Ever Heard of Miiriya? Miiriya Is Amazon Meets Etsy for Black-Owned Businesses

By Gary A. Johnson – Founder & Publisher (Black Men In America.com)

June 29, 2021

I get a lot of story ideas for this website. Not all of them are worth posting. Earlier this month, I heard about a shopping app that makes it easy for consumers spend their money exclusively with black-owned businesses and brands. The app is Miiriya. The app was established during the pandemic and has become increasingly more popular through word-of-mouth.

Miiriya is the brainchild of Lamine Loco. According to Loco, Miiriya is a word from the African language of Bambara/Dioula. It means thoughts and ideas.

So what makes Miiriya unique? Miiriya provides a platform for black-owned brands and businesses to more easily sell the products and services to consumers. The app lets vendors sign up without transaction or listing fees. The vendors receive 100 percent of their earnings; so when you shop, the money is going straight to these small businesses. Loco pays the vendors credit card and PayPal fees out of pocket as well so they get 100% of their earnings.

According to Loco, the goal is to run the website in a socialistic way, like Wikipedia and PBS. All money made from the site will be used to solve issues in the black community.

Loco has high aspirations and big goals. In an interview posted on Patreon.com, Loco said, “I plan to put things like community fridges in front of businesses and houses, where people who are hungry in the community can just open them and not have to go without food. I also plan to use any funds to fund the community’s healthcare, education, and more. I want to run this in a different way than other businesses, where the main goal is to make sure no one is left behind.”

How to pronounce Miiriya:
Me – e – ree – ya
Me as in myself, E like the letter E, Ree like the Ree in Reel (but with a Spanish R) and Ya.

Why is an app and website important? Because black people as a race, do not spend their money within the community. Check out the article below: