Today we’d like to introduce you to Sika Lawson.
Hi Sika, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Absolutely. I always joke that I’ve been hustling since I came out of my mother’s womb. From a young age, I had this natural ability to recognize my gifts and find ways to monetize them. I give full credit to the Most High God for blessing me with many talents, and also to my mother who was my first example of an entrepreneur, having a side hustle, before it became the popular buzz word that is is now.
My mom was an incredibly fast and gifted hair braider. She started braiding at age 11, and our basement would transform into a mini hair salon every weekend. I watched her braid back-to-back clients, then get up every Monday to go to her full-time job as a teacher and later a principal. That was my first real lesson to what a side-hustle truly is.
Growing up with three sisters meant I had plenty of heads to practice on, and when my mom realized I inherited her speed and skill, she nurtured it. At 12, she let me braid one of her client’s hair, and she hyped me up like I was already a professional. That was my first time being paid for something I created with my own hands, and that moment changed everything for me. It taught me that if you can create something from your mind or with your hands and people are willing to pay you for it, you hold a form of economic empowerment that no one can take away from you.
That mindset followed me into adulthood. I’ve launched multiple ventures over the years, all centered around helping people, creating solutions, and finding ways to uplift my community through entrepreneurship. Each business sharpened a different skill, gave me new insight, and ultimately led me to create Makolaa.
Makolaa is the platform that brings all of my experiences together. It’s a tech-enabled marketplace that makes it easy for people to discover and shop Black-owned brands in one seamless transaction. For Black entrepreneurs, Makolaa serves as a home where they can create and manage their own storefronts, track their revenue and traffic, and access the tools and community support they need to build sustainable enterprises. Our mission is rooted in unity, visibility, and economic empowerment, truly positioning Makolaa as a space where our people can be seen, supported, and successful.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
“Smooth” is the farthest word that I would use to describe how my road has been! The road to creating Makolaa, as with many startup ventures, has had many challenges and bumps along the way. My initial struggle was finding the right talent to actually build the platform. I started in 2020 and had a total of four different teams work on the project until I found an amazing web architect, who coded and built the platform in 2025. Each of those previous three teams assured me that they could do the job and charged a handsome amount of money. They didn’t understand the complexity of building such a platform, the front-end and back-end coding required, and at the end of the day left me with no MVP or anything that I could take to the next developer. As one who is currently self-funding this platform, that was my first big struggle in investing a lot of money into this project with no visual return.
I know that Makolaa is a God ordained mandate, so having that purpose and vision kept me going throughout the years to overcome this challenge and ensure that this platform comes to life. Thankfully, it did in March 2025! Now with running the business, the same common obstacle arises in finding the right people and talent to hire to help grow the platform. In today’s day and age, many people say that they have certain skills for the job, but actually show otherwise when actually given the opportunity. Conducting a proper vetting process to find the right people to hire has taken time, resources, and energy. To overcome this challenge, I’m being intentional about hiring people who have proven experience in the exact roles I need. I’m also investing time in clearly communicating Makolaa’s vision and culture so that everyone, whether contractors, employees, or interns, understands our pillars of culture, commerce, and community and reflects them in their work.
We’ve been impressed with Makolaa®, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Makolaa is a marketplace created with the intention to make discovering and supporting Black-owned brands effortless and the choice that comes top of mind before going to other big box stores, platforms and other businesses. This platform is deeply rooted in community. Rather than curating products, Makolaa allows Black business owners and creatives to create and manage their own storefronts, connecting them directly with customers. It is a central location where people can shop directly from multiple different Black brands all in a single transaction, and help build communal wealth with is our overall go; to strengthen the practice of group economics, especially within our community.
What makes Makolaa truly different is our purpose. We stand on three pillars: culture, commerce, and community. We honor the richness of our culture, create pathways where commerce becomes empowerment, and cultivate a community where both shoppers and creators feel seen, supported, and uplifted.
At the heart of Makolaa is a bold mission: to empower 1 million Black-owned businesses to generate revenue. We want to help close the racial wealth gap by making it simple to practice group economics and by driving new streams of income to Black entrepreneurs across the globe. Every storefront opened and every transaction made contributes to a larger movement of economic growth and generational impact. Makolaa is more than a marketplace, it’s a catalyst. Every brand has a story worth sharing. Every product reflects creativity, innovation, and resilience. And every purchase is a step toward building stronger, more equitable communities through collective economic power.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was a very enterprising child. I was introduced to entrepreneurship at an early age and have always been skilled at using my talents to turn them into profit. I like to say that I self manifest my name because the name Sika actually means “money; gold” in my Togolese culture. I was a book-worm and a creative, so loved writing my own stories, doing illustrations, and being an overall visionary. I was one of those typical Nigerian kids who chose one of the 3 career paths (doctor, lawyer, or engineer) that we’re given from birth and went to school to study medicine. My undergraduate degree is in Neuroscience, and I actually went to medical school, but found out nearly immediately that it was not for me and left my first year. From that point, I felt that I wasted years pursuing a field that I had no interest in to be honest, but more so, I was walking outside of my purpose in life. From then, I went on a quest to really be able to hear the voice of God and know what His will is for me and my life. I have been given many talents, and I wanted to know what I should be doing to multiply these gifts and impact people’s lives, which has always been a deep desire of mine being that I have such a giving and humanitarian’s heart.
With this, I am a very social person and have always had a deep love for family and community. I’m the one in the bunch who often seeks to create events or meaningful experiences for us to gather and just commune while enjoy each other‘s company. I believe this all has also played a large role in my desire to create Makolaa and have a centralized platform where the community can gather, share resources, and support one another in an easy and elevated way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://makolaa.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makolaa_official/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Makolaa-The-Black-Owned-Marketplace/61565301803997/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/makolaa
