Silver & Riley's Second Round of 2020 Grants Have Been Awarded to Three Start-Up Founders

The black-owned luxury leather goods brand awards grants quarterly as part of program helping female entrepreneurs start, grow and scale their businesses

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Silver & Riley

Aug 06, 2020, 08:03 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Silver & Riley continues commitment to supporting minority-owned businesses with the second round of grants awarded through their Buy 1, Give 5 program. This round focused on businesses started less than two years ago by black women founders. A focus chosen due to the difficulty this group faced securing funding. Over 200 applicants vied for the cash awards, Nana Meriwether, Ornella Yovo, Toyin Olaleye proved to be the strongest applicants, based on their passion, business model, scalability and impact. To date, seven female founders were awarded Silver & Riley Buy 1, Give 5 grants.

Founder Lola Banjo shared, "Awarding these grants in the midst of the current economic disruptions is timely and necessary. It's important we continue to celebrate and support female entrepreneurs by giving them props and financial support. Every purchase of a Silver & Riley product grows and assures the longevity of the grants."

$1,000 Winner
Nana Meriwether Founder of Cale - A wellness company focusing on alcohol alternatives. Meriwether is a pageant titleholder. She competed at Miss USA 2012 finishing as first runner-up. Winner Olivia Culpo later won Miss Universe, granting Meriwether the title Miss USA.

$500 Winners
Ornella Yovo Co-Founder of O-Squared - They offer a suite of business services including financial services and general counsel. With a background in Wealth Management, Yovo takes a unique approach, profit first with logical easy to follow practices making running a business effective.

Toyin Olaleye Founder of Kamoky - A business directory connecting customers to local Afro businesses fostering growth in the African community. Olaleye's goal is for "African owned businesses to be more visible... and in doing so, advance our own economies."

About Silver & Riley

Founded in 2019, ten years of planning, research and development birthed a line of classic, timeless luxury goods cut from quality leather. Made in Italy, Silver & Riley collections feature premium full grain leather designed to develop a rich patina overtime. The line includes leather goods for all, for work, travel, and everyday use.

Founder and Designer Lola Banjo incorporated years of business travel as a Strategist, her love of fashion and background in engineering to create incredibly stylish functional products. Each is thoughtfully crafted to make the user's life easier. The fashion bags can be worn in multiple ways. Belt bags can be worn as clutches and the Executive Convertible Handbags can be worn as backpacks. Prices range from $65 to $795.

With philanthropy at its core, the brand incepted the "Buy 1, Give 5" program in 2019. The Silver & Riley Female Entrepreneurship Grants provides funds to businesses started by underrepresented minority women in the United States and non-profit partners in emerging economies supporting business literacy and entrepreneurship for women.

Visit https://www.silverandriley.com follow @Silverandriley on all social platforms.

CONTACT: Edgina Desormeau, [email protected]

SOURCE Silver & Riley