Sell Black is En2action's 14 week digital/e-commerce program for Black entrepreneurs and small business owners in San Francisco. The program includes 6 weeks of virtual workshops and 7 weeks of working with creative experts to design or optimize each participant's e-commerce website to advance digital competitiveness and increase business.

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Local Impact

Access to customized competitive websites through Sell Black has helped level the playing field for local Black entrepreneurs over the past three years in dozens of industries including finance, fashion, food services, music, health and wellness, moving, art, and more!

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One of our flagship programs, Sell Black has been instrumental in fostering the growth of Black-owned businesses in San Francisco. Through Sell Black, we've assisted over 120 Black-owned businesses since 2021, helping them with rebranding, website development, e-commerce, and overall business development. During the 2021-2022 cycle, 76.5% of our program participants were women-owned businesses, and the 2022-2023 cycle saw 61.5% of participants being women-owned businesses. 

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Why this is Important?

For centuries, Black entrepreneurs have faced racist institutional and structural barriers to accessing capital and building wealth, including limited access to loans and investment. The resulting racial wealth gap persists today, and many Black entrepreneurs start businesses with less capital and business expertise than their white counterparts. One way this manifests is small businesses “boot strapping” their business, with insufficient capital to invest in competitive marketing strategies or website development.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the critical need for small businesses to operate competitively in a digital marketing environment, as consumer buying habits and patterns shifted to an almost-exclusively online economy. The financial impact of the “digital divide” already experienced by Black-owned business owners was exacerbated by COVID-19, with a high percentage of Black-owned businesses having shut down during that period.