Roger Dundas Champions Canadian Businesses With ByBlacks

Written by Noel Walker

Toronto pulses with Caribbean Carnival power every summer season—metal pan rhythms echoing by means of downtown streets, elaborate masquerader costumes dazzling crowds, and the attractive aromas of jerk hen and roti drifting from meals distributors. But past Caribana’s week-long celebration, town’s multicultural basis thrives year-round by means of Mexican cantinas, Jamaican neighborhoods, and iconic landmarks just like the CN Tower, which draw tens of millions of worldwide guests yearly. Inside this vibrant ecosystem, Roger Dundas has constructed one thing transformative: ByBlacks.com, Canada’s premier Black media platform and enterprise listing that’s reshaping how Black Canadian tales are informed whereas connecting over 4,000 verified companies nationwide.

Since launching ByBlacks.com in February 2013, Dundas has remodeled his digital startup right into a nationally acknowledged media powerhouse, incomes three nationwide ethnic press awards and recognition from the Prime Minister. The Toronto-based writer has turn into synonymous with genuine Black Canadian media by sustaining editorial requirements that prioritize cultural integrity over mainstream enchantment.

“It’s fascinating that they’ve performed that grouping,” Dundas says of BIPOC categorization in media and enterprise. “I form of perceive it, however as a result of Black folks have been discriminated in opposition to probably the most, it’s typically unfair to bunch us with different folks which can be getting privileges and advantages that we’re not accessing. To me, an underrepresented enterprise proprietor is a Black enterprise.”

Constructing Canada’s Largest Black Enterprise Infrastructure

Dundas’s enterprise philosophy drives ByBlacks.com’s twin strategy: genuine storytelling paired with sensible group sources. The platform options solely Black Canadian writers, guaranteeing that each piece maintains cultural relevance whereas protecting matters starting from politics to parenting throughout Canada’s numerous Black communities.

“We’re protecting all tales. It doesn’t matter your background, sexual orientation, or faith. As soon as you’re Black, you’re open to having your story informed if it aligns with our mandate,” Dundas emphasizes.

This editorial dedication extends to the platform’s cornerstone function: the Black Enterprise Listing, now housing over 4,000 verified listings spanning eating places, skilled companies, healthcare suppliers, and cultural companies. Dundas describes it as Canada’s largest Black enterprise listing, together with his group conducting month-to-month “damaged hyperlink checkers” and periodic cleanups, guaranteeing solely energetic, digitally current companies stay listed.

The listing’s affect transcends easy listings. It features as an financial engine circulating Black {dollars} inside communities whereas serving as a cultural bridge for Toronto’s multicultural tourism trade.

“Lots of people attain out to us to discover a restaurant in Winnipeg or Vancouver, a hairdresser in Hamilton,” Dundas explains. “Folks usually touch upon the truth that they need to go to a Black dentist they usually’re capable of go on the positioning listing and discover simply that, whether or not it’s an accountant, realtor, mortgage dealer, and many others.”

This infrastructure units Toronto aside from different multicultural locations. Whereas many cities provide surface-level cultural experiences, Dundas’s verified listing ensures guests have entry to genuine Black-owned companies year-round, and never simply throughout pageant seasons. The platform’s refined upkeep ensures that vacationers constantly discover present, working companies providing real native experiences.

Restaurant Week: Strategic Disaster Response

When COVID-19 devastated Canada’s restaurant trade in 2020, Dundas recognized a possibility throughout the disaster. Recognizing that many Black-owned eating places operated takeout-focused fashions, making them pandemic-resilient, he launched ByBlacks Restaurant Week in Could 2021.

“COVID began in 2020, eating places have been being decimated, however right here’s one thing the place discrimination truly helped: Black eating places, as a result of most Black eating places have been take-out solely,” Dundas explains. “They didn’t actually have the eating expense to start with, in order that they have been principally take-out eating places, and in the course of the pandemic, they have been capable of block off their locations with correct COVID precautions and shields, and simply promote.”

With 20% of directory-listed companies being food-related, Restaurant Week turned each a group help initiative and a tourism advertising software. The annual Could occasion, beginning the Monday after Mom’s Day, accommodates numerous enterprise fashions from high-end institutions providing three-course prix fixe menus to patty outlets offering “$10 specials.”

Dundas designed the initiative with Toronto’s demographics in thoughts. Since Black Canadians comprise lower than 13% of town’s inhabitants, in response to 2021 census knowledge, its success depends on attracting a broader market.

“We’re solely 4% of the inhabitants. So it’s good to get that 96%, to truly come purchase your meals or get them to no less than strive it, and in the event that they prefer it, they’ll be again. The mission for Restaurant Week is to get folks buying Black meals, interval. Eat Black Meals is the assertion on our advertising,” he emphasizes, explicitly focusing on Toronto’s multicultural resident and customer base.

Dundas’s strategy extends past media and enterprise listings into systemic group help. His 2019 partnership with One Imaginative and prescient, One Voice created culturally related on-line sources for Black households navigating youngster welfare techniques, addressing discrimination whereas offering sensible help throughout household crises.

“Racism is entrenched throughout all Canadian establishments, making platforms like ByBlacks.com a necessity relatively than a selection,” Dundas notes.

Past formal partnerships, Dundas gives enterprise consulting to tons of Black entrepreneurs, providing steering on digital presence, useful resource entry, and enterprise technique. This mentorship creates a pipeline, strengthening your complete listing ecosystem.

Cultural Authenticity as Enterprise Technique

ByBlacks.com’s aggressive benefit lies in refusing to homogenize Black Canadian experiences. Whether or not protecting Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival scene, African immigrant entrepreneurship tales, or Nova Scotia’s historic Black communities, each narrative receives equal editorial therapy.

“We refuse to restrict protection to particular ethnic subgroups, celebrating Blackness in all its range and complexity,” Dundas states.

This inclusive strategy maximizes each viewers attain and enterprise listing utility whereas sustaining cultural integrity.

Enlargement Plans and Legacy Constructing

Dundas positions ByBlacks.com for vital progress, with aspirational priorities that embody launching podcasts to bridge generational group gaps and exploring potential growth into the U.S. and UK Black communities.

“To construct a legacy not simply of media, however of empowerment, illustration, and real cultural celebration,” Dundas explains as his final imaginative and prescient.

The platform’s success metrics validate this strategy: constant listing progress, nationwide media recognition, and measurable financial affect by means of elevated Black enterprise spending. Dundas has created sustainable community-serving media that grows stronger by means of genuine cultural illustration.

As Toronto continues to draw international multicultural tourism, platforms like ByBlacks.com present genuine cultural infrastructure, making town genuinely welcoming to numerous guests. 

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