Business

Mandela Grocery Cooperative Celebrates a Decade of Thriving

Published

5 years ago

June 14, 2019

(L to R) Adrionna Fike, Briana Sidney, Andrea Talley James Bell and Ryan Daniels celebrate Mandela Grocery Cooperative’s 10th birthday on June 7, 2019. They work in and own the cooperative. Photo by Zack Haber.

Mandela Grocery Cooperative (MGC) in West Oakland celebrated its 10th year in business on June 7 with a street party.

Farmers and suppliers who collaborate with the co-op set up booths to showcase their products, and hundreds of community members showed up to celebrate and show support.

“The fact that MGC is a co-op and works on a small scale allows it to more easily develop personal relationships with clients, showcase more local producers, and I’m more able to meet their volume demands,” said Jamil Burns, a Black, small-scale urban farmer, speaking at the celebration while he sold his lettuce, onions and other produce. He recently started selling some of his crops to MGC.

It’s often difficult or impossible for small farmers to sell to large grocery stores that demand a much larger volume of product than MGC does, accoridng to locals.

MGC gives a market to producers like Burns while their commitment to direct relationships allows them to cut out middlemen such as distributors, which both provides farmers with more money and helps to keep prices down.

MGC is different than most grocery stores, Black owned and operated . Its cooperative structure means that there are no bosses. Of the 11 employees, eight of them are owners.

Once the three non-owner employees have completed 1,000 hours of work or a year of employment, they’ll also have the opportunity to become owners.

“Every product you see in our store,” said owner/worker Adrianna Fike, “is here because somebody who works here really wanted it here.”

MGC owner/workers meet weekly to discuss new products and new ideas for the store. They make their decisions by consensus and require that all eight members come to a general agreement before accepting a new product, employee or plan.

Usually when something new is proposed, the group agrees. But discussion and clarifying questions come first, which MGC encourages.

“We applaud and appreciate when workers and owner/workers ask questions,” said Fike, who felt in previous jobs that she often had to bite her tongue when she had an idea or a question.

One reason MGC owners and owner/workers work well together, they say, is that they have similar values, and the mission of the store is clear.

“The goals we have are to continuously provide clean healthy food at affordable prices for underserved communities and to educate people on the importance of eating healthy, especially in urban neighborhoods where people often have ailments due to nutrition deficiencies,” said worker/owner James Bell.

It’s important to MGC’s owners that workers have as much knowledge of products as possible, so owners encourage new employees to read the list of ingredients in products and to try them out.

While MGC has fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, eggs, grains and enough products to provide customers with all their grocery shopping needs, the store is small enough for the employees to have a deep knowledge of every product.

Curious customers can learn a lot about food and health by talking to MGC’s workers. MGC plans to open up its kitchen soon to do live demonstrations.

Since many of MGC’s customers are struggling economically, worker/owners do what they can to keep prices low while still providing themselves with a living wage and benefits like health care.

They make their intentions clear with vendors and are sometimes able to buy products cheaper than other stores can, which allows them to charge customers less. They provide a 50 percent discount on California produce for people who use food stamps.

While working in a retail job can feel competitive and stressful, MGC’s employees claim that’s not how they feel at work.

“We’re not competing with one another,” said Fike, “The goal is not to stay up all night trying to make everything happen. Sometimes it’s hard, but most of the time working here is fun.”

Zack Haber

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State Controller Malia Cohen Keynote Speaker at S.F. Wealth Conference

California State Controller Malia Cohen delivered the keynote speech to over 50 business women at the Black Wealth Brunch held on March 28 at the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center at 301 Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco. The Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) hosted the Green Room event to launch its platform designed to close the racial wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

Published

3 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

American Business Women’s Association Vice President Velma Landers, left, with California State Controller Malia Cohen (center), and ABWA President LaRonda Smith at the Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the ABWA at the Black Wealth Brunch.

By Carla Thomas

The Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) hosted the Green Room event to launch its platform designed to close the racial wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

“Our goal is to educate Black and Brown families in the masses about financial wellness, wealth building, and how to protect and preserve wealth,” said ABWA San Francisco Chapter President LaRonda Smith.

ABWA’s mission is to bring together businesswomen of diverse occupations and provide opportunities for them to help themselves and others grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support, and national recognition.

“This day is about recognizing influential women, hearing from an accomplished woman as our keynote speaker and allowing women to come together as powerful people,” said ABWA SF Chapter Vice President Velma Landers.

More than 60 attendees dined on the culinary delights of Chef Sharon Lee of The Spot catering, which included a full soul food brunch of skewered shrimp, chicken, blackened salmon, and mac and cheese.

Cohen discussed the many economic disparities women and people of color face. From pay equity to financial literacy, Cohen shared not only statistics, but was excited about a new solution in motion which entailed partnering with Californians for Financial Education.

“I want everyone to reach their full potential,” she said. “Just a few weeks ago in Sacramento, I partnered with an organization, Californians for Financial Education.

“We gathered 990 signatures and submitted it to the [California] Secretary of State to get an initiative on the ballot that guarantees personal finance courses for every public school kid in the state of California.

“Every California student deserves an equal opportunity to learn about filing taxes, interest rates, budgets, and understanding the impact of credit scores. The way we begin to do that is to teach it,” Cohen said.

By equipping students with information, Cohen hopes to close the financial wealth gap, and give everyone an opportunity to reach their full financial potential. “They have to first be equipped with the information and education is the key. Then all we need are opportunities to step into spaces and places of power.”

Cohen went on to share that in her own upbringing, she was not guided on financial principles that could jump start her finances. “Communities of color don’t have the same information and I don’t know about you, but I did not grow up listening to my parents discussing their assets, their investments, and diversifying their portfolio. This is the kind of nomenclature and language we are trying to introduce to our future generations so we can pivot from a life of poverty so we can pivot away and never return to poverty.”

Cohen urged audience members to pass the initiative on the November 2024 ballot.

“When we come together as women, uplift women, and support women, we all win. By networking and learning together, we can continue to build generational wealth,” said Landers. “Passing a powerful initiative will ensure the next generation of California students will be empowered to make more informed financial decisions, decisions that will last them a lifetime.”

Oakland Post

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Business

Black Business Summit Focuses on Equity, Access and Data

The California African American Chamber of Commerce hosted its second annual “State of the California African American Economy Summit,” with the aim of bolstering Black economic influence through education and fellowship. Held Jan. 24 to Jan. 25 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel, the convention brought together some of the most influential Black business leaders, policy makers and economic thinkers in the state. The discussions focused on a wide range of economic topics pertinent to California’s African American business community, including policy, government contracts, and equity, and more.

Published

3 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA), answers questions from concerned entrepreneurs frustrated with a lack of follow-up from the state. January 24, 2024 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel, Lost Angeles, Calif. Photo by Solomon O. Smith

By Solomon O. Smith, California Black Media

The California African American Chamber of Commerce hosted its second annual “State of the California African American Economy Summit,” with the aim of bolstering Black economic influence through education and fellowship.

Held Jan. 24 to Jan. 25 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel, the convention brought together some of the most influential Black business leaders, policy makers and economic thinkers in the state. The discussions focused on a wide range of economic topics pertinent to California’s African American business community, including policy, government contracts, and equity, and more.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) was a guest at the event. He told attendees about his department’s efforts to increase access for Black business owners.

“One thing I’m taking away from this for sure is we’re going to have to do a better job of connecting through your chambers of all these opportunities of billions of dollars that are coming down the pike. I’m honestly disappointed that people don’t know, so we’ll do better,” said Omishakin.

Lueathel Seawood, the president of the African American Chamber of Commerce of San Joaquin County, expressed frustration with obtaining federal contracts for small businesses, and completing the process. She observed that once a small business was certified as DBE, a Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, there was little help getting to the next step.

Omishakin admitted there is more work to be done to help them complete the process and include them in upcoming projects. However, the high-speed rail system expansion by the California High-Speed Rail Authority has set a goal of 30% participation from small businesses — only 10 percent is set aside for DBE.

The importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in economics was reinforced during the “State of the California Economy” talk led by author and economist Julianne Malveaux, and Anthony Asadullah Samad, Executive Director of the Mervyn Dymally African American Political and Economic Institute (MDAAPEI) at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Assaults on DEI disproportionately affect women of color and Black women, according to Malveaux. When asked what role the loss of DEI might serve in economics, she suggested a more sinister purpose.

“The genesis of all this is anti-blackness. So, your question about how this fits into the economy is economic exclusion, that essentially has been promoted as public policy,” said Malveaux.

The most anticipated speaker at the event was Janice Bryant Howroyd known affectionately to her peers as “JBH.” She is one of the first Black women to run and own a multi-billion-dollar company. Her company ActOne Group, is one of the largest, and most recognized, hiring, staffing and human resources firms in the world. She is the author of “Acting Up” and has a profile on Forbes.

Chairman of the board of directors of the California African American Chamber of Commerce, Timothy Alan Simon, a lawyer and the first Black Appointments Secretary in the Office of the Governor of California, moderated. They discussed the state of Black entrepreneurship in the country and Howroyd gave advice to other business owners.

“We look to inspire and educate,” said Howroyd. “Inspiration is great but when I’ve got people’s attention, I want to teach them something.”