Could Madame CJ Walker Have Become a Billionaire?

By now, many of us know the business success story of Madame CJ Walker. She amassed her million dollar fortune by selling hair and beauty products to sistas across America. She created her own network of female sales agents because a white owned distributor refused to do business with her. That was one of those cases where mixing racism and business was absolutely foolish on his part.

But that’s not the point of this article, at least not quite. This might be a little controversial to some, but it’s my business opinion that Ms Walker missed out on even more wealth. How? Given that the dumb racist distributor didn’t want to work with blacks, she focused on monetizing her supply chain beyond just hair and beauty products. If racist businessmen refused to work with our people, become the supply chain business for our people!

After becoming successful, she adopted social activism into her business model. That’s fine, but I think she should have sold her supply chain operation as a service so that she could then sell her hair and beauty business to someone else. She could then charge them for supply chain management. Next, she could’ve serviced black clothing manufacturers, food companies/farmers, oil companies, insurance products, funeral home supplies, and other types of black owned businesses.

Given that her sales and distribution network was innovative, she wouldn’t have had to limit herself to just black businesses. It is this missed opportunity that could have turned her from a millionaire to a billionaire.

What are your thoughts? Agree or disagree? Sound off below and let’s brainstorm business together.