- Cosmetics brand Juvia’s Place, started by Black entrepreneur with $2,000 in capital, announces six $50,000 grants to Black-owned businesses
- Company says Black entrepreneurs are often vulnerable to “debt traps” when starting a business
- Deadline to apply is Aug. 31
Juvia’s Place, a cosmetics company started in 2015 by Black entrepreneur Chichi Eburu, is offering $300,000 in grants to other Black-owned businesses. Eburu says the initiative is meant to address the fact that these companies are more likely to rely on financing sources with high interest rates, creating “debt traps” that can quickly doom the business.
Six grants of $50,000 each will be awarded. The grants are open to business owners who identify as Black or African-American, had 2019 gross revenues between $1,000 and $250,000, are U.S. citizens or legal residents of the United States, and own a company with business operations headquartered in the U.S. The deadline to apply is Aug. 31.
Eburu started Juvia’s Place with $2,000 in capital and says the grants aim to expand opportunities for Black-owned businesses in the U.S. The grants come at a time when these companies have been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a New York Federal Reserve report finding that 41 percent of Black business owners have closed up shop in the past year.
