When I requested an opportunity to feature Ebonyx in my blog, I was so honoured when they accepted. First of all, who or what is Ebonyx, what do they do? Where can they be found?
I caught up with the 2 masterminds behind Ebonyx. They expressed to me their mission and vision. Here is what they had to say.
Please introduce yourself.
We are Ashely Ebanks and Lucan Goering, the founders of Ebonyx.
Kindly describe what Ebonyx us.
Launched in late 2019, Ebonyx, The Afrocentric Marketplace, is a one-stop-shop platform for small black-owned businesses to showcase their products and items.
Similar to the likes of Amazon and eBay, brands can sign up to Ebonyx for customers to directly discover and shop multiple brands in one place.
Why an ecommerce shopping platform?
We stumbled across a problem – where do you shop for Afrocentric and culturally black items?
This question was asked when I -(Lucan) was moving into my new home and was searching for cultural ornaments to decorate my house. Searching, the options to buy were few, with marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay being the only places to find any suitable items.
However, after researching the items on these big marketplaces, I (Lucan) was shocked to see the products were mostly made and shipped from China, lacking the authenticity he expected.
After a more in-depth search, my friends eventually found a handful of black-owned brands making the cultural items I was looking for, but discovering these brands was arduous and challenging due to a lack of exposure.
After speaking with these brands, it became apparent a marketplace would be a solution to their exposure issues.
What is your mission for Ebonyx ?
Our mission is to showcase black excellence through ecommerce. There are many talented and creative black-owned businesses who struggle to show their brands to the world.
Ebonyx’s mission is to bridge the gap between these businesses and customers by offering one place for customers to discover and shop black-owned brands.
What is your vision for the future of Ebonyx?
We’re very ambitious, but one day we hope to compete with Amazon, eBay and Etsy. Although we’re based in the UK, we have brands from all over the world and customers come from all over the world too.
In the UK alone there is at least 100,000 black-owned businesses in one form or another, and so there’s no reason why can’t one day compete with other big-name marketplaces.
What is your vision for the future of black businesses and black community?
This year has been testing for the black community, with the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor once again highlighting the dire consequences of systemic racism.
As a response to this, we’ve seen a rally of support for black-owned businesses as a way of showing solidarity.
Where is Ebonyx at now? And are you confident about it?
As a black-owned business supporting other black-owned businesses, we’ve seen a lot of support come through our platform with an increase in traffic and orders. This support has continued over the past few months and shows no signs of slowing down.
Furthermore, although the coronavirus has been devasting to many businesses, one benefit is that people now have more free-time on their hands.
With the additional time, more people have become creative and have decided to launch new products, and as marketing can be difficult for new brands, and so many have joined Ebonyx as a way of getting exposure.
This interview with Ashley and Lucan filled me with faith in the future of Black businesses as well as the community despite the climate we are in. I wanted to see what others think of Ebonyx. Here is what a few of the the many had to say….
My take:
As a partner with Ebonyx, as well as a customer, from my observation, I have faith that the company will reach its projected vision and heights; I am honoured to be part of their amazing initiative.
So where will you be shopping this Christmas?