Afrika in Focus: Money Matters - Why Black people MUST support Black businesses

The Economics of Supporting Black Businesses: 
This economic reality has profound consequences. In the UK, many food shops selling traditional African foods—yam, cocoyam, plantain, sweet potato, and other staples—are owned by Asian (primarily Indian and Pakistani) entrepreneurs rather than Black business owners. Similarly, in the United States, despite African-Americans possessing a staggering collective spending power of approximately $1.7 trillion annually, they rarely patronize Black-owned establishments at rates sufficient to create sustainable business growth within their communities. Ghana faces similar challenges, with retail sectors dominated by Lebanese, Indian, and Chinese business owners rather than indigenous Ghanaians.

The consequences of this spending pattern are far-reaching and devastating. When Black consumers choose to shop at businesses owned by other ethnic groups, they effectively transfer wealth out of their communities. This wealth transfer empowers other communities while simultaneously depriving Black neighborhoods of essential economic resources.

Understanding the mechanisms behind this disparity reveals important insights. Asian retailers, for example, can often offer lower prices on traditional African foods because they've established efficient supply chains, purchase farmland in African countries, form buying cooperatives, and invest in warehouse infrastructure. By contrast, Black retailers often operate independently without these advantages, forcing them to charge higher prices despite selling the same products.

The solution lies in what economists call "ethnocentric economics"—the practice of deliberately supporting businesses owned by members of one's own ethnic group. This isn't about exclusion or discrimination; rather, it's about ensuring that wealth circulates within communities that have historically been marginalized. Other ethnic groups practice this principle routinely, which explains why Chinese communities have established Chinatowns in major cities worldwide, and why Indian businesses thrive even in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

A stark illustration of this principle in action is the circulation time of currency within different communities. In the UK, the "Black Pound" typically remains within the Black community for a mere 12 hours before being spent elsewhere. By contrast, in other communities, currency circulates for approximately six months before leaving the community. This extended circulation allows wealth to multiply through repeated transactions, creating jobs, funding infrastructure, and building generational wealth.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Africa in Focus
• 1:44 Why Black People Must Support Black Businesses
• 6:44 How Asian Businesses Operate and Succeed
• 13:15 The Problem of Black Money Circulation
• 18:54 Building Black Economic Unity
• 27:48 The African Way Forward and Conclusion

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Good evening and welcome to this week's edition of Africa in Focus with myself, kwame Ghanian, writer, broadcaster, historian, podcaster and entrepreneur. And this week's episode of Africa in Focus is looking at finance. Part two, two. This time we're looking at why black people must support black businesses, yeah, and practice ethnocentric economics. So that's the theme for this week's show why black people must support black businesses and also must practice ethnocentric economics. And we'll come on to what it means as the podcast goes on. But before that, if you like what you hear, please share to your friends, family, social media networks. Subscribe to africa gardening. Focus on youtube. I want to get as many subscribers by the end of the year. So hit the notification bell, meaning that youtube will notify you once we upload new podcasts. Similarly, sign up to Ghana advocate and focus on spotify. Hit the follow button, meaning that spotify will notify you when we upload a new podcast. All right. And if you want to donate, help to a show you know we set, you know donations, so you can donate as little as three euros a month to help us grow the show and keep on bringing you great content coming out of Ghana and from Africa. All right, so let's get into this week's podcast why black people globally must support black-owned and also practice ethnocentric economics. So in last week's show we talked about savings, why it's important that you as an individual, wherever you are in the world, it's important to develop a habit of saving part of the income that you earn. All right, because it can help you build credit. It can also help you in emergency funds. It can also help you even if you want to get a startup capital to help set up a business, and so today we're looking about the importance of why black people must support black businesses and, more importantly, practice ethnocentric economics.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Now, if I give you three examples, like US, uk and Ghana, black people, generally speaking, do not support black businesses. So, for example, in the UK, you know, there's a lot of Asian, and when I mean Asian, I'm talking about Indian in this context, indian and Pakistani shops that Africans go to that sell our food. What I mean by that? I'm talking about yam cocoa, yam plantain, sweet potato, gharia, jollof rice, gushi, etc. These are shops that are owned by Asians, indian and Pakistani, that sell our own food and we buy from them, as opposed to buying from black owned, african owned businesses, same in America, whereby many African-Americans or Africans in America will shop with other groups of people all of their own. Same in Ghana, where you know, like I mentioned before in the podcast, who Owns Ghana. Many of the retail businesses are not owned by indigenous Ghanaians, but rather owned by Indians, lebanese and Chinese, and Ghanaians support these businesses. They support their own black businesses.

Speaker 1: 4:04

So, globally, it seems that we have a problem as black African people supporting black businesses, yeah, and for me that's a problem because one you are not engaging in nation building. So when we support black businesses, when we buy from black businesses here, we are helping those businesses to develop, to go stronger. Hence they can create other businesses and create employment opportunities for our own people. Yeah, now, if we shop with indians, pakistanis, now, if we shop with Indians, pakistanis, arabs, chinese, etc. Right, we are giving our money to them, yeah, to enrich their communities, whilst at the same time, we are giving employment to their own people.

Speaker 1: 5:07

So, for example, an Indian shop in the UK is not going to employ an African person, simple as, yeah, because in some cultures why they practice, you know, creating employment for the Indian people. So, for example, you look at the Indian restaurant, it's very, very rare that you're gonna get an African person serving or working in an Indian restaurant. So, in the UK, where there's many Indian restaurants, depending on where the area is let's say it's in London yeah, in London, for example, because it's a majority white city yeah, they have to employ white people. However, the majority of people who work at an Indian restaurant will be Indian. So the chef, the manager, the majority of people who work at an Indian restaurant will be Indian. So the chef, the manager, the majority of the waitress and waiters, you know, the majority of the people working there will be Indians. Yeah, because they keep their people in employment when they set up businesses. Yeah, so that the money flows and stays within their community.

Speaker 1: 6:07

Yeah, so that's why these communities, you know, for example, you know the indians, the pakistanis, the arabs, lebanese and ghana, etc. Right, this is why they are warf, because they support each other and we don't. Yeah, so we don't support black businesses. And because we don't support black businesses, you find that, particularly in the us and and uk, a lot of black businesses particularly if they are, you know, providing their service, particularly food, they go under because black people, african people, do not support those black businesses. But they also support Asian businesses because, or Asian-owned businesses because they say it's cheaper. And do you understand, black people, why an Asian man, pakistani, indian, white, can sell you three yam at £10. But the black man will sell you three yam at £20. Do you know why?

Speaker 1: 7:11

There's two things that a lot of us don't know how Asian people, particularly in the UK, are able to sell three yam for £10. Let me give you just two examples of how they can do this. So one believe or not, they they buy farmland in africa, in ghana, yeah, whereby they can grow the yam, sweet potato, um cassava, etc. Secondly, they were also going to cooperative, to co-operative with local farmers and buy their produce from them. Yeah, and thirdly, what they do, also, why they buy in bulk. So if they don't have a farm, they will come together and buy in bulk. And because they're able to buy in bulk, they can sell at a cheaper price than the black man who A able to buy in bulk, they can set a cheaper price than the black man who, a does not buy in bulk and b does not get a discount because he is buying from the indians because his own people might not say to him at a competitive rate or will set him more expensively or was it Timber expensively. And also that black or African retailer does not have a warehouse.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Now in the UK, believe it or not, many of these Asian businesses have got warehouses. Yeah, so if you go up and down the UK in Derby, nottingham, leicester, east London, sheffield, even Bradfordford, to give you some examples there a lot of these Indian businesses have warehouses. So they can import the yam, the plantain, sweet potato from either Ghana or Nigeria or even Jamaica to the UK and they've got people at the ports who work for them, ie the ports whether it's Southampton, whether it's London, etc. They can take those produce from the ports to their warehouses that they've got in the country. And because they can buy in bulk and the reason they can buy in bulk is that reason they can buy in bulk is that they come together. So the Indian it doesn't matter if he's Sikh, a Muslim, a Hindu or you know whatever, they come together, they buy in bulk. And that's why it's cheaper. That's why an Indian person can sell 3 yen for £10 and a black man can't. He sells it 3 yen for £20. Sorry, 3 yen for £20. So so because of these nuances, many black people mistakenly will think that the black shop has been too expensive and the Indian man cheaper, when the reality is, because of the margins and the production costs and the fact that they own warehouses, they can afford to buy in bulk. And because they're unified they can buy in bulk and that's why they can sell yam cheaper than the black man or the black retailer.

Speaker 1: 10:20

Yeah, again, we know we talk about unity of the black people, right, but there's no unity among us, particularly when it comes to doing business. You know, black businesses are quite essentially selfish. It's every man for himself. Businesses are quite essentially selfish, is every man for himself. Yeah, whereby the indians, for example, in the uk, whether it's in bradford, manchester, london, whatever, like leicester, luton, they've got the asian or indian business association. So it doesn't matter whether the business is a retailer, a barber shop, electrician, a, a plumber, a restaurant, right, they've got like an Indian business of commerce right, whereby they come together and devise strategy.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Now, black people or black businesses in the UK, we don't have that. There's no black British Chamber of Commerce in Luton, in London, in Manchester, in nothing, or Bermuda. We don't have that. And so we're not able to devise strategies. Yeah, because, a we're not united and B. Everyone is for themselves, yeah. So you can't flourish as a business community when everyone is thinking about themselves, yeah, and not looking at the bigger picture as to how we can come together and work for the better good and the greater good and ensure that wealth stays in our community rather than going out.

Speaker 1: 11:44

And so this is the crux of the issue, where black people globally do not support black businesses, but rather support Indian, arab or Chinese-owned businesses where you are enriching those communities and enriching your community. This is why we must support black businesses, because black businesses are the foundation of the community, particularly in the UK and US, yeah, and even in Ghana, the black business white is the foundation of the community because that business white says the community, and if that business is supported by the community, that business will develop and grow and prosper and bring wealth to that community rather than going out. In terms of the Ghana example, or even, like you used, the example of Britain and America, whereby the Indian businesses in black communities serve the black community but then the money that they make does not go into the black community, it goes out of the black community. Does that make sense? Do you follow what I'm saying? So that means the wealth that this business generated is not stored or saved in the community which they operate from. It goes out of the community that they operate from into their own communities, in which of themselves.

Speaker 1: 13:07

So this is why we must support black businesses. Yeah, it doesn't care, I don't care, whether they're 25% more expensive, right, as a rule of thumb, we got to support Black businesses, right? So, for example, in America, it's criminal, criminal, criminal, criminal that the spending power of Africans in America is about 1.7 trillion dollars. In some cases, out here here, it could be as high as two trillion dollars. That's the spending power of black america. But yet, despite the spending power of nearly two trillion dollars, why there is not one single black government?

Speaker 1: 13:48

Or supermarkets, say, for example, you know, in the uk you got one. Or us, you got one more stroke. Asda, you know, and you know. In the UK you've got Walmart, you know, and you know, you've got a lot of Indian. You know chains, yeah, and in Ghana, you've got Melcom. Melcom is the biggest retailer in Ghana.

Speaker 1: 14:05

Melcom spelled M-E-L-C-O-M, that's owned by an Indian family. They've got branches all over Accra and branches up in Angana. Yeah, and that's because they, they, they practice, they support their, their community. They support the business community. Yeah, so the Indian they very well you know, they have it as a, as a unspoken rule that an Indian person will never shop with a black business or a Chinese business or an Arab business. They shop with an Indian business, likewise the Arab. They will never go to Indian or a Chinese, let alone a black, shopkeeper to buy their products. They'll shop with the Arab brother and sister, likewise the Chinese. A Chinese person will never shop with an Indian or Arab, let alone a black person. Because Chinese believe they're going to support the people first. And this is why you see, in Ghana now, there's China Mao all over Accra, because the Chinese community in Accra are supporting China Mao and Chinese-owned businesses, not shopping at Malcolm, not shopping at Koala, not shopping at Ganyan-owned stores. Yeah, they're shopping at China Mao because they have the unspoken rule that they shop with their own people, with their own kind. Hence why you've got China miles all over the place, because they're supported by their own people and us. That enriches them and in turn, because of that wealth coming into their community, they're able to build more channel miles in Accra, likewise with the Indian retailer in the UK.

Speaker 1: 15:54

Because we, as black people in the UK, don't support black businesses. Yeah, indian businesses make a ton of money and then they use that money To go into other parts, whether it's real estate, whether it's Painting, decorating, whether it's construction, Whether it's the restaurant decorating, whether it's construction, whether it's the restaurant business. This is how the Indians in the UK have grown right from being shopkeepers to now big players within the UK PLC. Yeah, because the wealth that they get, particularly from the black community in the UK, they reinvest that money alongside the money that their own community makes for them. They invest that money to go into other ventures, like I said, construction, restaurateurs, painting, decorating. Even they've got their own accounting firms and law firms. That helps them and that's what we call building a community, because black people we've been programmed not to support our own businesses. We're programmed to support other businesses, other people, other cultures, businesses. We don't have that same you could say economic power as other communities have, whether it's in the UK, us or, you know, in Ghana.

Speaker 1: 17:29

And I'm particularly you know about the US because, like I said, and I'm particularly you know about the US because, like I said, we have a spending power of $1.7 trillion. So if Africans in America were a country, were a nation, yeah, there would be at least the seventh or eighth richest nation on the planet. That $1.7 trillion of income yeah, and, by the way, that income is not an asset that 1.7 trillion of income, or that is earned by Africans in America, is not an asset, that's just liquid cash, what we earn. So it's scandalous that Africans in America, if they were a nation, would be the sixth or seventh richest country on the planet. It's a scandal that there is no African-American conglomerate, ie a retail conglomerate, whereby there's African-owned retail conglomerate all over America. So there'll be an African-American grocery store in a brand in New York, in Tennessee, in Atlanta, in Baltimore, in New York, in DC, in Charlotte, north Carolina, you know, in Louisville, kentucky, in Chicago, illinois, in Missouri, in Chicago, illinois, in Missouri, in Memphis, tennessee, in Detroit, michigan. There'll be an African conglomerate business supermarket in every major city in America.

Speaker 1: 19:11

Yeah, if we support black businesses, but because to opposite purposes, right? Africans in America don't support black businesses. This is why that 1.7 trillion dollars to opposite purposes, right? Africans in America don't support black businesses. This is why that 1.7 trillion dollars that we earn in America right, goes out of our hands and goes into other communities. That's why you know the reality is that, despite your black celebrities, right, africans in America right, basically they earn only 0.1% of the wealth in america because they don't support each other and we don't support black businesses. That's what we have. That's a very, very sorry, pitiful state and I remember reading a powerful book called powernomics by claude anderson is that if we use, particularly in america, if we use that 1.77 trillion of spending power that we have, if we use that amongst our community right, and began to build businesses, began a nation-building program, africans in America would be a powerful people Again.

Speaker 1: 20:16

Nigeria. Nigeria's got the biggest population in Africa. More than a quarter of a billion people live in Nigeria. But apart from a handful of exceptions ie people like Dangote who have got cement factories in certain parts of Nigeria Nigeria is still a country, right, which is potentially Africa a giant powerhouse, right, because we support Nigerian businesses. Right, nigeria is not the force that it potentially should be. So this is why it's important to support Black-owned businesses, because all of our cultures, we are the only people in the world, on the planet that can support ourselves.

Speaker 1: 21:04

Indian man supports his own people. Indian in America will buy from Indian, you know, shops in America. Indian in UK will support Indian shops in UK. Indian in Ghana will support Indian shops. Same way Chinese man in America will support Indian shops. Same way Chinese men in America will support Chinese businesses. Same way Chinese in the UK will support Chinese businesses. Same way Chinese in Ghana will support Chinese businesses in Ghana. Arab men in America will support Arab businesses in America. Arab men in the UK will support Arab shops in the UK. Go to London, edgewood in particular. Whole heap of Arab businesses in London, particularly Edgewood Road bit, because Arabs support Arab businesses. Same way in Ghana, the Lebanese. This is why the Lebanese are thriving in Ghana, because the Lebanese, the Arab, lebanese community, support each other. This is why the Lebanese community is such a powerful community economically in Ghana.

Speaker 1: 22:00

So every community practices ethnocentric economics, and ethnocentric economics basically means support businesses that are owned by people that look like you. That's a golden rule in every community above of us. We want to shop with every Tom, dick and Harry and you wonder why in Ghana the biggest, you know, the retail is owned by Ghanaians. You wonder why large sectors of the economy in Ghana isn't owned by Ghanaians? Because Ghanaians are not investing in other Ghanaians, and because of selfishness and greed, some Ghanaians, particularly the powerful ones, put down other Ghanaian businesses. You wonder why?

Speaker 1: 22:44

In the UK and the UK, the spending power of Africans in the UK is somewhere around about 300 billion pounds 300 billion pounds but yet we don't see much value for that 300 billion300 billion, and we already know what's in America. So this is why we have to support black businesses, because other communities support their own and, as such, they create wealth and they create job opportunities for their own people. When was the last time you saw an African manager in a Chinese restaurant? When was the last time you saw an African manager in a Chinese restaurant? When was the last time you saw an African with an Indian restaurant in the UK? When was the last time you saw an African, even in Ghana, manage a restaurant owned by Indians?

Speaker 1: 23:31

In Ghana? You don't do that because they practice ethnocentric commitments. They employ their own people first, practice ethnocentric requirements. They employ their own people first and, if necessary, they employ you as a black person. So we must support our businesses. Yeah, whether you're in Ghana, whether you're in the United States, whether you're in the UK, we've got to support black companies, because by doing so A the money stays in our community, and I'll come back to that in a minute. B wealth is generated within our community. And C we can explore other business opportunities like real estate, like finance, like painting and decorating, etc. And also, more importantly, we can give our young people like finance, like painting, decorating, etc. And also, more importantly, we can give our young people jobs, because in the UK, just like Ghana and possibly the US, youth unemployment among black people is high. So if we're able to support black businesses, those black businesses will grow and develop and be in a position to give our young people jobs.

Speaker 1: 24:48

Yeah, so all the communities. Because they practice ethnocentric economics, the wealth stays in their community or the businesses develop and grow within their community. The world stays in their community and, as such, they are able to employ their own people. And a prime example of that is the UK city of Leicester. If we go to Leicester right, a lot of businesses out there are Indian, asian run, whether Indian, pakistani, bengali, sri Lankan. They're owned and run by them and they employ their own people. So in Leicester you've got a very, very thriving Asian in brackets community. Because they support one another, they do business with one another. The wealth is in the community and, as such, they can business with one another. The world stays in the community and, as such, they can employ their own people, and so this is what we mean by ethnocentric economics.

Speaker 1: 25:46

Yeah, so let me take, let me move now as to the spending habits of our people and how long. For example, in the UK, the Black Pound operates or circulates within our community. Now, same in America as well, but let me give you an example. So the Black Pound in the UK, yeah, it circulates in our community for about 12 hours, yeah, and then it goes out of our community to the Asianian community, to the white community, to the chinese community, etc.

Speaker 1: 26:23

Other communities, whether the indian community, the pakistan muslim community, the arab muslim community, the white caucasian community, the jewish community, their money circulates at least six months before it goes out of their community to other communities. Six months Ours is less than a day. And you wonder why. In the UK, for example, you know our community is impoverished, yeah, where, despite having this disposable income and spending power of over £300 billion a year, hmm, so most of that money, so most of that £300 billion that is earned annually by Africans in the UK I don't mean Africans in the UK. I'm talking about Jamaicans, guineans, zimbabweans, st Lucian, bajans, guineans, st Lucians, trinidadians I think you get my drift. Yeah, so most of that £300 billion goes out to the communities. And you wonder why? In the UK, black people are impoverished.

Speaker 1: 27:41

So we need to start practicing, you know, ethnocentric economics so that our money can stay in our community for at least six months before it goes out of our community. Because the longer the money stays in your community, the longer that money works within the community, the longer that money is able to generate wealth in the community, right? The longer that money works within the community, the longer that money is able to generate wealth in the community and, more importantly, the community is able to develop a nation and create wealth and job opportunities for its own people. So, in closing, you know, as a people, globally, we must support black businesses. Whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not, that's the reality of our situation. Because if we don't support black businesses and support other people, right, we are enriching them and the population ourselves. So we must support black businesses. So by doing so, these black businesses will develop and grow, yeah, hence create wealth within the community and, more importantly, create job opportunities for our own people. That's why it's important to buy black and also, like other communities, we we must start practising ethnocentric economics. Yeah, because you see how the world is going right now. You know everyone's looking out for their own corner. Yeah, this is why in the UK you've got Chinatown in every major city in the UK Chinatown, chinatown In Birmingham, manchester, sheffield, london, edinburgh, glasgow, cardiff, chinatown, everywhere. Because Chinese people come together, put those resources together, do business together, practice ethnocentric economics to ensure that the wealth that they generate stays in the community and does not go out to the community.

Speaker 1: 29:42

So if we, as black people, whether we're in the US, uk, in Ghana, if we want to divert wealth, create opportunity and create jobs for our youth, our young people, right then we've got to support black businesses and also practice ethnocentric economics. It's not racist. Some people say it's racist. No, the Indian do it, they don't apologise for shopping together. The Chinese do it, they don't apologise for shopping together. The Arab do it, they don't apologise. But then it's normal for us. We've normal For us.

Speaker 1: 30:20

We got to see ethnocentric egotism be normal Because that's what we used to do before Arab invasion and European invasion. We used to do business with one another and treat one another. You know, barter with one another. That's the African culture, that is the African way. That's what we did. So we got to go back, as they say in Akan, back to our original will of working with one another, with doing business with one another and by trading with one another, in order for us to grow our nations, grow our communities and ensure that wealth stays in our communities.

Speaker 1: 31:07

So I hope you've enjoyed this edition of Money Matters. Why African people globally must support black businesses and practice ethnocentric economics. If you like what you hear, appreciate to friends, families, social media networks, subscribe to Ghana African focus on YouTube, subscribe to Africa, ghana and focus on Spotify, and if you'd like to donate to the show, click the link in the footnotes and you can donate as little as three Erezda's a month, and so until next week. We've got some exciting news coming from Ghana. It's thank you from myself, kwame, and from all the crew here on African Focus. Thank you for listening and we'll see you for some more great content.