OPOTX

The Grub Factory, based in Baltimore, Maryland at 1210 North Charles Street, is a Black-owned vegan restaurant. Founded by three entrepreneurs, Hurani Ame, Heru Mertief, and Imhotep Fatiu, the restaurant serves gyros, reubens, pepper steaks, shrimp salads, and curry “chick’n” — all vegan.

Nelwa’s Gelato is inspired by the abundance of fruits and spices in Tanzania. We produce unique flavours such as lavender, baobab and cinnamon. Our products have a lower % of fat than industrial ice cream, the main flavor ingredient shines through (4 to 8% compared to industrial ice cream’s 10 to 20%). We satisfy a growing need for flavourful, Afro-centric, locally sourced, healthy, and delicious gelato that is unlike anything in the market. We are both a B2B and a B2C business, serving whole sale : 5 kg tubs incorporated in hotels and restaurants menu’s and retail : 1kg, 250 grams and popsicle through our outlet.

We have won several entrepreneurship awards; the Tony Elumelu Tanzanian awardee in 2015, the Total Tanzania start-up of the year 2016, the top 50 brands in Tanzania by Tanzania Private Sector foundation and Tanzania Bureau of Standards 2016. We also won the Tanzania Leadership award, entrepreneur of the year 2016 AND the Young Innovator in Agriculture award in 2016 by Iren.

Our name, Neo, means “gift” in Tswana and this encapsulates our view of coffee as a resource that should be shared and cherished. Our fine coffee is grown in Africa, to be consumed by the African consumer.

We aspire to be the brand across Africa that provides a ‘third space’, where customers can escape, meet like-minded dreamers and create great things. Neo is thus less about a cafe chain, but more about building communities around powerful ideas, with strong links to entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation.

We are Cafe Neo; celebrating the return of coffee to its African roots, one cup at a time.

La Gastronomie Pizza is Madagascar’s first ever pizza joint. Now it is also the country’s largest fast food outlet. Owner Chef Mbinina worked hard to build his brand in a country where there are no fast food brands.

Mbina began his interest in food while still in high school. He worked as a dishwasher on weekends and learned how to cook by watching the food channel. He soon realized that pizza was an easy food to make.

His family helped out when he first started. In the beginning, he only had 5 different pizzas on the menu. Now his menu includes 10 different pizzas, plus ice cream. He has expanded his business to 27 outlets, and 700 employees across Madagascar. On weekends, his restaurants can serve up to 50,000 customers.

The menu at La Gastronomie Pizza has also expanded to include hamburgers, french fries, and chicken kebab sandwiches. A Turkish chef came to the restaurant from Turkey to train employees on how to make the kebab sandwiches.

Now, La Gastronomie is the most recognized brand of pizza in Madagascar. Although there is some competition now, they still have the strongest brand. Mbina says his ultimate goal is to expand across Africa.

Edose Ohen, a Nigerian-American entrepreneur from Houston, Texas, has been shaking up the pastry industry ever since he opened Glazed The Doughnut Cafe – the area’s first Black-owned 24 hour donut cafe. He started the business back in 2014, and now he has two locations in the city serving handmade glazed donuts, glazed sandwiches and gourmet coffee.