Judges and Audience Award Top Prizes to the Black Mall, a Marketplace of Black-Owned Businesses
A Chicago-based marketplace that connects consumers to Black-owned businesses won this year’s South Side Pitch, a “Shark Tank”-style competition hosted by the Law School’s Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship. The seventh annual event, designed to showcase South Side entrepreneurs, is co-sponsored by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the University of Chicago Office of Civic Engagement, and United Airlines.
Although the contest typically focuses on early-stage businesses, this year’s event centered on established businesses that have taken on the challenges of 2020 in visionary ways. The $8,000 first-place prize went to The Black Mall, which includes an online business directory and a bricks-and-mortar shop in Chatham. Members of the public who watched the virtual competition in November also voted the Black Mall the “Community Favorite,” an award sponsored by United Airlines.
“The Black Mall wowed us with their energy, their sense of purpose, their vision for the future, and their answers to the judges' questions,” said Elizabeth Kregor, the director of the IJ Clinic and one of this year’s judges, along with Peggy A. Davis, vice president of Community Impact, Chicago Community Trust; Vincent Williams, president and CEO, Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council; and Susana L. Vasquez, associate vice president, the University of Chicago Office of Civic Engagement. “They fill a deep need in America right now, and their charisma drew all the judges—including the audience—into their vision.”
