E-Commerce is the Future of Black Business with Akanundrum

Written by Margaret White

Alquincia, you might know her as Akanundrum, and the Black Virtual Mall are working towards leveling the playing field for black-owned businesses. As the first virtual commercial property developer, Akanundrum has put together the mall experience in virtual form. At the Black Virtual Mall, you will not only find black-owned shops, but a functional food court that will deliver food to you and even a movie theater to watch movies. Virtual commercial property does not stop at the Black Virtual Mall, Akanundrum has plans to develop virtual spaces that provide all kinds of services.

“Covid is not a change agent; Covid is an accelerant.” The retail apocalypse, the closing down of brick and mortar shopping centers was not caused by Covid– it was already happening–but Covid did speed up the process. And with the Pandemic and people staying home, people want the convenience of not leaving their homes. With e-commerce and all of these delivery apps, people no longer have to go out and buy their groceries.

But even with the convenience of having groceries delivered and buying things with just a swipe of a finger, is that digital enough?

“Los Angeles and Long Beach make up a third of the United States imports. There was a record breaking 44 boats, those big vessels with all those cargo containers on them…there’s this bottle neck, there’s this backlog, there’s this congestion.” Akanundrum informed me as we spoke about the need to monetize digital products and services. Since the pandemic, Los Angeles and Long Beach ports have been backed up, the highest number being 73 ships waiting to port in mid-September.

As a business owner, when selling a physical product, there are plenty of things that can get in between a sale. With outside issues like the backlog of ships at the ports preventing a business from receiving their products, Akanundrum emphasizes the importance of finding ways to monetize your product and skills digitally. “100% of my money is digital.” Akanundrum shares that she even makes money in her sleep. This money comes from many different digital sources including subscription fees for her apps and online courses and even rent payments from the Virtual Black Mall.

“Black businesses must leverage e-commerce.” The traditional marketplace is redlined in a way. There are barriers for black people to overcome in terms of financial credit, legality , and just the knowledge you must know for setting up a shop. But with things like Shopify, you can set up your shop online within a day. E-commerce is revolutionizing black businesses. “[It] is our opportunity to get into the fray in ways we never could.”