Millicent Redway

Millicent Redway is a Jamaican-Canadian businessperson and publisher with a passion for Black economic development. She is best known as publisher of Black Pages directory and for her pioneering efforts in the multicultural marketing industry in Canada.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica to Alva George Redway and Eunice Afflick, Redway at age 11, together with a younger brother and sister moved to Montreal, Canada to join their mother who had migrated a year earlier. At an early age, Redway became very active in community-building activities in Montreal’s Black community playing leading roles in a variety of key socio-economic organizations like the NDG Black Community Centre, the Cote des Neiges Project, Black Community Council of Quebec^[1] and Montreal Association of Black Business Persons and Professionals. She was also heavily involved in a number of cultural organizations and or projects such as Black Theatre Workshop, “Black Is” TV program and Focus magazine.

After graduating from Outremont High School, Redway attended Concordia University where she received a BComm. degree with a major in Marketing and a minor in Management. Unhappy about being passed over several times for a promotion at a leading office equipment and supplies company, Redway secured commitments from a number of key accounts, established Communication Mink in 1986 and competed successfully against her former employer. It was also through Communication Mink that she became involved in the production of cultural entertainment having produced several shows including acclaimed Jamaican playwright, Trevor Rhone’s “Two Can Play” at Montreal’s Saidye Bronfman Centre Theatre as a fund raiser for victims devastated by Hurricane Gilbert in Jamaica. A December 10, 1998 article in the Montreal Gazette proclaimed the event the possible start of a new Montreal-based theatre company.

In 1987 she met and married Lynrod Douglas, a Trinidadian-American then living in New York. The couple had met through a mutual friend while in Toronto for the Caribana festival and married after a four-month courtship. In 1989 the couple founded Black Pages Network to publish a Yellow Pages type directory of Black-owned businesses and organizations out of a need to provide a vehicle for recycling dollars in the Black and Caribbean community. Redway served in the capacity of president.^[2][3] Focused on Black economic empowerment themes such as "Recycling dollars in the community" and "Diversity means business", the project generated considerable publicity in the local and national media and the company would go on to play a key role in the promotion, development and support of the Black business community and would play a pioneering role in leading the ethnic directory trend in Canada. Black Pages may not have been the first ethnic directory in Canada, but following its success, ethnic directories began popping up in cultural communities across the country. A March 27, 1996 article on the subject in The Globe and Mail titled "Fingers do the Walking in Ethnic Guides", pointed out that the proliferation of ethnic directories in Canada was due in part to the advancment in computer technology and the availability of desk-top publishing software. The article quoted Redway's explanation of the "recycling dollars in the community theme" as a way of urging Black consumers to patronize Black and Caribbean-Canadian businesses. Redway was also an early proponent of the value of diversity and began promoting cross-cultural business-related activities. In 1994, Redway's company began staging "Expo International", billed as Canada's first cross-cultural business showcase, at the Canadian National Exhibition Centre.

Among the many achievements of the Redway-Douglas team was the conceiving of an idea to bring Black professionals together for the purpose of achieving economic clout in the Montreal area. The couple hosted a series of meeting with area Black doctors that eventually led to the establishment of Quebec Black Medical Association— an initiative that has never been formally acknowledged. The company expanded to the Toronto area in 1991 and immediately began to fill a void in the promotion and support of Black-owned businesses. The trail-blazing husband and wife team, whose efforts are often duplicated, have been instrumental in lobbying for change in favor of Canadian small business. Under Redway’s leadership, Black Pages Network produced and managed two major annual expositions namely Black Expo Canada and Expo International (Canada’s largest cross-cultural showcase) that brought millions into Ontario. The company published several titles including Black Pages Directory (Yellow Pages type directory of Black-owned businesses, professionals and organizations), Youth Pages (an educational guide for youth), The BlackBook (an Afrocentric day planner), Business Connections (an ethnic business magazine), Colours (a lifestyle magazine) and Jump (an entertainment magazine) magazines. Black Pages Network also developed and implemented numerous watershed projects including Minority Youth in Business Day, Youth Self-Employment Project, Ethnic Women in Business Day and Knowledge is Power speaker series. The company was also instrumental in developing the City of Toronto’s (formerly Municipality of Metro Toronto) Small Business Strategy and the inclusion of ethnic businesses in the city’s procurement program.

She helped organize Black Business Week and the Canadian Black Community Showcase in 1992,^[4] and was listed in the premier edition of Who's Who in Ontario. In 1993, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto officially proclaimed October 1–8 Black Business Week in support of the work the company was doing with Black businesses.

Under Redway’s leadership, Black Pages Network undertook the first known survey of Black businesses in Canada to identify issues faced by Black business owners. Conducted in conjunction with Dr. Frances Henry of York University, the study was published under the title “A Survey of Black Businesses in Metro Toronto” in 1992. Among the main findings of the survey was that the business participation rate among the Black population was less than one-third that of the general population in Toronto; and that racism was a barrier to business success. To counter this trend Black Pages initiated "Minority Youth in Business Day", an annual event which encouraged Black youth to consider self-employnent as a viable career option. Ten years later, a second collaboration, this time with social geographer, Dr. Carlos Teixeria of the University of Toronto,undertook the study, “Black Entrepreneurs in The Toronto Census Metropolitan Area” (2002). The major findings of this study echoed findings of the first survey when it showed that Blacks experienced unique challenges when establishing their businesses with access to capital being the most crucial limiting factor.

To provide inspiration and a sense of camaraderie with Blacks in the Diaspora, the company began hosting events which featured a number of African American celebrities including civil rights leader, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Susan L. Taylor of Essence Magazine, super model and entrepreneur, Naomi Simms, and motivational speaker, Les Brown.

Redway continues to be actively involved in community building and has served on several boards and/or committees in the private and public sectors including Black Business and Professionals Association, Black Executives Entrepreneurs, the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Youth Entrepreneurship, York Region Equity Council, Corporate Committee of the Toronto Public Library Foundation and the United Way of York Region Review Panel. In 2009 she served as a delegate for the Greater Toronto Region Economic Summit.

Black Pages was sold in 2003 after which Redway and Douglas established Jump Promotions International, a company specializing in three main areas: Publishing, Events Planning and Small Business Consulting. Redway is the recipient of several citations and awards and has often appeared in the Canadian media including The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Sun, CTV, SunTV, Profit magazine, Canadian Business magazine and the Montreal Gazette.

References

1. ^ Monahan, Iona (March 4, 1983). "Fashion Folk Raise Funds" (in raisers planned for the magazine, according to Millicent Redway, its marketing manager. She points out that the magazine is the only medium of its kind ...). The Gazette (Montreal): p. C-6. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IRgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MaUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1010,2929445&dq=millicent-redway&hl=en. Retrieved 15 March 2010. 
2. ^ Picton, John (August 7, 1995). "Yellow-pages guide links black businesses". Toronto Star: p. C.1. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/21222558.html?dids=21222558:21222558&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+07%2C+1995&author=By+John+Picton&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=Yellow-pages+guide+links+black+businesses&pqatl=google. Retrieved 15 March 2010. 
3. ^ Murray, Maureen (November 23, 1991). "Metro to get BlackPages phone directory". Toronto Star: p. C.3. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/466182191.html?dids=466182191:466182191&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+23%2C+1991&author=Maureen+Murray+TORONTO+STAR&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=Metro+to+get+BlackPages+phone+directory&pqatl=google. Retrieved 15 March 2010. 
4. ^ MacKinnon, Donna Jean (October 6, 1992). "Black community events promote business, services". Toronto Star: p. D.2. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/456631191.html?dids=456631191:456631191&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+06%2C+1992&author=Donna+Jean+MacKinnon+Toronto+Star&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=Black+community+events+promote+business%2C+services&pqatl=google. Retrieved 15 March 2010. "Millicent Redway, co-founder of Blackpages and organizer of Black Business Week, expects the trade show, combined with an extensive program of seminars, ..." 

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