Launching or Building a Product Business? This is For You👇🏾

Learn How to Go from Selling Zero to Product Hero with Amazon's Black Business Accelerator

Let’s face it, running and scaling a product business is tough. You’ve put your heart, soul, and money into creating an amazing product, but now you’re also faced with being the social media manager, stockist, and strategist responsible for taking it to the next level. Despite our journeys being individually unique, our challenges remain the same:

• Struggling to reach more customers: You're looking for ways to increase your visibility and attract new buyers.

• Looking to go big so you don’t have to go home: You have big dreams and need the right support to achieve them.

• Needing resources and support beyond the Internet: Free resources are great, but you need more in-depth support.

• Finding community so you don’t need to do this alone: Entrepreneurship can be lonely, and you wish you had a supportive network.

Sound Familiar?

I asked two women building and scaling successful product businesses about their experience with Amazon Black Business Accelerator (BBA)- a free resource for Black business owners that is designed to help propel their efforts and make launching and scaling a product business with Amazon that much easier. Since 2021, this free program has empowered thousands of Black entrepreneurs with ad credits, education, professional networks, and mentorship, helping them grow their sales and build their brands in the Amazon store.

Eligible Participants Receive Perks Such As:

• New Seller Onboarding: A 3-year sponsored certification, plus a $500 enrollment credit.

• Product Support: Brand owners can add a Black-owned business badge to their Amazon product pages, redeem free imaging services, and $1,000 in Buy with Prime credits to fuel their sales.

• Education and Networks: Access to an education library focused on tips and tricks for selling and growing with Amazon, monthly webinars, and networking events.

• Seller Support: You could also be eligible to receive one year of direct account support. (Seller must have sales greater than $100,000 in the last 12 months. Subject to additional eligibility requirements)

We’re not capping here, but maybe you should hear it for yourself from some of the sellers who have thrived with the support of the Amazon BBA. I asked two women building and scaling successful product businesses about their experience with Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator — a free resource that’s designed to HELP Black entrepreneurs propel

Margaret Nyamumbo of Kahawa 1893: The Future Is Coffee

About the Brand

“Kahawa” means “coffee” in Swahili -- our language -- and 1893 is when our story begins. Growing up in a community of coffee farmers, I witnessed the inequalities within the coffee industry -- women provided 90% of the labor, but didn’t own land. After studying abroad in the USA, I returned home with some ideas on how to bring Kenyan coffee to the world in a way that benefits our women farmers the most. I invite you to help me ensure that women farmers reap the rewards of their hard work.

How Amazon BBA Helped

Amazon's BBA enhanced our business with weekly comprehensive training on everything from advertising strategies to product page optimization. The 1:1 account manager support provided strategic insights for launching new products and boosting sales of our core assortment. By partnering closely with our account manager and applying insights from our weekly training sessions, we implemented new ad strategies that nearly doubled our business.

Advice to Black Business Owners Considering Applying to BBA

I strongly encourage Black business owners considering BBA to fully embrace the incredible resources provided by the BBA team and connect with fellow business owners in your cohort. There is a wealth of knowledge to gain, and you should take full advantage of it. No question is too small, and the community support is amazing.

Adria Marshall, CEO of Ecoslay

About the Brand

Ecoslay is a plant-based, sustainable, handmade-to-order brand for wavy, curly, coily, and kinky hair. Over the past few years, Ecoslay has taken sustainability and social responsibility to new heights by ditching their plastic bottle in favor of sustainable pouches and refillable jars. Ecoslay has also partnered with local Black-owned Truly Living Well Center for Urban Agriculture to locally grow the ingredients for our plant-based products, ensuring ingredient integrity while reducing our carbon footprint.

How Amazon BBA Helped

Amazon's BBA program has been a critical part of our success over the past couple of years. Because of the program, the quality of our product listings has improved (from images to product descriptions to A+ content and, most recently, premium A+ content). We've also learned how to best run and optimize our ads, navigate reporting, forecast inventory, and take advantage of influencer opportunities and other Amazon programs and partnerships.

Success in Numbers

• 2022 Gross Sales: $150K

• 2023 Gross Sales: $415K

• 2024 Projected Gross Sales: $1.3M

Advice to Black Business Owners Considering Applying to BBA

Definitely do it! You have nothing to lose and so much to gain. From the education, and networking opportunities to exposure, there's no downside in my opinion.

Apply to Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator here.

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B

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Brittany Antoinette