By Frances Murphy “Toni” Draper
AFROC Managing Director and Editor
I have been an entrepreneur for most of my life. My foray into the business world did not begin when I was elected president of the AFRO-American Newspaper in the mid-1980s. In fact, my entrepreneurial career began at the ripe old age of nine when I passionately sold most of the Girl Scout cookies in my troop. With the help of my brother Jimmy, it continued as we built a robust AFROC I was 12 years old and delivering newspapers in our Hanlon Park neighborhood. We were real partners – he would drop the papers on the porch and I would collect the money. Of course, we would count each week together, put aside the cost of the newspapers and split the profits. It was a lucrative business for a brother and sister who were not yet teenagers. Eventually we “outgrew” our newspaper delivery business, but my interest in the business never waned.
When I was in high school, my cousin Betty, her neighbor Adrian, and I decided to join Junior Achievement (JA). I don’t remember how we found out about Junior Achievement, but there we were, three black teenagers from Bentalou Street in West Baltimore, driving nearly five miles to Harford Road in Northeast Baltimore every week on a Tuesday night to learn about business and entrepreneurship. I still remember our first JA meeting, when the three of us walked into the room. You could have heard a pin drop. We were the only black students there and didn’t know whether to sit on the hard wooden chairs or run as fast as we could back to Adrian’s worn-out station wagon. This was Harford Road in the mid-1960s, after all. We decided to stay, and remained active JA participants for two or three years.
To our great joy and surprise, we were warmly welcomed into the group. Most of the other youth were friendly and the adult leaders encouraged us to participate fully. We learned about money management, banking and credit, investing, starting a business, branding and marketing. Most importantly, we were encouraged to think creatively and come up with new ideas. But it wasn’t just classroom instruction. Each of us had to develop a business plan for a new product or service. I don’t remember what Betty or Adrian came up with, but I decided to make name bracelets – taking individual letters, stringing them together to form a name and then selling them. We also learned about principled leadership and business ethics – and we were only 16!
While we were expanding our understanding of the world of business, the mentors at Junior Achievement also hosted a speaking contest that was a highlight for me. Now, some may wonder what this had to do with business, but for me it was a transformative experience. I had entered a speaking contest in junior high school (yes, it was called junior high), but for the most part I shied away from the spotlight of public speaking. But here I was, all the way in Northeast Baltimore, learning about entrepreneurship, sales, and public speaking. Each of us had to talk about our product, pricing strategy, revenue, customer base, and how we planned to make a profit. We had five to seven minutes to convince the “audience” that our product was the best.
My fellow Junior Achievers had all kinds of interesting and innovative products, and I had name bracelets that—to me—paled in comparison. Well, I thought, if my grandfather could “sell ice cream to an Eskimo,” as he claimed, then surely I could sell beautiful, unique, inexpensive, and colorful name bracelets to my fellow Junior Achievers. And I sold! In exactly six and a half minutes, I made bracelets sound like the best invention since sliced bread. I won the contest, which earned me a trip to the regional contest. While I didn’t win the regional contest, I learned a valuable lesson about business: When you have a good product or service that fulfills a perceived want or need, it is crucial to present yourself and your company with confidence. So not only did I win the contest, but nearly every person in the room bought bracelets.
Like many organizations founded in the early 20th century, JA was not always diverse, especially in its early years. Initially, the organization catered primarily to white youth, reflecting the broader social and racial dynamics of the time. The integration of black teens into Junior Achievement’s programs occurred gradually, largely in response to the civil rights movement and changing societal norms in the United States. The inclusion of black teens in Junior Achievement took more significant shape in the 1960s and 1970s, as the organization sought to become more inclusive and reflect the diverse communities it served. JA helped me develop my love of business and understand the power of entrepreneurship.
As James Bridgforth notes on page A4 of this issue, “The economic power of African Americans is often overlooked or underestimated, and overshadowed by persistent inequalities and historical injustices. But to truly understand the impact and potential of this economic power, one must recognize its depth and breadth across sectors – from entrepreneurship and consumer spending to labor force participation and investment.”
As we mark National Black Business Month this August, we want to continue to highlight the contributions of Black-owned businesses to the economy and our role in advancing equity and diversity.
