Rural Black Nova Scotia businesses vending at Halifax airport during African Heritage Month
The Black Business Initiative (BBI) has a busy schedule of events and activities planned in Nova Scotia for African Heritage Month.
The BBI is committed to growing a successful Black business community in Canada, by helping current and aspiring Black entrepreneurs achieve their business goals through a range of programs and services.
Amber Grosse has been with the BBI team for many years. She says the initiative is Pan-Atlantic – operating in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
"BBI was always there specifically for the African Nova Scotian communities, where the long historical systemic racism with getting loans and things like that from banks, and BBI was able to fill that void and that need, and I think it worked clearly because now we're in Atlantic provinces," said Grosse.
On Monday, the BBI, in partnership with the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University's, is holding an event at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, called the "Dynamic Rural Business Series."
The event celebrates and highlights rural Black business owners across Nova Scotia.
"We'll have entrepreneurs that are in the cooking field, IT, as well as photography, right down to Yarmouth and all the way up to Cape Breton, so it's going to be an awesome event," said Grosse.
Grosse says the airport was chosen due to its interest in the initiative.
"And the other cool thing is for the rest of the month of February, the airport is actually having Black businesses as vendors... every Monday and Friday," she said.
According to Grosse, vendors will be posted from arrivals to the departures area.
She says a list of vendors will be updated on the BBI's social media and website.
Grosse's own event planning business, "Evolving Embers," will also be part of the initiative taking part at the airport.
"I like to consider myself an incubator and community connector. That's one of my personal values," she said. "And any job or occupation that I've done has always kind of aligned with that."
Grosse says she thinks her community plays a big role in her passion towards the cause.
"I'm from the Preston townships, specifically from East Preston, N.S., my dad being the executive director at the Black Cultural Centre... It was instilled in me and the importance of family and the importance of preserving our history, and the importance of, we can be in business for ourselves, out of a necessity and now, folks are seeing, 'OK. Businesses are where to go,'" she said.
"And it's also in light of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter, a lot more folks are looking to buy local, buy Black, especially this month."
More information on the BBI can be found online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.