HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / November 3, 2022 / The Black Owned Business Club on Clubhouse has over 20,000 members, including Mr. Demetrion Ware, President and CEO of KeraVada, and now Founder of the Black Owned Business Club. In this interview, Mr. Ware talks about his successful career in business as well as the importance of supporting black-owned businesses. He also provides advice to aspiring entrepreneurs on how to achieve their dreams.
Oakwood University alumnus Demetrion Ware has been an entrepreneur since his days as a student at Oakwood University, where he started his first failing business selling pastries in his freshmen dorm room in his doorway. Today he owns the well-known beauty brand KeraVada, a line of hair and skin care products formulated and Ph balanced specifically for African-American hair and skin tones.
As the President and CEO of the company, he’s broadened that entrepreneurial reach by founding the Black Owned Business Club on Clubhouse (BOBC), which now has 20,000 members who own or want to own African American-owned businesses. It’s the largest club of its kind, with a staggering number that Ware aims to increase exponentially in coming years via aggressive outreach initiatives on behalf of BOBC. In this interview, Ware discusses how his experiences as an HBCU student prepared him for success as an entrepreneur and what aspiring entrepreneurs can do to emulate his level of success.
“Your environment shapes you,” says Ware when discussing why attending an HBCU was integral to his personal and professional development. “Attending Oakwood gave me access to great professors who taught me how to think critically and creatively.”
“Being a student at Oakwood College also offered business opportunities where I could start my first foray into being a business owner while also experiencing stiff competitors leading to my first business failure.”
As for practical advice for those looking to start their businesses?
“Fail fast,” urges Ware emphatically. “Failing fast is important to get past the imminent failures in your journey. “
“Don’t focus on the problems. Focus on the solutions to problems”; there will be times when you feel like giving up but don’t let go!”
This sage counsel from one of today’s leading Black entrepreneurs of 2023 will resonate with anyone seeking success in business ownership–HBCU or otherwise!
Mr. Ware states that the Black Owned Business club is now forming a Non-Profit under the Black Owned Business Club to help support the many failing minority small businesses that were unable to survive the Pandemic.
“You find a need and fill it. Many companies have made pledges during the Pandemic to the businesses supporting our African American communities, but for whatever reason, we never see it, and now here comes a recession. Maybe they are just all talk and no action. Now we all are about to face the coming recession, So I guess I’ll put some action to it myself.”
Q: Can you tell me how, after going to Oakwood University, you came to make KeraVada?
A: My education began at Oakwood University, after which I began a successful career as a computer programmer, earning certification in many Microsoft areas and later becoming a PMP (Project Management Professional). The recognition was great, and I could care for myself and my family well, but I always wanted to go out on my own. I just had the itch to go for it one day, and that’s how KeraVada came to be. It’s been a long road, but it’s been well worth seeing the company grow and knowing that we’re helping people.
Q: Is it true that you were diagnosed with cancer in 2019? What effect did this have on your business?
A: Yes, I think it changed me more than my business. Getting chemotherapy for eight hours a day, five days a week, was hard on my body physically and emotionally. Even though I lost a lot of weight, I had to go to work every day because I still had a company to run. It reminds me of a show titled “Waiting for Superman.” Well, I wasn’t waiting. But, It was not an experience that I would wish on anyone.
Q: Sir, we’re glad you’re still here! Was your company affected by the Corona Virus Pandemic? If so, what happened? How did you get through it?
A: Yes, 2019 and the Pandemic Year 2020 were a lot of work. On Black Friday that year, a broken water heater caused our building to flood. I remember getting a call and walking through a building with water up to my knees, thinking, “This could shut us down.” And it’s Thanksgiving and Black Friday week, our busiest week of the year! Our machines were flooded, and many were no longer operational; the offices were flooded; yeah, it was crazy.
Q: Wow, that’s a lot. And it looks like both the company and you are still alive and well, which is good news. How did you keep going when you were facing all of these problems? Thinking positively, perhaps?
A: Positive thinking can be challenging. I try to do what I call “thinking real” during those times. To think realistically, I have to look at my situation and not make it mean more than it does. I didn’t think positively about the fact that my building was flooded. I become positive when implementing the solution to a problem, which helps keep me going enough to stay motivated. Im not positive about problems im positive about solutions!
Q: Wow, what a great way to see things! I’ll give it a try. Why did you start a business that sells products for natural hair?
A: At Oakwood University, we were always told that the natural way to do things was the best. My professor, Dr. Paul, once told us that every medicine was created from a plant and then chemically recreated. Knowing that African American women had many health problems, like fibroids, breast cancer, PCOS, and many others, I decided to make products that would give Black women a choice. Here, they would have options if they didn’t want all of those chemicals in their bodies. Years later, there’s lots of research that says many of those chemicals are causing diseases in African American women.
Q: Thank you, sir, for this great interview! So, how can you be found if someone is looking for you?
A: Finding me is easy. I’m Demetrion Ware on LinkedIn and @Demetrion.ware on Instagram. I’m on Clubhouse under the Black Owned Business Club and YouTube under the same name. My hair company, KeraVada, can be found at www.KeraVada.com.
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About KeraVada
Demetrion Ware, the CEO of KeraVada, founded in his kitchen in 2013, now has a 7000 sq. foot headquarters in beautiful Houston, Texas. The company’s two large warehouses at its HQ are an excellent accompaniment for a company that manufactures its natural hair products 100% in-house.
SOURCE: KeraVada
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