Black entrepreneurs in Canada have been part of the country's fabric since the 1700s. Today, young Black entrepreneurs are an economic engine that is gaining speed. -BY Donna Benjamin

Like in most countries, becoming a Black entrepreneur in Canada has challenges. However, there are Black Canadians smoothing the path for innovators and young, diverse Canadians with their success and by challenging the status quo. Black Canadian entrepreneurship is not a modern event. In fact, Black entrepreneurship is woven into the history of Canadian provinces and territories, with stories going back to the 1700s. Today, Black entrepreneurship thrives in Canada. In 2020, there were almost 145,000 Black-owned businesses in Canada, and 69.5% were sole proprietorships, according to Statistics Canada. Celebrating the past Black entrepreneurial pioneers and the present successful Black men and women is an honor during Black History Month.

Early Black Entrepreneurs Never Gave Up

Marie Marguerite Rose (1717-1757) was the first free Black businesswoman recorded in Canadian history. A Guinea-born Canadian slave for 19 years in Louisbourg, she was freed in 1755. Around that time, she married Jean Pierre Laurent, a Mi’kmaw man. The couple began a tavern near the military barracks. She passed away in 1757, only two years after being freed. Rose was made a Person of National Historic Significance by the government of Canada in 2008.

In 1799, Jack Moses and William Willis were two of 15 Blacks living in York, now Toronto. They ''under took [in 1799] to open a road from Yonge Street, York, westward through 'the Pinery.'” These Black entrepreneurs were followed by an influx of Blacks fleeing slavery in the U.S. in the mid-1800s.

The new immigrants had a wealth of entrepreneurial skills as carpenters, blacksmiths, mechanics, barbers, and hairdressers. As a historian giving a speech at the University of Toronto explained, in Toronto, Windsor, and Chatham, ”Blacks owned and operated three hotels and taverns, two livery stables, three restaurants, a hardware store and a women's dress shop. The very first ice houses in Toronto were started by two enterprising Blacks in the late 1840s, Mr. T.F. Carey and Mr. R.B. Richards. They drew their stock from the mill ponds north of what is now Bloor Street. Later they expanded their enterprises to four ice houses, a barber-shop and a bathhouse. W.H. Edwards also operated a successful barber-shop at 102 and then 77 King Street as early as 1839, with rooms set apart for ladies and children for perfuming and barbering ...A. T. Augusta, a Black doctor, opened up a Central Medical Hall at Yonge and Elm Streets, in which he offered dental, medical and pharmaceutical services to the public during the 1850s.”

Black Canadians have continued their entrepreneurship through the decades. One of the early Canadian businesswomen was Viola Desmond, who lived in Nova Scotia from 1914 to 1965. As a young woman, she knew she wanted to become an independent businesswoman. After completing a program at the Field Beauty Culture School in Montreal, one of the few educational institutions that accepted Black students, she completed more training in the U.S. Once training was completed, Desmond opened Vi’s Studio of Beauty Culture in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Desmond eventually created a line of beauty products and opened the Desmond School of Beauty Culture. She told a story of a personal experience in which she attended the Roseland Theatre and was told she could only sit in the balcony, which was reserved for Blacks only. Arrested and found guilty, she was never able to get the conviction overturned, but Desmond was the change agent for ending legal segregation in Nova Scotia in 1954. Desmond was granted a pardon in 2010, and the Viola Desmond Chair in Social Justice was established at Cape Breton University in 2010.

Today’s Black Entrepreneurs Keep the Spirit of Success Alive

Young Black Canadians are pursuing entrepreneurship in remarkable ways. They are role models for the upcoming generations, innovators, passionate about their beliefs, and champions of diversity and inclusion. The people and companies mentioned are just a few examples of the power of diversity as a social and economic engine.

Bashir Khan and Alexandra McCalla founded AirMatrix in 2018 in Toronto. Khan is a technology entrepreneur whose knowledge and expertise are sought after. He is part of the Transport Canada working group on UTM, the RPAS Traffic Management Action Team, and Canada’s mirror committee for developing the International Standards Organization’s drone standards. McCalla has extensive experience in business transformation for technology and has worked at scaling tech startups in Toronto and Silicon Valley. Their company, AirMatrix, is spearheading drone software solutions by creating a digital infrastructure supporting the safe expansion of commercial drones. Kham and McCalla are on the cutting edge of drone solutions in the aerial transportation landscape, especially in congested cities.

Gladys Afolayan founded Creative Minds Beauty Center 15 years ago in Calgary, Alberta. The business specializes in all types of hair types and textures. She is the Founder of the Kulture Institute of Cosmetology, the first Afro Textured hair school in Calgary. Afolayan won the 2023 Calgary Black Chambers Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award.

Charmaine Crooks is the President and Founder of NGU Consultants. She is a five-time Canadian Olympian who set national records. Born in Jamaica, she moved to Toronto, Canada, at the age of six. Crooks was elected to the International Olympic Committee Athletes Commission in 1996 and was a full voting member from 2000-2004. She is an elected member of the executive board of the Canadian Olympic Committee and has many other honors to claim. Crooks is an Executive Board Member of the Canadian Soccer Association. In December 2022, Crooks was given the Order of Canada. She took her expertise in sports management and built the successful global business consulting and management company NGU Consultants, offering marketing, management, and corporate consulting services to various sectors.

Propelling Personal and National Success

Canada welcomes immigrants, and in 2021, the majority of the country’s Black business owners were immigrants. The entrepreneurship of Black Canadian-born men and women and Black immigrants is crucial to the country’s economic growth. Black entrepreneurs are starting businesses in every industry and propelling inclusion and economic success at the same time.