Aurora James, founder of 15 Percent Pledge.

Corporations are often valued by the market based on whats called forward-looking statements whether its a new product or service, or a projection of elements of their business that will grow. This year, many of those statements included the language of racial justice and anti-racism, acknowledging the dire need for companies to do better when it comes to supporting the Black owned-and-operated economy, following a summer of mass visibility to the horrors of police brutality.

For some companies, like Paypal, putting their words into action looked like committing $530m to Black business support, in the form of direct grants and investments through community banks and credit unions. For other companies well, 2021 will evaluate who really meant their commitments and who were just trying out a new marketing strategy.

The skepticism about actual structures of accountability and transparency in business practices resonated with fashion designer and entrepreneur Aurora James. Thus she took matters into her own hands, and the 15 Percent Pledge was born.

The 15 Percent Pledge urges major retailers to commit at least 15% of their shelf-space to Black-owned businesses (in alignment with the size of the Black population in the US), offering consulting services to help these corporations reach that goal. As of this writing, pledgees include some brands you may already know and love: like Sephora, West Elm, Yelp, Madewell, Vogue, Macys, Rent the Runway, and Bloomingdales. As a result of her efficient and smart advocacy for financial inclusion, James was named one of this years Bloomberg 50 an annual list of innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders who have changed the global business landscape over the past year.

At my investment firm Candide Group, this year we took stock of the companies and funds that weve directed capital to, and found the majority of them were BIPOC and/or women led (with about 18% being Black-led). While theres always more work to do in deepening our alignment with racial justice, this outcome has been the result of just seeking out who we believe to be the best people for the job vs any specific commitment we made. However, we recognize that were an anomaly in the business world, and that many companies need an explicit commitment to hold them accountable to Black communities. I (virtually) sat down with James to talk about this, the importance of financial activism, and what investors need to know as we continue building a more just and sustainable economy.

Before we talk about how youve been driving capital into the Black business ecosystem, I want to touch on what brought you here namely, your own experience as the founder and owner of a small business. For entrepreneurs, we know that access to capital is often a recurring hurdle. Whats your money story when it comes to Brother Vellies?

James: I believe that historically, Black women have had to work twice as hard to get half as many opportunities. After launching Brother Vellies with just $3,500 of my own money, I never took outside investment. My brand has been completely self funded, which makes me very lucky and extremely rare. This year specifically has been tougher than others due to the pandemic, but it has for every business owner. I wasnt awarded anything from the first round of the PPP assistance money which meant that I had to get creative to ensure that my business would survive. We didnt want our community to have to think about buying luxury shoes and handbags to support a small business, so we launched a new section of the site called the Bodega that lists all items that cost less than $100. We also launched a subscription service called Something Special, where for $35 every month, our community members received something that we felt could bring comfort and joy at a time when there wasnt much to look forward to. This allowed us to continue working with our artisans around the globe, as well as allowed me to keep my employees and my business.

How did the idea for the 15 Percent Pledge come about? And why choose to focus on consumerism as your tool for social change?

Right after the tragic killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, we saw a lot of brands and influencers from across industries posting messages of solidarity, but not actually changing anything about their business. And at the end of May, I was on the phone with a friend talking about this as well as the struggles Black owned businesses are having during the pandemic. Statistics have shown that Black-owned businesses have been hurting more than any other racial group during the pandemic; at least 40 percent of Black businesses will not survive. As a business owner, and a Black person, I was especially torn up by this information and it inspired me to launch the 15 Percent Pledge. The Pledge urges major retailers to allocate 15 percent of their purchasing power to Black-owned businesses. Originally, I called out four retailers Target, Whole Foods, Shopbob, and Sephora. Sephora was the first major retailer to take the Pledge, but if all four had committed, we could have collectively put $15.5 billion dollars back into the Black community. Black people traditionally spend money within their own communities, but right now, with the rate of Black owned businesses shutting down or struggling to survive, the money leaves the community faster. We need to support these businesses, we need to close that financial inequality gap.

The instagram page obviously was and continues to be a huge public facing element of the campaign strategy. What was going on behind the scenes as you learned corporate partners were interested in signing on? How has the onboarding of these companies been?

The goal from day one was to partner with corporate retailers. We were thrilled when Sephora stepped up to become the first major retailer to commit to the Pledge. Their early leadership paved the way for retailers like MedMen, West Elm, and Macys Inc. M to follow. The onboarding process for each retailer or corporation is a bit different as their goals and strategies also vary. We make each process personal and then we work with them on their accountability and commitment to set a strategy with clear and attainable goals. We work together in the mission to put billions of dollars back into the Black community.

"Black culture is no longer available for free consumption."

The 15 Percent Pledge recently became a full fledged non-profit, complete with the exciting recent announcement of LaToya Williams-Belfort, a champion in the realm of racial justice, as the Executive Director. Why did you decide to codify this work into a 501c3 entity? For activists who may be working on similar campaigns, what would you say is the benefit of forming a registered non-profit?

After seeing countless acts of injustice and police brutality with zero accountability for the systemic inequities in our society and economy that allow racism to flourish in this country, I knew it was time for change. Meaningful DEI efforts and accountability from major retailers, corporations and business leaders was long overdue, and I saw a need to help provide companies clear, tangible solutions to drive equity across these industries. We are thrilled to have LaToya join us at The Pledge, and her years-long experience in the nonprofit sector and passion for DEI will be invaluable assets to our team. Forming a nonprofit allows us to build a community an intentional space for people to stay informed and get involved in this movement.

Pledges are of course powerful because of their ability to trigger real accountability. What are currently the main systems of auditing corporate partner supply chains? How do you envision the 15 percent pledge growing to other industries beyond retail and which ones?

The first step in committing to the Pledge is taking stock. We ask each brand to conduct an audit of their current spending power and how that is allocated. We find that if the retailer does its own audit, it will help keep them more accountable. We have already begun working with corporations that are not traditional retailers. For example Vogue Us committed to the Pledge with a goal of increasing its Black freelance talent representation to a benchmark of at least 15 percent of the total hires throughout the year. Talent includes writers, photographers, beauty teams and stylists. When Yelp joined, amongst its goals were to increase the representation of Black-owned businesses within its network through it community events calendar, to increase the share of Black-owned businesses in its network, and to develop its platforms Black-owned business attribute where businesses can self-identify as Black-owned on Yelp if they choose to. There are many ways that corporations can commit to the Pledge and if they want to do the work, we want to help them get there.

Switching gears a little bit, I know youre writing a memoir. Im anticipating youll be giving some of your perspective on the fashion industry, including sustainability. What do you think investors are getting right or wrong about the sustainable fashion industry?

I think we need to focus more on what brands are telling the investors as well as their own customers. The word sustainability has been used so much over the past few years and it has taken on so many different meanings. I feel that to be truly sustainable, we need to think about how we are treating the people we work with, what is going into and out of our supply chain, what is the content were putting out there and are we using that to inspire our community to feel like the best versions of themselves? The biggest shift I have seen in sustainability in my community has been the overall desire to consume less and cherish what you have more - which is definitely the ethos behind Brother Vellies. Its a little counterintuitive to the fashion industry but it's the language of Mother Nature.

Lastly as we approach the new year I have to ask, what are you most looking forward to in 2021?

There are so many things but I think its important that as we start the new year, that we dont go back to business as usual. We need to continue the work that we started in 2020 marching towards equality. I am excited to see what next year brings us.

Thanks to Jasmine Rashid for her contributions to this piece. Full disclosures related to my work available here. This post does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice, and the author is not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided herein.

Read the original:

Aurora James Is Helping Companies Invest In Accountability With The 15 Percent Pledge - Forbes