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This app highlights Black-owned Toronto businesses

As worldwide protests have turned anti-racism work inwards, there’s been a recent movement to support Black-owned businesses in Toronto.

New resources like the @blackowned.to Instagram account and the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce are taking off, while books are flying off the shelves of Black-owned bookstores like A Different Book List. Now there’s an app, too.

Black Toronto Business Directory is available on Apple and Android phones and lets users look up Black-owned businesses in and around the GTA.

“I have always been a strong advocate for a healthy and self-sufficient Black community in the GTA,” says Andre Kanu, CEO of the tech company Mobile Intelligence, which launched the app. “A thriving Black business environment is essential to our growth as a community. Recent tragic events and subsequent anti-racism protests made it all the more clear that the Toronto Black community needs a central platform where anyone can go, search and find Black businesses.”

The best way to do this, he says, is via an app. The directory is still in its infancy with about 50 businesses listed so far, but he hopes to build it up quickly. It’s currently free for any business to add a listing, and Kanu says it takes about 48 hours to verify all the info is accurate before he adds a business to the appropriate category. 

“I am committed to helping Black businesses not only survive but prosper,” Kanu says. “Because they are the backbone of the community.”

Download the app for free here (mobile only link).

@trapunski

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