BUSINESS MATTERS

Liberian-born businessman Richelieu Dennis, founder of Essence Ventures, recently purchased Essence Communications from Time Inc. for an undisclosed amount. The sale included Essence magazine and the Annual Essence Festivals, held in New Orleans since 1995 and in South Africa since 2016. Essence magazine was founded in 1970 by Ed Lewis and a team of Black male entrepreneurs. Essence President Michelle Banks joins the Essence Ventures Board, as does a Black female-led executive team who will have equity in the enterprise. Richelieu Dennis launched the successful Shea Moisture brand, a hair and skin care line which he recently sold. He also entered into a business deal with Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre building in Harlem on Fifth Avenue at 125th Street.
Wonder if Mr. Dennis has some surplus funds from his Shea Moisture revenues to buy Johnson Publishing’s iconic brand, Ebony magazine. Johnson Publishing magazines were sold to Michael Gibson’s Black-owned private equity company CLEARVIEW, which had no publishing background. I have not seen an Ebony hard copy in months. What passes as news from the site is salacious celebrity gossip, disseminated about twice a week. Ebony has been reduced to a blog!
Register for the free NY State MWBE workshop on January 25th from 9:30 am to 11:30 am at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building, located at 163 West 125th Street, Harlem, 2nd Floor Art Gallery. Registration necessary. [Contact Harlem CDC at 212.961.4100 or harlemcdc@esd.ny.gov]

Brenda Brunson’s Tribal Truths fashion emporium in Brooklyn closed on January 14. A fashion designer and stylist, Brunson is a household name in New York’s women’s fashion circles, couture and rtw, for those disposed to drama, lyricism, Afrocentricity or all of the above. A Brunson design is its own statement. It is wearable art. Tribal Truths was housed at 117 So. Oxford Street. We all wait with baited breath for Brunson’s next chapter or sequel to Tribal Truths.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
FORBES magazine just published its list of 23 African billionaires. Nigerian cement and commodities businessman Aliko Dangote tops the list for the seventh consecutive year with a net worth of $12.2 billion. Other Black African billionaires in the Forbes firmament include Zimbabwe’s Strive Masiyiwa, Econonet; Angolan Isabel Dos Santos and Nigerian Folorunsho Alakija. Like their American counterparts, their net worth is guestimated by Forbes.
HAITI celebrated its 214th Independence Day on January 1, 2018. The enslaved Africans in Haiti emancipated themselves and declared independence from Napolean’s France, which boasted one of Europe’s most formidable armies. The African Haitians were the only New World Blacks who snatched their freedom. Therein lies its problem to this day. Wonder if Trump remembers Haiti’s last legitimate democratic election when Jean-Bertrand Aristide became president. What happened? The US, France and Canada removed him from office and relocated him to the Central African Republic. A screenwriter could not conjure up a scenario like that. A superpower act like that threatens political stability. Then came the 2010 earthquake with recovery pledges and commitments just north of $5 billion. Where did the money disappear to? Certainly not to Haiti’s treasury. P.S.– Who is collecting the Haitian gold mine revenue?
HEALTH WATCH
CEMOTAP (Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People) hosts a FORUM, “African Guide for Physical, Mental and Spiritual Health”, featuring scholars/healers Dr. James McIntosh, MD; Dr. Arthur Lewis and Professor James Small on Saturday, January 27 at 2 pm at the CEMOTAP Center, located at 135-05 Rockaway Boulevard, South Ozone Park, Queens 11420. Free admission, registration required, call 347.907.0629.
A Harlem-based management consultant, Victoria can be reached at Victoria.horsford@gmail.com.