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WHERE ARE CHICAGO’S AFRICAN ENTREPRENEURS?

by KWADWO KYEI

By popular request, we are rerunning this article that appeared in the Spectrum, February 2000.

In New York City, particularly in the boroughs of Brooklyn and the Bronx, and in neighboring Newark across the bridge, there are many storefronts that are emblazoned generally with the sign “African Market,” or some variation of it such as “Tropical Market.” In Atlanta and Boston, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, Houston and Los Angeles, Toronto and Montreal, “African Market” signs greet one at several locations in the African immigrant neighborhoods.

In every one of these cities, Africans markets are predominantly owned Africans. As their names imply, these stores satisfy the African immigrants’ longing for the taste and smells of their native lands by making African foods and products easily available to them. And business is as good. Talk to any number of storeowners and they will all freely admit they could not have picked a better business to get into. You can never go wrong with food.

Among the major cities in the US and Canada that are homes to large African immigrant communities, Chicago is the only one that bucks the trend in the local Africans’ domination of the African foods and groceries retail business. In Chicago and its environs, it appears that every food retail outlet that specializes in African-oriented merchandise is owned by people other than Africans, African Americans, or other blacks. For a city, which ranks next to New York in the size of its African immigrant residents, this is a very abnormal situation, one that defies explanation.

What is it that makes Chicago’s African shy away from exploiting this veritable gold mine given the fact that we count among our numbers many business-savvy people? We already boast a good number of men and women who are successfully engaged in a wide variety of enterprises and professions that include taxi cab operation, automotive shops, manufacturing, mortgage loan financing, publishing, real estate, medicine, dentistry, legal practice, etc. By any reasonable definition, ours is a very sophisticated and hard working population, not unlike the African populations elsewhere in North America that should readily seize every good and legitimate business opportunity.

Yet, curiously enough, nothing is happening here on the African grocery retail business scene as far as African participation is concerned. Could it be that selling food or hacking away at a lump of meat in the butcher’s shop is not glamorous enough for Chicago’s African’s? I certainly don’t think so. What then seems to be the problem here, barring a conspiracy against our participation?

The idea of a conspiracy seems rather far-fetched, and I hate myself for speculating about one since I find conspiracy theories so distasteful; but then, when you find yourself backed into a corner trying to unravel a puzzle, even the unthinkable suddenly becomes appealing.

Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer to the puzzle. I do know, however, that the preponderance of Chicago’s African immigrant sentiments is in favor of our own people getting into the African foods retail business. That is the impression I get whenever I talk to people about this issue. The few negative elements I have encountered argue that the patronage of African immigrant community here for African –owned operations cannot be taken for granted on account of the proverbial jealousy factor in the generic make-up of Africans that makes us hate see our own kind prosper.

It doesn’t take much to demolish this kind of argument. First, there already exist in Chicago African-owned operations in many fields that enjoy substantial patronage from our community; second, Chicago’s Africans are hardly a distinct breed from our compatriots in New York, Washington, or Toronto, where African food merchants are doing extremely well, thanks to the support of our brothers and sisters in those cities.

By advocating so passionately for the participation of our people in the African foods retail business in Chicago, I run the risk of being branded a racist. God knows I am not that kind of person. As a concerned African, all that I am trying to do is to highlight the absurdity of a situation where our own entrepreneurs are missing out on a highly lucrative line of businesses whose mainstay are the dollars from our community. If this makes me a racist, so be it.

I sincerely believe that the business types among us who can muster the resource to invest in the African foods retail trade should be encouraged to do so. It seems only fair that, at least, some of the profits from such an industry should wind up in the pockets of African entrepreneurs. After all, despite the cynicism of some of our people, it is far more likely that the next village clinic, school, or water -supply project in Africa will be sponsored by some African business men or women than by either Polish or Filipino store owners.

This is just an acknowledgement of reality. We must put our money where our mouth is, if I may repeat a favorite cliché of American politicians.

Ever since this article ran, a number of African businesses have emerged including Ash Town, Makola, New World Market, Black Star Market, Mirancho Supermercado, just to name a few. Keep up the good work!

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