Black Business Empowerment Commission

BBEC is a collective of Black community organizations, churches and business owners that have come together to put forth a plan for Black Business Empowerment.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Much like Annie Malone, she was one of the first American women to become a self-made millionaire; in fact, it was through Malone's Poro College that she first learned about the science of black cosmetology.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Born under the name “Sarah Breedlove”, Madam C.J. Walker developed a special line of beauty and hair product for black women under her company, Madame C.J Walker Manufacturing.
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#blackhistorymonth #beauty #blackexcellence #blackmillionaire

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Later, when the bank merged with two other Richmond, VA banks to form The Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, she served as the chairman of its board of directors.
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[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Walker was the first black woman in the United States to charter a bank. By pooling her community's money, she formed the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, of which she served as the first president.
#blackhistorymonth

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Through the school and the business, Malone created jobs for 75,000 women around Women Around The World! She's recorded as the first Black female millionaire in the United States, with a reported $14 M in assets in 1920, a whopping $167M in today’s dollars.
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#blackhistorymonth

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

One of America's first and most prominent Black businesswomen, Malone founded and developed Poro College, a commercial and educational business focused on cosmetics for Black women.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Smith brought his freedom for $50 at the age of 21. 1850s Pennsylvania based entrepreneur owned lumber and coal businesses with annual sales of $100,000. By 1857, Smith was worth $500,000, approximately $13.5 M today.
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#blackhistorymonth #blackexcellence

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Cincinnati based entrepreneur - wholesale/retail grocer and pickling/ preserving businesses. One of the first people in America to establish high-quality grocery stores, offering the best brands of hams, dried fruit, soaps, etc with annual sales of $140,000 approx $4.2 M today.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Born in 1832 in Craven County, North Carolina. She invented and patented the iron board.
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#blackhistorymonth #fashion #blackexcellence

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

She received U.S. patent number 140.253 for her invention of a cooking apparatus in 1873. De Leon’s invention was an early precursor of the steam tables that we see at food buffets worldwide today.
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#blackhistorymonth #foodindustry

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

He also received patents for the cooling of computer chips, desalinating sea water, acoustic imaging, high-powered industrial paint spray, an electric car battery, a method for getting oil out of shale rock (fracking), and repairing potholes using rubber from old car tires.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

The company performed research and development, specifically in the fields of electrogasdynamics, the generation of energy from the motion of electrically charged gas molecules under high pressure. He developed a process for dispersing smoke from burning buildings.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

In 1964, Gourdine borrowed $200,000.00 from family and friends and opened Gourdine Laboratories, a research laboratory located in Livingston, New Jersey. At its height, he employed 150 people.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

He invented an early method of dry cleaning called "dry scouring" and patented it in 1821—four years before Paris tailor Jean Baptiste Jolly refined his own chemical technique and established what many people claim was history’s first dry cleaning business.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

He paved the way for future Black inventors to gain exclusive rights to their inventions. Born in 1791, Jennings lived and worked in New York City as a tailor and dry cleaner.
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#blackhistorymonth #blackinventors

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Dean also helped develop the first color computer monitor, and in 1999 he led the team of programmers that created the world's first gigahertz chip. Today, the computer scientist holds three of the company's original nine patents, and more than 20 overall.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

(born 1957). The computer scientist/ engineer worked for IBM, where he led the team that designed the ISA bus—the hardware interface allows multiple devices like printers, modems, and keyboards to be plugged into a computer.

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

(1922-1999), a nurse and inventor who invented closed-circuit television security system. She and her husband filed a patent for their closed-circuit television security system in 1966, and it was approved on December 2, 1969.(1922-1999).
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#blackhistorymonth #blackexcellence

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

Henry patented his invention for storing and preserving documents and valuables in 1886. Brown’s invention was, later on, improved to evolve into what is known today as a strongbox.
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#blackhistorymonth #blackexcellence #strongbox

[Black Business Empowerment Commission @BBECommission]

(born 1942) She invented a device that refined laser cataract surgery, called the Laserphaco Probe. She patented the invention in 1988, and today she’s recognized as the first female African American doctor to receive a medical patent.
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#blackhistorymonth #blackexcellence