Meet the first black woman to own a billion-dollar company
Business Daily

Meet the first black woman to own a billion-dollar company

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 6, 202617 min
  • Interview
  • Business & money

We meet Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder of ActOne Group. She arrived in Los Angeles with just $900 borrowed from her mother and went on to build a multi-billion-dollar business, becoming the first Black woman to own and run a billion-dollar company. But Janice says the foundations of her success were laid much earlier, growing up as one of 11 children in the segregated American South. So, how did those early experiences shape the entrepreneur she would become? Presented by Leanna Byrne Produced by Bisi Adebayo and Barbara George (Picture: Janice Bryant Howroyd)

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Welcome to Founders from Business Daily on the BBC World Service, I'm Leanna Byrne.

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She arrived in Los Angeles with just $900 borrowed from her mother and went on to build

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

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A1 36%A2 28%B1 17%B2 19%C1 1%
  • 80% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 172 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 75 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. millions save billions on hidden fees. Be smart. Get WISE. Visit WISE.com. Tease and sees apply. Welcome to Founders from Business Daily on the BBC World Service, I'm Leanna Byrne.

1:07

Today we're meeting Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder of Act 1 Group. She arrived in Los Angeles with just $900 borrowed from her mother and went on to build a multi-billion dollar business, becoming the first black woman to own and run a billion dollar company.

1:24

Janice says the foundations of that success were laid long before the boardroom, growing up in a family of 11 children in the segregated American South. Janice Bryant Harroyd, welcome to Founders. Do we want to go back to the very start? You grew up in a house with 11 children, so before

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