Successful Black Entrepreneurs

5Entrepreneurship Through Franchising

AN EVER-INCREASING NUMBER of Blacks are finding entrepreneurial success via franchising. One of the first Black entrepreneurs to avail himself of this model was Homer B. Roberts. In 1923, he became a franchisee of Hupmobile automobiles.¹

Born in a small rural community outside of Springfield, Missouri, in 1885, Roberts received a degree from the Kansas State Agricultural College and later studied at the Tuskegee Institute, an HBCU. He served a tour in France during World War I, where he was the first Black man to attain the rank of Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. At the end of the war, Roberts returned to Kansas City and, in 1919, began selling used cars in the Black community, placing ads in local African American newspapers, including the Kansas City Sun. By the end of his first year in business he had sold 60 cars.² As his business grew, White car dealers recruited him to serve as their sales agent in Black communities, believing that an African American would be better at selling cars to Blacks than a White salesperson.³

In 1923, needing larger facilities to accommodate his expanding business, Roberts built the Roberts Motor Mart, a 9,400 square foot building, to house his car operations as well as provide retail space for other Black-owned businesses. This facility was one of the first retail shopping centers in the country and housed his offices, automotive operations, a restaurant, dress shop, barber shop, and other retail ...