August was Nationwide Black Enterprise Month, throughout which we aimed to focus on Black-owned tech platforms. However you do not want a selected month to assist and admire Black-owned apps. And proper now could be as excellent a time as any to do exactly that. Our lives are made just a little simpler with the help of cellular apps that assist us handle day-to-day duties, store, discover love or uncover the newest occasions in any metropolis. The founders of the businesses beneath gleaned inspiration from their very own experiences and needed to create digital instruments that assist wellness, monetary literacy, good occasions and extra.
Whilst you can tap Google or another search engine to seek out minority-owned companies, we’re highlighting six apps from Black creators that can be utilized year-round.
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SoLo Funds is a peer-to-peer lending platform that permits members to mortgage or borrow cash from $20 to $575. Based by Travis Holoway and Rodney Williams, the app launched in 2018 and has since surpassed 900,000 customers and $160 million in transactions.
People can finance or repay loans at their discretion, and are verified earlier than turning into members. Customers should have energetic financial institution accounts to take part as debtors or lenders, and the platform makes use of a scoring system to assist decide a borrower’s potential to pay again a mortgage. Obtain for iOS or Android.
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SoloFunds
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Created by Katara McCarty, Exhale was designed as an emotional wellness app with Black, Indigenous and girls of shade in thoughts. Its content material is supposed to offer a relaxing, protected house for ladies dealing with stress, grief, microaggressions and different adverse emotions.
The app options an exquisite format with respiration workouts, meditations, guided visualizations and recorded talks to assist increase your spirits. Click on on a class to stream a meditation for compassion, study a field respiration method and extra. Customers also can obtain push notifications for affirmations. Exhale will be downloaded on iOS and Android gadgets without spending a dime with out advert interruptions.
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Exhale/Screenshot by Kourtnee Jackson
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Want a farmers market locator? Scroll by means of Soko’s listings of 1000’s of markets and particular person distributors in cities throughout the US. The app permits you to seek for farmers markets inside a 20, 50 or 100-mile radius primarily based in your present location, dwelling deal with or metropolis of your alternative. You can even seek for distributors by title. Customers can store forward of time by inserting preorders from distributors of their space, and arrange digital funds, together with SNAP advantages.
Soko was created by the identical developer group behind Ujama, a social media community based by Hugh Molotsi that connects locals by means of friendships, meetups and presents a market. Soko is free to obtain on Android and iOS gadgets.
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Soko/Screenshot by Kourtnee Jackson
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Foodies seeking to uncover Black-owned eating places ought to obtain EatOkra, a listing that options quite a lot of cuisines together with vegan, Caribbean and breakfast spots. Launched by Brooklynites Anthony and Janique Edwards, the app consists of eating places, meals vehicles and meals manufacturers in communities across the nation.
Kind in a metropolis or use the app’s location characteristic to seek out the place to eat in your space. EatOkra additionally permits you to click on on a meals class to take a look at the listings or make suggestions so as to add native eateries and bars. You may additionally see a restaurant’s hours of operation and a market to purchase objects like bottled sauces or cookies. Obtain on Android on iOS gadgets.
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EatOkra/Screenshot by Kourtnee Jackson
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Launched by Evan Leaphart, the Kiddie Kredit app teaches youngsters about credit score and sensible monetary habits. The app is aimed toward 4 to 12-year-olds and tracks chores, permitting youngsters to earn factors for duties they full comparable to homework, mowing the garden or cleansing their rooms. The purpose system makes use of a scale of 1-100 and features like a FICO credit score rating. Dad and mom can choose to reward their youngsters with cash or one other incentive. Households can obtain the app without spending a dime on iOS and Android gadgets.
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Kiddie Kredit
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Melanin on the Map is a journey app geared towards individuals of shade that boasts a worldwide group of greater than 45,000 journey lovers. Based by Ashley McDonough, it serves as an data hub the place you’ll find offers, vacation spot schooling (and inspiration), journey ideas and journey alternatives for these looking for to earn some earnings.
The app can be a social community the place customers can join with journey brokers or trip buddies who wish to discover new adventures. In 2021, Melanin on the Map launched its Journey Bae and Journey Bestie characteristic, which is designed to match customers with potential love pursuits or mates. On the time of this writing, the app is out there for Android.
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Melanin on the Map
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Correction, Feb. 24: A earlier model of this text misstated what number of customers SoLo Funds has. It has 900,000 customers.
