What to know
- Melanin Market is spotlighting Black-owned businesses, artists and creatives at Sankofa Square.
- Founder Kadija Hamidu says the market was created to give Black entrepreneurs more opportunities to showcase their work.
- The Aug. 14 summer finale will feature vendors, live performances, food, fitness and wellness programming.
- The market has grown beyond Toronto, with programming in cities including Hamilton and Montreal.
- Melanin Market also runs year-round community programming, including its free Melanin Mermaids swimming program for Black women.
A market returning to Sankofa Square this Friday is spotlighting Black entrepreneurs, artists, performers and creatives.
For Kadija Hamidu, her Melanin Market series is about more than shopping; it’s about creating space where Black business owners can both showcase their work and see themselves reflected in the culture around them.
“Melanin Market is really where the culture lives,” Hamidu, the organization’s founder and executive director, tells Now Toronto.
“It’s an immersive community experience where we’re able to build around supporting local Black and POC entrepreneurs, artists, performances and creatives.”
Since launching in 2021, Melanin Market has grown into a platform for Black-owned businesses and artists, with markets and community programming designed to connect entrepreneurs with new audiences while celebrating Black culture.
This summer, that work has taken on a prominent downtown stage.
Melanin Market x Sankofa Square
Melanin Market has been taking over Sankofa Square, located at Yonge and Dundas streets, for a series of summer markets, curating a collection of Black-owned businesses, fashion, art, food, music and live performances right in the heart of downtown Toronto.
The final market of the summer is set for Friday, Aug. 14, running from 3 to 9 p.m., with Hamidu promising a grand finale that brings together many of the elements featured throughout the summer. This includes live music, local artists, food vendors and a focus on health and wellness, including yoga and fitness programming. Hamidu explains that the goal is to create a space where people can come together, support local businesses and enjoy an immersive cultural experience.
But creating opportunities for Black entrepreneurs remains at the centre of the project. According to Business Development Bank of Canada, Black Canadians continue to be underrepresented in entrepreneurship, with just 1.3 per cent of Black adults identifying as entrepreneurs compared with 2.3 per cent of Canadian adults overall.
For Hamidu, the lack of opportunities to showcase Black-owned businesses was one of the reasons she created Melanin Market in the first place.
“There aren’t a lot of opportunities for Black entrepreneurs to be showcased,” she says. “I see so many markets and so many festivals happening, but we wanted to create something that was specifically for us, specifically for our culture.”
That means the experience is designed with Black entrepreneurs at the forefront.
“When somebody’s entering a space, they’re hearing our music, they’re hearing our fashion, they’re seeing it, they’re experiencing it,” Hamidu says.
While Melanin Market welcomes everyone, Hamidu says its priority is to ensure Black entrepreneurs have access to the vendor opportunities the organization creates. The market also goes beyond traditional vendor stalls. Alongside entrepreneurs, visitors can encounter live art, performances and other forms of entertainment, creating what Hamidu describes as an immersive experience.
That approach reflects the origins of the market.
Melanin Market, est. 2021
Hamidu explains that the concept for Melanin Market was born in 2021, inspired by the political era that saw conversations focusing on anti-Black racism and representation taking on renewed urgency following the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the global Black Lives Matter movement.
The Toronto mother wanted to create a platform that celebrated Black entrepreneurs, but quickly realized the vision needed to be bigger than business alone.
“It was really about Black culture and creating it around artistry, music and local businesses,” she explains.
The result brings together elements of African, Caribbean and broader Black culture under one roof, while inviting people from outside the Black community to participate.
“We wanted to bring all of those components of our culture in one space,” Hamidu says, explaining that this community focus has helped Melanin Market grow beyond Toronto. While continuing to grow its presence in Toronto, the market series has also popped up in Montreal and Hamilton.
And the Sankofa Square partnership has become an important part of that growth.
This year marks the second year Melanin Market has held its summer markets at the downtown square, with Hamidu describing the partnership as something she hopes will become long-lasting.
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“We are super happy to be one of the hot new festivals coming into the Toronto space,” she says.
“We are part of this culture, born and raised in Toronto, and we want to continue growing that.”
Melanin Market after the summer
But Melanin Market’s work doesn’t stop when the summer markets end. The organization runs programming throughout the year, including indoor community-based markets in the GTA and as far as Montreal, as well as its program offering free swimming lessons for Black women, Melanin Mermaids.
For Hamidu, that year-round approach is important because the market has become something larger than the event she initially imagined.
“I started Melanin Market because I saw how much talent existed in our city, in our communities, and how few spaces there were to showcase it,” she says.
What began as an effort to create those spaces has since become something she believes belongs to the community itself.
“What’s grown from that is something that now belongs to the community, whether it’s through vendors, attendees, performances, all of it,” she says.
Ultimately, Hamidu wants people to leave Melanin Market feeling connected, not simply having browsed a collection of stalls.
“I imagined a market where the shopping and the music and the food and the people are all feeling connected to one another,” she says. “It’s not just about browsing, it’s not just about the shopping experience: It’s really about the community coming together.”
And with Melanin Market continuing to expand its programming across the city and beyond, Hamidu says Toronto has only seen the beginning.
“Stay tuned for some really cool stuff coming up from the Melanin Market.”
