11 Black Child Entrepreneurs You Should Know

Umar Brimah

At the age of 12, Umar Brimah, now 18, started his very own anime store called Yumazu (his name in Japanese). He opened the new shop in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Turning his hobby into a business, his mother put up $ 10,000 as an investment opening. Considering the Internet is one of the only places you can find anime, some products can end up costing twice the price, plus shipping charges, as reported by the Black Money Watch website.

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Chental-Song Bembry

Chental-Song Bembry is the 17-year-old writer and illustrator behind The Honey Bunch Kids. Her mother helps her daughter run the literary business out of their home in Monmouth Junction, N.J.  Ultimately, the duo hope to “launch a dominant brand that would include the images of [Bembry’s] characters being sold on personal items, from bed sheets to book bags,” according to the Black Enterprise website.

She was named youth ambassador for two literacy organizations, LiteracyNation and Mission EduCare. In 2011, she was brought into the funding-and-mentoring program of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, the nonprofit foundation that offers $10,000 in startup grants and eight weeks of mentoring to talented young businesspeople nationwide.

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Leanna Archer

Leanna Archer was just 9 years old she began using her Haitian great-grandmother’s recipe to sell homemade hair care products, as reported by NPR.org. Today, at age 18, she’s the CEO of a six-figure business. She handles more than 350 online orders a week and generates more than $100,000 in revenue every year. She has also founded the Leanna Archer Education Foundation for underprivileged children in Haiti.

18 Black Child Prodigies Mainstream Media Doesn’t Talk About

 

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Andrew Koonce

Andrew Koonce, 15,  is a talented African-American violinist from Atlanta. His list of awards and titles are impressive. As an eighth grader, he ranked first place at the Heritage Music Festival in Florida, winning the Maestro Award for best solo.

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Rochelle Ballantyne

At 17, Rochelle Ballantyne is one of the top chess players in the world. This Brooklyn, N.Y., native  is a high school senior now, but her name is still at the top of Intermediate School 318’s list of best players. She is on the verge of becoming the first black American female to earn the title of chess master.

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Stephen R. Stafford II

While most of his peers slog through seventh grade, Stephen Stafford, 13, earns credits toward his pre-med, computer science and mathematics degrees at Morehouse College in Atlanta. The wide-smiling, fast-talking, classical piano-playing Lithonia, Ga., resident has been labeled a “prodigy” (a term he doesn’t really like).