Latifa Seini did not build Lembrih Marketplace from theory. She built it from lived experience.
Before becoming a founder and CEO, Seini was a small business owner navigating systems that were never designed with Black creators in mind. Selling African print products through her brand, Flaunt Ankara, she quickly learned how difficult it was for culturally rich, small-batch businesses to compete on mainstream e-commerce platforms. Algorithms favored mass production. Fees cut deeply into profits. Cultural storytelling was often reduced to a tag or category, if it was acknowledged at all.
“I kept asking myself why it had to be this hard just to be seen,” Seini recalls.
Born and raised in Ghana, Seini understands both the beauty and the challenges of building from a place of cultural depth. Her upbringing shaped her appreciation for craftsmanship, community, and resilience. Those values later became the foundation for Lembrih Marketplace, a Black-owned business platform intentionally built to center Black and African vendors rather than treat them as an afterthought.
Lembrih Marketplace is not trying to compete with big-box platforms by mimicking them. It is offering an alternative. One that focuses on fairness, accessibility, and community impact.
From the beginning, Seini knew that pricing would matter. Many Black-owned brands struggle to stay afloat past their first year because platform fees can significantly affect already slim margins. Lembrih addresses this by offering vendors a 30-day period without commission, followed by one of the most accessible pricing models in e-commerce today. Sellers can choose between a $10 per month subscription plus 10 percent commission or a 15 percent commission with no subscription. The goal is simple: allow creators to retain more of their earnings so they can reinvest in their businesses and their families.
But affordability alone was not enough.
What truly sets Lembrih apart is its generosity-centered design. For every purchase made on the platform, $1 is contributed to charitable causes. Giving back is not an optional add-on or a marketing campaign. It is built directly into the transaction. The platform’s name, “Lembrih,” meaning “black” in the Gonja language of Ghana, is a declaration of pride and purpose.
For Seini, this mission became even more personal as she watched humanitarian crises unfold across Africa. From Sudan to the Congo, the suffering felt overwhelming, especially as someone with deep ties to the continent. Like many in the diaspora, she made personal donations and tried to support individuals where she could. But she kept returning to the same question: how could she create impact that lasted?
The answer, she realized, was economic empowerment.
“If we help people build sustainable businesses,” Seini explains, “we help entire communities. We create income, stability, and opportunity that could persist beyond current crises.”
Lembrih was born from that realization.
Photo Courtesy: Lembrih Marketplace
Seini’s background extends beyond entrepreneurship. Professionally, she works in IT training and enablement, where she has led leadership development initiatives and programs focused on the future of AI. Balancing a demanding career, entrepreneurship, and motherhood gave her insight into the realities many Black women face while building something of their own.
That lived experience shows up in how Lembrih is being built. The platform is designed to be intuitive, supportive, and scalable, even for vendors who may not have extensive technical resources. It is a space where creators are not just sellers, but valued participants in a larger ecosystem.
Currently, Lembrih Marketplace is in its Kickstarter pre-launch phase, encouraging community involvement as it works to bring the platform to life. The campaign is about more than just funding—it’s an opportunity for collective ownership and a shared vision. Supporters from conscious consumers, Black-owned brands, and advocates of ethical commerce are coming together to help create a space that is inclusive by design.
The response so far reflects a growing appetite for platforms that truly serve Black creators. Supporters are drawn not only to the products that will be available on Lembrih, but to the values behind them. In a world dominated by fast fashion and faceless commerce, Lembrih offers something deeply human.
Seini envisions Lembrih becoming a global marketplace where Black and African handmade goods are celebrated rather than commodified. She sees vendors from across the continent and the diaspora connecting directly with customers who care about where their money goes and who it supports. She also sees Lembrih evolving into a broader movement, one that includes education, storytelling, and partnerships that amplify underrepresented voices.
For many Black entrepreneurs, success has often meant trying to fit into systems that were never built for them. Lembrih flips that narrative. It asks a different question: what might happen when we build systems for ourselves, rooted in culture, fairness, and generosity?
Lembrih Marketplace is not just about buying and selling. It is about preserving culture, supporting livelihoods, and creating space where Black stories, Black labor, and Black excellence are valued every single day.
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