A new digital platform designed to strengthen Black-owned businesses through collaboration and shared resources is set to debut next month, with its founder urging the global Black community to help drive awareness ahead of its official launch.
Barter Black®, a bartering-based marketplace created specifically for Black entrepreneurs, allows business owners to exchange goods, services, and professional expertise without relying solely on cash.
The mobile app is scheduled to launch on Feb. 5, 2026, expanding on an already active web-based platform.
Built around a collaborative economic model, Barter Black enables members to trade using internal credits, creating opportunities for businesses to access services, hire talent, and grow—even when traditional funding or capital is limited.
The platform is designed to keep value circulating within the Black business ecosystem while fostering long-term partnerships and mutual growth.
Only after introducing the platform’s mission did Nicole Murphy, founder and CEO of Barter Black, take to social media to personally call for community support. In a video shared by @panafricanlifestyle on Instagram, Murphy asked followers to help amplify the app’s launch by reposting her message and introducing the platform to their networks.
“Barter Black is a bartering platform for Black entrepreneurs to exchange goods and services with each other,” Murphy said. “The platform is already up, but the app will launch February the fifth, and we need as many eyes on this launch as possible.”
Murphy said Barter Black was created to address a recurring obstacle for Black-owned businesses—lack of access to capital and hiring resources—by offering an alternative economic pathway rooted in cooperation rather than competition.
“I built Barter Black so that no Black-owned business or business idea fails due to lack of funding or our inability to hire,” she added. “We are showing how we can actually work together through bartering.”
The message was amplified by Pan African Lifestyle, a multimedia and lifestyle agency focused on advancing economic empowerment across the African diaspora.
The organization noted that its audience—numbering in the millions globally—has consistently called for practical tools that move beyond inspiration to deliver real economic impact.
With its mobile launch approaching, Barter Black is positioning itself as both a business tool and a movement—one that encourages collective capital, shared opportunity, and sustainable growth among Black entrepreneurs worldwide.
