New pop-up market boosts Madison-area businesses owned by people of color
"I felt like it's a great opportunity to get more exposure, as that's what we're looking for," said vendor Nathaniel Sackey, who owns Holisac's Taste of Africa. The Urban League of Greater Madison's inaugural summer Pop-up Market aims to boost Madison-area businesses owned by people of color. The market, held at the newly constructed Black Business Hub, features local vendors selling food, artwork, handmade crafts and skincare products. About 90 vendors have already signed up for spots at the market, and the list continues to grow. The event aims to support local businesses that need more exposure and support from the public and organizations like the Urban League. Shanigel Goodwan, who owns Goodwan's Goodies in Monona, hopes the event will help her business develop and develop.
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Nathaniel Sackey likes to think of the food he sells as summer-friendly walking food — meals a person can fully enjoy while still on the go.
Sackey and his wife run the Ghanaian restaurant Holisac’s Taste of Africa on Main Street in Sun Prairie.
But for the Urban League of Greater Madison’s inaugural summer Pop-up Market, he’s adapted his menu to include kebabs, roasted plantains and other more “handy” items visitors eat while they weave between vendors’ tables at the market, held at the newly constructed Black Business Hub, 2352 S. Park St.
“It was just going to be rice-y things: yellow rice, white rice, fried rice. But that’s something, when you buy, you really have to sit calmly and spend time to eat,” Sackey said. “We wanted to do some more handy food so that you can even be working and eating.”
On Tuesday, the Black Business Hub hosted the first day of its Pop-up Market, designed to bring exposure to local business owners and vendors of color. The mixed indoor and outdoor market will be open from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 26, and it will feature local vendors selling food, artwork, handmade crafts and skincare products.
Magugu Davis, director of the Black Business Hub, said the market features a mixture of startups and more established small businesses, both of which need more exposure and support from the public as well as organizations such as the Urban League.
About 90 vendors already have signed up for spots at the market over the course of the summer, and the list continues to grow, Davis said. Applications to book one of the 40 available spots each day will remain open through the event.
“The more we get more people interested, more people knowing what’s happening, the more we assist them in being able to be economically viable and also to be prosperous,” she said.
The Pop-up Market also allows the Black Business Hub to build relationships with vendors and connect them to other resources that focus on promoting entrepreneurs of color, such as the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce and the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, Davis said. This follows from the Black Business Hub’s goal of supporting and building up Black and other business owners of color.
Shanigel Goodwan has owned Goodwan’s Goodies in Monona, a bakery that specializes in made-from-scratch cupcakes, cookies and puddings, since 2019. She runs it entirely on her own, except for when family members help out for big events.
In addition to her lifelong love for baking, Goodwan said she wanted the bakery to be a financial support for her family, particularly her son.
“I want to be able to give him generational wealth,” she said.
When Goodwan put out notices on her social media that she would be at the market on Tuesday, many of the customers showed up in support, she said. She said she’s looking forward to seeing new visitors find her bakery for the first time.
“The more people that are able to see, the more business I will have,” she said.
Just last week, Holisac’s Taste of Africa celebrated its first birthday, Sackey said. Wanting to get the word out about the restaurant, he registered for the Tuesday and Friday markets, in the hopes of finding new customers and getting involved with the Black Business Hub’s resource network.
“I’m very busy, but I make time for very important things, and I felt like it’s a great opportunity to get more exposure, as that’s what we’re looking for,” he said.
Davis is planning to continue the market every summer if the first year goes well. She considers the market a success when its vendors see their businesses grow as a result of the exposure and connections the market helped them develop.
“If a vendor is still new, maybe within a year, I see they are having better products, I see that maybe they have a permanent storefront or something like that — to me, that will be amazing,” she said.
“The ones that are already established, if I start seeing them talking to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation talking about exports, man, that’s what’d really make me see that we did a good job with this pop-up.”
주제: Racial Injustice, Social Issues