Our Story

Night is slowly opening its eyes, asking Sun for one more hour of sleep. The sound of the morning rise is almost rhythmical; the sweeping of the front steps, the piercing crows of the roosters, boisterous talking from the neighbors. The bustle from the compound pierces through the house’s walls – it’s market day.

The family couldn’t raise enough money to send their eldest daughter to school this session, so she will join Mama to sell at her stand in the market. The daughter stretches her hands as she rises out of bed. After doing her morning affairs and finding some food to hold her appetite, she grabs the crate of sweet agege bread. Baba helps her heap the crate on top of her head so she can make the 1.4 kilometer journey to their stand. He warmly pats her on the back as he bids her farewell, “Ọmọ kò olá wọlé” he tells her. He spoke blessings over his daughter; wishing her success, prosperity, and a market day filled with many sales. “Ọmọ kò olá wọlé” – “the child who brings wealth home.” This platform, Makolaa, is that child.

This Yoruba adage is the heartbeat and meaning behind the name Makolaa, an online marketplace where people can shop all their favorite products directly from Black creatives and business owners from around the world – all in one single location. Collectively, as a Black nation scattered across the world, our ingenuity, our talent, our bodies, and our resources have long been used to bring wealth and prosperity to many other countries; often at our own detriment and loss. This platform is more than just a marketplace; it is an economic ecosystem, intentionally designed to foster long-term business growth, encourage group economics, and ignite wealth-building for Black businesses and the local communities that they serve.

Founded by Sika Lawson, a Togolese/Nigerian-American, she has always felt like a product of two different worlds. Growing up, she assimilated flawlessly into American culture without any trace of her native roots. Meanwhile at home, she was deeply immersed in her West African heritage. Despite living between these “two different worlds,” one glaring similarity was impossible to ignore – the low socioeconomic status and barriers to capital that impacted both her African and Black American communities. Whether in Togo, Jamaica, the US, or England, this truth echoed across the waters, where people leaned heavily on their entrepreneurial spirit to make ends meet. This sparked a burning desire in Sika to create a sustainable solution, a platform designed to showcase the talents of the global Black collective, while making commerce both easy and accessible amongst all.

Thus, the birth of Makolaa, rooted in a mission to build Black wealth through collective economics, while inviting the world to experience the brilliance of Black-owned brands. This is not just a shopping experience, it’s about championing the power of Black creativity and enterprise, and making sure that wherever our businesses call “home,” home is prospering.