Hollywood mogul Issa Rae is always rooting for everybody Black, and today is no different as she pushes for all Black-owned businesses to officially certify their brands through a newly-launched program, reports Afro Tech.
The producer and actress is supporting American Express and the U.S. Black Chambers Inc.’s (USBC) joint effort to expand their ByBlack initiative with the launch of the “first national certification program exclusively for Black ownership designation.”
The free first-of-its-kind platform — which was designed as a directory for Black-owned businesses — will now offer Black business-owners the opportunity to easily obtain approved accreditation that their customers and other companies can trust when spending with them.
“We are thrilled to team up with the USBC to expand the ByBlack platform,” Jessica Ling — senior vice president of Global B2B Marketing at American Express — tells AfroTech. “Seventy-five percent of corporations source diverse suppliers through certification programs – yet there is no nationally recognized, free, widely available program out there specifically for Black-owned business certification. As we have seen countless corporations pledge to diversify spending with Black-owned businesses to help address inequalities, we believe this is a way to put action behind those pledges.”
“ByBlack not only helps Black-owned businesses access opportunities for growth that come with accreditation, but it also helps large organizations, such as American Express, fulfill commitments to spend with these businesses,” she adds. “We plan to increase spending with Black-owned suppliers to at least $100 million annually by the end of 2024 and encourage other companies to join us in leveraging the ByBlack platform.”
