The Black Business Summit, featuring more than 500 Black entrepreneurs virtually hosted by the BEBC Society, included several panel discussions on Day 1.

One panel that struck a chord with virtual audiences was the Black Youth & Entrepreneurship panel with Ohh! Foods founder Brittany Charlton.

After discovering she had developed a peanut and tree nut allergy while enjoying a movie-time snack with her family, she ended up in hospital. Soon after, she decided to tinker with nut-free recipes so she could continue enjoying her favourite bites. Over time, she started selling the vegan products she created upon encouragement from her mother.

Fast forward to today, and Ohh! Foods, whose products are also gluten-free, is in more than 1,800 stores across Canada, including Walmart Canada, Goodness Me!, Healthy Planet, Whole Foods, and many more.

Charlton sells coconut brownie and apple-pie-flavoured snack bites, edible cookie dough, and frosting-based SKUs online too, and has recently launched in U.S. stores.

A refrigerated convenience section in Walmart is coming in the spring — all before the age of 30. She accomplished a lot, much of which she detailed during the panel.

“I think something that surprised me the most is how much work goes into it,” Charlton explained when describing her experience starting the business. “I think a lot of us think you put a product on the market, and it sells out right away. But there's a lot that goes in behind the scenes with packaging, marketing, and meeting with buyers.”

So, searching for wisdom, she began looking for mentors and joined accelerator programs to learn intel on finance and operations. Charlton explained that she would sit with someone at least once a week to study spreadsheets or something else business-related. Moreover, she prioritized emotional intelligence and mental health too.

“Once I became clear on how certain things make me feel and what motivates me — 'what gets me up?' — that helped me a lot. Also, I just asked for help,” she said. “A lot of us just feel like, ‘I just want to do it on my own.’ But I don't want anyone to say that. When you ask for help, it elevates you to that next level and connects you with different people you might not have even connected with if you didn't ask for the help.”

Charlton added that networking in this manner helps gather a future client base that could become buyers and invest because they have a connection to your story.

Last July, Ohh! Foods won the Black entrepreneur award at Startupfest and secured $100,000 for the nod. The Black Entrepreneur award was presented in partnership with FACE, Groupe 3737, and Rep Matters.

Her brand was also named Top 10 Vegan Products of 2020 by VegNews Magazine, none of this she would’ve achieved without her team, Charlton said.

She encouraged Black youth entrepreneurs to follow a similar model: build a strong team, a viable product, and a game plan to scale.

“Think about it like a video game. If you decide to do certain actions of a game, you can't just back out of it and be like, ‘I want to actually go back again.’

“So, when it comes to your business, if you're going take on venture capital, understand that someone's taking someone's money. They've worked really hard for it, so make sure that you understand the value of that money and what you're going to do with it.”

Charlton concluded, saying she is focused on becoming a global brand and wants the business to achieve more sales through mobile devices. She added Ohh! Foods is looking to team up with a strategic partner to “take our vision to the next level.”