthy hair.”
Lena Ford
13-year-old Lena Ford, a rising serial entrepreneur from Marietta, Georgia, introduced her latest project, the “Embrace Their Roots Campaign” this year.
The campaign aims to make it simpler for hair care companies to work with foster families and homeless shelters while donating products and resources to them. Additionally, the organization strives to create a welcoming environment that encourages the adoption of African-American hair culture.
“In 2021, there were 214,421 foster parents in the United States, fostering children of all ages, from toddlers to high school age to young adults,” according to Fosterva.
Despite this large number, many more are still required. There is a greater demand than supply, therefore, there’s an anticipation for more foster parents in the system.
Andy Burton
Through the encouragement of his mother, Doretea Burton, culinary genius Andy Burton began his entrepreneurship journey in 2008 at age five. When she was assigned a task to create a business as a homeschool project, Andy’s very first business was selling cookies.
He continued to stick with the brand, Andy Factory, even when he delved into making, fine-tuning and personalizing his mother’s mumbo sauce till he invented his prized sauce, which he called Uncle Andy’s Mambo sauce. According to ShoutoutAtlanta, his sauce was a hit and sold out within a few hours at his first fair.
When requests for the sauce continued to flow, his mom advised him to share it with the world. To get things running, his older brother, Nyles, decided to hop on and join the brand to help Andy get over his nervousness about launching his business and now runs the administrative side of the brand.
Andy’s business, which started as a small project, has seen a great increase and yield since its inception and has been patronized by some well-known restaurants and eateries including Ella Ray’s Café in Forestville, Dyvine BBQ in Dumfries, and Foxtrot in the District. To him, mambo sauce is one of the pre-gentrified artifacts of DC, Essence reported.
Rachel Holmes
Rachel Holmes is behind the career development and networking platform for Black high school girls called Black Girls Mean Business. She started it while still in high school. The initiative seeks to foster the skill and confidence that Black teenage girls aged 14 to 18 will need to succeed in their future careers, and also give them a standing in the business world.
In February 2022, Holmes was recognized as a Prudential Emerging Visionary for her program, according to Metro Silicon Valley.
