Legendary Black Entrepreneurs

America’s Black inhabitants faces limitations to success in quite a few arenas—from racial wage and racial wealth gaps, which restrict their earnings and skill to build up wealth, to larger quantities of scholar mortgage debt and racial bias in medical care, which may have long-lasting results on monetary and bodily well-being.

The 11 Black entrepreneurs profiled right here have triumphed over the percentages, because of their dedication, perseverance, intelligence, expertise, and ability—amongst different qualities. They’re among the many most profitable Black entrepreneurs in American historical past. All are legendary, not only for their enterprise success, however due to the limitations they’ve needed to overcome to attain it.

Oprah Winfrey

It’s conventional to begin an inventory like this one with Oprah as a result of she is arguably probably the most recognizable Black lady on the planet, recognized to many by simply her first title. Born to a single mom in rural Mississippi and having been informed early in her profession that she was “unfit for tv information,” she proceeded to forge a media empire with herself on the middle.

A full checklist of Oprah’s achievements and roles would fill many pages, however here is a fast abstract: Following her early and large success because the host of The Oprah Winfrey Present, she went on to turn out to be the chairperson of Harpo, Inc., her privately held multimedia firm. In 2000, she launched her personal journal, O, and in 2011 she launched her personal TV community, OWN. She can also be a philanthropist, a 60 Minutes contributor, and a model ambassador for Weight Watchers, by which she owns a 7% stake.

All of this success and ambition is mirrored in her web value. Based on Forbes, she is the richest Black lady within the U.S., with a private web value of $2.6 billion.

Daymond John

Daymond John rose to public prominence as a decide on ABC’s Shark Tank, however he was well-known in funding circles far sooner than that. In truth, if the rumors are true, he began at a younger age, promoting custom-made pencils to his friends within the first grade.

John’s street to actual success began in 1989 when he based streetwear clothes firm FUBU. By lending garments to standard musicians and constructing model recognition via the movies they appeared in, he ultimately constructed the corporate into a significant success. The challenges of his early experiences make him eager to teach youthful entrepreneurs concerning the significance of arduous work and perseverance in relation to constructing their very own corporations.

At this time, John is concerned with varied corporations—he’s the CEO of Shark Group, a model consultancy, and in 2017 co-founded Blueprint + Co, a co-working area in NYC. Estimates of John’s private wealth put his web value at roughly $350 million.

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan’s story is one in every of dedication. A loyal basketball participant from a younger age, he was informed as a teen that he was too quick to play the game professionally. Thankfully, he ignored this recommendation and went on to play 15 seasons within the NBA, turning into probably the most recognizable basketball participant on the planet and racking up a powerful file of factors, wins, and awards.

His taking part in days over, Jordan has pursued a lot of model partnerships and profitable enterprise licensing offers. For example, Nike’s Air Jordan line is broadly recognized, however few are conscious of the sheer measurement of the model, which is a billion-dollar enterprise. And it doesn’t cease there. Jordan’s checklist of partnerships reads like a who’s who of the largest manufacturers in America, from Coca-Cola and Gatorade to Chevrolet and McDonald’s. 

These partnerships have been extraordinarily profitable for Jordan. In November 2021, Sporting Information named him the highest-paid athlete of all time with inflation-adjusted earnings of $2.62 billion. His present estimated web value is $1.7 billion.

Robert L. Johnson and Sheila Johnson

Robert L. and Sheila Johnson may not be as properly generally known as Michael Jordan or Oprah Winfrey, however they’ve had as large an influence on the media within the U.S., albeit from behind the scenes.

Robert Johnson is the founding father of BET, the Black Leisure Tv community. When he based the community along with his then-wife, Sheila, they had been joint house owners. After a few years of accelerating viewers numbers and media attain, Viacom purchased the corporate in 2000 for $2.9 billion, making the Johnsons the primary Black billionaires in America.

The couple divorced in 2002. Since then Sheila has invested in accommodations in Florida and Virginia, planes, actual property, and horses. She was govt producer of the critically acclaimed 2013 movie The Butler and at the moment has a web value of $750 million, in keeping with Forbes.

Robert went on to type the RLJ Firms, a holding firm with a various portfolio; grew to become the primary Black majority proprietor of a significant American sports activities staff, NBA Charlotte Hornets; and most not too long ago made headlines by calling for slavery reparations for Black Individuals. Johnson’s web value is estimated at $550 million.

Janice Bryant Howroyd

Though Janice Bryant Howroyd is not well-known to most people, she is among the most profitable businesspeople—of any race or gender—in America right now. Her agency, the ActOne Group, was the primary Black female-led firm to usher in greater than $1 billion in annual income.

ActOne is primarily an employment company and consultancy based mostly in Los Angeles. It has grown to dominate one of the crucial profitable markets in america—and from very humble beginnings. As Howroyd herself tells the story, she moved to L.A. in 1976 with simply $900 and marketed her firm via word-of-mouth for a lot of the next decade.

Howroyd has a transparent standpoint about showing on lists like this one. Upon receiving a enterprise accolade a couple of years in the past, she informed CNBC that “being the primary African American lady to attain something in 2016 will not be an accomplishment… one of the best factor I might be applauded for is just being a girl constructing an awesome enterprise.” Howroyd’s web value is estimated to be $435 million.

Sean Combs

You most likely know who Sean Combs is, however you may not know him by that title. He has additionally passed by Puff Daddy and P. Diddy.

Although finest generally known as a recording artist, Combs has constructed a powerful enterprise portfolio over the previous twenty years. Whereas producing his personal music, he rapidly rose via the ranks inside Uptown Information after which launched his personal label, Unhealthy Boy Leisure, in 1993. Since then, he’s additionally invested in lots of eating places and meals companies. He owns 50% of Cîroc vodka, as an example; DJ Khaled owns the opposite half.

All of this success has made Combs a wealthy man. He has persistently been listed among the many richest hip-hop artists. His web value is pegged to be at $90 million.

Jay-Z and Beyoncé

Jay-Z stands out as the archetypal instance of a musician-turned-businessman. He based his first firm approach again in 1996 and has set an instance that has since been adopted by a lot of hip-hop stars. Prior to now twenty years, Jay-Z has acquired or based a lot of corporations in a variety of sectors and markets. His corporations produce garments (Rocawear), personal eating places and bars (40/40 Membership), and produce information (Roc Nation). 

Beyoncé, Jay-Z’s spouse, could also be extra well-known as a singer-songwriter, however she too is a really profitable entrepreneur. She owns, along with her husband, the Tidal streaming service and has endorsed many merchandise all through her profession. She at the moment owns the athleisure model Ivy Park and one in every of her most up-to-date investments has been watermelon-water firm WTRMLN WTR.

Between them, Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s web value is estimated at greater than $1.7 billion. Forbes assesses Jay-Z’s wealth at $1.3 billion and Beyoncé’s at $440 million.

George Foreman

George Foreman was an icon within the Nineteen Nineties, after turning into the oldest individual, at age 45, to ever win a heavyweight boxing belt. He rapidly turned this public recognition into non-public success, via a wide range of enterprise ventures and an uncommon strategy to advertising. 

Probably the most recognizable of Foreman’s enterprise ventures is the George Foreman grill, a plug-in grill that grew to become a sensation within the late Nineteen Nineties. Though Foreman now not owns the rights to the grill that bears his title—producer Salton purchased it from him in 1999 for $137 million—he retains a well-balanced enterprise portfolio.

Foreman’s investments embody a gymnasium model, EverybodyFights, based by his son George “Monk” Foreman III, and a lot of product endorsements. Estimates now put Foreman’s web value within the area of $300 million, not together with the capital he has invested in his manufacturers.

Madam C. J. Walker

Born Sarah Breedlove, the kid of former slaves in Louisiana, Madam C.J. Walker (1867–1919) was one of many first profitable Black businesspeople within the U.S. and has turn out to be generally known as a lot for her dedication as for her charitable endeavors.

Walker’s first success was a basic instance of discovering a spot in a market that had been ignored by the enterprise elite of the time. Walker suffered from hair loss resulting from a scalp situation, and he or she started to make cures for herself. She acknowledged a chance within the lack of hair merchandise for Black Individuals available on the market on the time. Walker traveled the nation along with her husband for a few years, selling the “Walker Methodology” of hair care, and have become very profitable, later increasing into cosmetics.

Walker would ultimately come to personal a significant company, Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Firm. Underneath its auspices, she skilled a whole bunch of beauticians. The corporate grew to become an icon in Black communities throughout the nation.

Walker additionally shared her success along with her group. Towards the tip of her life, she stepped again from the on a regular basis administration of her corporations and undertook charitable excursions. She visited the Caribbean and Latin America and donated a large portion of her wealth to charities working each inside and out of doors america. By way of web value, at her loss of life, Madam Walker was value about $600,000. In right now’s phrases, that will be roughly $8 million.

Forgotten Entrepreneurs

Most of those Black entrepreneurs are well-known in standard tradition. However numerous others helped set the scene for them and impressed different Black Individuals by instance. Amongst these are:

• Robert Gordon (d. 1884) was born a slave, however he ultimately bought his freedom and moved to Cincinnati. There, he purchased a coal yard and ran it so efficiently that he was capable of overcome makes an attempt by his rivals to drive him out of enterprise.
• Annie Malone (d. 1957) was one of many first Black girls to turn out to be a multimillionaire because of the companies she began originally of the twentieth century, together with a hair product line for ladies and different beauty merchandise.
• Lewis Temple (d. 1854) a former slave from Virginia, labored as a blacksmith and used his expertise to invent a number of merchandise, together with an improved iron harpoon for the whaling business.

These names are simply the tip of the iceberg in relation to entrepreneurship as a complete. However a few of the particulars of their lives recommend the hurdles they needed to overcome to achieve success. That makes their achievements much more worthy of celebration.