Four black business women continue thriving in economy

OZARK — Martha Price watched her aunt Betty Carol Britt run her own day care in the 1970s and 80s after the civil rights movement.
Jacqueline Ogutveren’s mother raised eight children while cleaning rooms in Ozark for $3 a day.
Jennifer McLeod learned as her father operated his own repair shop and employed family.
Laferia Brown knew she could succeed when her mother and father agreed to be the first investors into her hair salon.
All four of the women are black business owners in Ozark who pulled from past experiences and faith to turn their visions into reality.
As part of Black History Month, the Dothan Eagle interviewed each one individually to discuss both the challenges and accomplishments of running a business in today’s economy.

Martha Price
Age: 44
Owner: Little People Daycare, since 1997
There’s a reason Martha Price calls her business “Little People,” and why her clients who are old enough to talk call her “Auntie.“
“My daddy always called us his little people,” Price said in her home day care. “When I started this business, my first clients were my nephews, so ‘Auntie’ just kind of stuck as more people came.”
Price, an Ozark native, said she spent her years after high school sewing labels at a factory.
By the time her children were ready for middle school, Price was ready for a change.
“I wanted to be home with my children and I wanted to help other parents. I was raised in a family of 12 and we never got any assistance, so the fact I started with my siblings’ children went back to my father always teaching us to rely on family,” Price said.
Price said she stepped out on faith to open her business, and soon was able to expand.
“My biggest concerns when starting were whether I would make enough or as much as I did and with family, whether people would take me seriously,” she said.
“But God has blessed, and it’s been good.”
Price said students from birth to school-age come to the daycare. Her niche has been to care for children with disabilities.
Price said she has never thought about retiring, and continues to offer a low weekly rate for her services in order to assist as many families as possible.
“The most rewarding part is not my success as a black woman, but more so when I can see these children mature and start to understand some of the things they learned here,” she said.
“I have continued training in the field and there have been obstacles or challenges along the way, but I feel like everything about this daycare is God’s plan.”

Jacqueline Ogutveren
Age: 50
Owner: Grace Realty, since 2001
Every time Jacqueline Ogutveren wanted new sneakers as a child, her grandfather made her pick enough peas or pecans to pay for them on her own.
Or so she thought.
“I was in my 30s when I realized we never picked enough peas for dinner, much less for a new pair of sneakers. What my grandfather was doing was making us believe in the principle that you had to work to get what you wanted,” Ogutveren said.
Education both at home and in school were priorities for Ogutveren’s family. The youngest girl of eight children, the real estate broker completed high school at age 15 and college at Long Island University in New York by age 19. She was the first of the eight to graduate from college.
She said her work ethic came from her grandfather and mother, whom Ogutveren said cleaned rooms for $3 a day before becoming director of an equal opportunity community development office in Barbour County.
Perhaps it was Ogutveren’s father’s seasonal work in New Jersey for nine months out of the year that sparked her interest in traveling abroad.
She met her husband, Esat, while working for a U.S. Air Force contractor in Turkey. She worked in accounting for 15 years before starting her business.
“It was actually my husband who enrolled me in real estate school after I was afforded the opportunity to take care of our daughter at home,” Ogutveren said. “If you look back at our parents and our parents’ parents, they did not even have the opportunity. It wasn’t attainable. I’ve been blessed.”
Still, challenges were not uncommon for Ogutveren in the real estate profession. The business opened few opportunities for Ogutveren in the beginning, she said.
Grace Realty has since prospered from its first year, when Ogutveren was working out of her home.
“Life for me has been good. I have five contracts pending and had seven last month. Even during what we called a downturn in the economy, business was not bad for me. I credit it all to God, and the fact that I run this not as a business, but a ministry,” Ogutveren said.
Her advice to other aspiring business owners is to believe.
“You are only limited by what you think, so if you think you can, you can. The difference between what you can do and what you need to do is that God will provide,” she said.
“I was a single mother of two by the age of 17, but I gained strength in God and learned that it wasn’t what people called me, it’s what I responded to. I’m His child.”

Laferia “Freda” Brown
Age: 43
Owner: Freda’s, since 1994
Laferia Brown didn’t experience the struggles likely faced by Madam C.J. Walker, the first black woman to make $1 million after establishing her own beauty empire in the early 1900s.
Brown did, however, face a naysayer when it came to her decision to start a business of her own after working years for other hair stylists.
“It was like the person I cared for just didn’t think I could do it. There was no reason, just said I couldn’t. So of course I was gonna prove that wrong,” she said.
“There were very few black hair stylists with their own businesses then, so the market was there.“
Brown said she went to her parents for a $6,000 loan to start up her own shop. After the initial trip to the bank, a few prayers and a few clients, Brown was in business.
“At first I didn’t know what I was doing. There have been some bumps, but I’ve always prayed for a good staff so we made it through,” she said.
Since that first bold step, Brown said she can’t see her life any other way.
“I don’t punch anybody’s time clock. I make my own vacation. I’m versatile. I work when I want,” Brown said.

Jennifer McLeod
Age: 39
Owner: Platinum Motors, since 2006
Jennifer McLeod was making commission off a six-figure salary while working for a car dealership in which she only got commission. If she could do it there, she thought, then she could do it for herself.
McLeod opened Platinum Motors with her husband, Tracey, in 2006.
The wavering economy last year and this year had little effect on her, she said.
She did, however, affect the economy.
“I watched my dad weather the storms as a business owner himself while I was growing up. When the economy changed for the worst, my husband and I started making changes for the better,” she said.
“We started buying more fuel-efficient vehicles for our customers and we pay cash instead of working with a bank. We started doing more in-house financing. I had already worked in finance, sales, warranties and car repairs at other dealerships, so I pulled from that experience.”
McLeod said her greatest challenge as a dealership owner was getting others to accept she knew as much or more about the business as they did.
Her goal is to own a new car dealership one day.
Her staff and her husband help her keep in tune with those future plans, she said.
“We enjoy helping people — we take this seriously. We are always developing relationships with our customers and they know if they need more than what we have here, I can get it,” she said.
“What people have to understand is just like the black community, I depend on them like they depend on me.”