Black History Month: Black founded Businesses

The month of February is Black History Month in the US and we’re taking a look at a few of the inspiring black entrepreneurs who you may or may not have heard of.

This article has been updated on 16th Jan 2023

Kimberly Bryant 

It’s a fact that minorities are highly underrepresented in the startup world and Kimberly Bryant realized she needed to do something about that. In 2011, Bryant created Black Girls Code, a nonprofit organization that centers around empowering girls from underrepresented communities and introducing them to the exciting world of programming.

In 2013, Bryant was recognized as a White House Champion of Change for Tech Inclusion and was also voted one of the 25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology by Business Insider.

Angela Benton 

Much like Kimberly Bryant, Angela Benton also realized there was a distinct lack of information and representation of black people in the tech world. Benton launched Black Web 2.0 (later renamed B20) as a place for black entrepreneurs, startups and businesses to be showcased. In 2011 Benton launched NewME, a platform that helps minority and female entrepreneurs create successful businesses. In 2018, after a battle with cancer, Benton went on to found Streamlytics, which provides ethical, people-powered data, from today’s fastest-growing communities across the US.

Adelanwa Adesanya

Before breaking out into the world of MedTech, Adelanwa Adesanya launched his first company, GivePals.com, as an undergrad. GivePals was a marketplace for students to sell and trade with one another, including phones, textbooks, and furniture. 

In 2013, Adesanya founded Moving Analytics, a company that helps hospitals manage their patients with heart disease by implementing a home-based cardiac rehab program.

In November 2017, Adesanya was selected to be in the ‘Healthcare’ sub-list of the Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2018.

Kathryn Finney

In 2003, Kathryn Finney started a fashion blog, simply titled The Budget Fashionista. It only took Finney one year to turn her blog into a business and was named one of the top fashion blogs on the internet. After publishing her first book, How to be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less, and selling her company in 2014, Finney went on to launch digitalundivided, which was described as “the first-of-its-kind open innovation center dedicated to the future success of Black and Latina women tech founders”. 

Frederick Hutson

During a 4 year sentence in prison, Frederick Hutson realized there really had to be an easier way for people to communicate with their incarcerated loved ones. In 2012, Hutson launched Pigeonly. Pigeonly allowed users to send physical photos and greeting cards to inmates via their phones. By 2015, Pigeonly had forwarded over a million pieces of mail and facilitated about eight million minutes of telephone calls.

Further reading

• How Black entrepreneurs are working to knock down barriers to capital
• The Empowering Guide for Women in Tech – How can we help women rise in tech?
• Black-Owned Businesses in London – A list of the hottest Black-owned businesses in London, UK