BOM YEG spotlights Black businesses with e-marketplace

In a year that has seen renewed conversation around Black issues globally, Black-Owned Market YEG is highlighting Black businesses, creatives, and entrepreneurs right here in Edmonton.

Black-Owned Market YEG — also known as BOM YEG — was originally organized as the sister market to Calgary’s Black-Owned Market YYC. Black-Owned Market YEG launched this past July with an outdoor market at Habesha African Market, and in September the BOM YEG team collaborated with 124 Grand Market on a downtown pop-up. Fresh off the back of those successes, Black-Owned Market YEG is returning just in time for the holidays with an e-marketplace running from November 27 to 30 at shop.bomyeg.ca.

Featuring everything from skincare brands like Rêve Naturals to local artists and calligraphers, Black-Owned Market YEG is highlighting Edmonton’s Black businesses, large and small. BOM YEG Admin-Ops Manager Rochelle Ignacio hopes that the increased exposure helps alleviate some of the systemic inequities faced by Black entrepreneurs, as well as provides them with meaningful community contacts.

“I think that [Black businesses and entrepreneurs] have lacked access to funding,” Ignacio said.  “We’re just helping lift them up and talk about the products and services that they have, as well as curating business resources that will be available to them so that they can continue to grow their businesses and ventures.”

Although July’s socially-distanced Black-Owned Market YEG saw over 1,000 attendees and lines stretching around the block, this weekend’s market was moved online to comply with the provincial government’s recently announced COVID-19 restrictions. Shoppers will still have an abundance of options though, with the e-marketplace including dozens of different retailers, service providers, non-profits, and community organizations, as well as a vendor livestream on Nov. 28.

“We go through everything and look at [the] categories so that we can have a variety of vendors within our market, and then we try to balance having established brands as well as emerging entrepreneurs,” Ignacio said. “We try to take a lot into consideration. It’s not just how many followers does someone have, but what’s the quality of their product?”

If a vendor has managed to make it through the BOM YEG team’s rigorous selection process, then the answer to that question is most likely very good. 

Despite the market being a platform specifically for Black-owned businesses, Ignacio is hoping that it can attract Edmontonians from all walks of life.

“We want to attract Black people to support the Black vendors, but we also want the local Edmonton community to see all these new businesses that they can support,” Ignacio said. “It’s not a market that is just targeted at Black consumers. We really want to create an open safe-space for everybody.”

Black-Owned Market YEG also won’t be operating alone this weekend. Afrodisiac Naturals will be hosting their own virtual market on Sunday, Nov. 29.

“We’re having a ‘Buy Black Weekend’,” Ignacio said. “We’re really excited that we’re having this weekend-long affair and we’re able to support as many Black-owned businesses as we can, because [Afrodisiac] will be able to feature business that we aren’t necessarily able to.”

All in all, the BOM YEG team is hoping that the market can be an opportunity for Edmontonians to show up and show out for the city’s Black business community, even if it has to be done virtually.

“We just hope that everyone participates in the way that they feel most comfortable,” Ignacio said. “We appreciate that support.”

Black-Owned Market YEG’s holiday market can be found at shop.bomyeg.ca.