NYC's Mercantile Mayhem: South Asian Business Explosion, Silicon Valley VCs Who Support Trump (and Those Who Don't) and CDFIs Part 2
A newsletter about the survival of independent businesses in New York City with a focus on immigrant-owned, storefront retail and CPG enterprises.
It’s been all South Asia all the time over here. First, congratulations to Vice President Kamala Harris! It looks like she will be the Democratic nominee for president. Talk about a “vibe shift”. Oh, what a difference a day makes. And the stakes could not be higher. Remember the “Muslim Ban” as it was called? Will we look back on that executive order made by Trump and think of it as quaint compared to the executive orders, plural, he could sign if he gets elected?
AN EXPLOSION OF SOUTH ASIAN BUSINESSES
Second, I went to Lincoln Center a couple weeks ago for “A Celebration of Literature From the Indian Diaspora” featuring an outstanding group of writers, journalists, a curator and a few other Venn Diagram profession rings thrown in like entrepreneur and TV host. (I am also a Venn Diagram fan.)
Navina Najat Haidar, the Curator of the Department of Islamic Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, talked with Yashica Dutt, author of Coming Out as Dalit about the Mughals, caste, and the constantly changing Indian identity of the diaspora living in the US, moderated by writer Salil Tripathi.
Afterwards, The New York Times journalist and cookbook author Priya Krishna who wrote Indian-ish, talked with Padma Lakshmi about third culture cuisines, being an outsider growing up aspects of cultural appropriation—yes, the yoga industrial complex annoys them.
Krishna and Lakshmi discussed the radical change in Indian restaurants over the past couple of decades, the diversity of Indian cuisine and how attitudes among the mainstream US population towards it have changed. I was struck by Krishna’s comment about her generation of South Asians. They have launched scores of food, fashion and beauty businesses; today it’s easy to support South Asian businesses because there are so many.
Afterwards I posted some clips on my Instagram and off the top of my head, I listed multiple businesses that I’ve covered, researched and/or photographed for myself or stories (I cover immigrant-owned businesses, sometimes first gen, so my brain is like a Rolodex in that way) and added a few businesses I’ve stalked from afar on Instagram. Take a look at the list below, a few have been in business for ten years, but most have launched within the past five years. Please feel free to add businesses with links in the comments!
Packaged foods: Brooklyn Delhi, Elements Truffles, Masala Mama, Spicewalla, Barkha Cardoz w/Burlap & Barrel, Paro, Peepal People, Mahdu Chocolate, Doosra, Diaspora Co, Chikka Chikka, Dosa Kitchen, Heritage Kulfi, Eat Sourcery, Moji Masala, Saffron Road, Keya & Co, Podi Life, Simply Masala, Chutni Punch and Deep Indian Kitchen.
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Drinks in various forms: Driftaway Coffee, Kola Goodies, Anjali’s Cup, The Chai Box, Bollygood, One Stripe Chai, Rupee Beer, Transcendence Coffee.
Beauty: Kulfi Beauty, Tanaïs, Shaz & Kiks, Mango People, Live Tinted.
Apparel: Alpana Bawa, Atoms, One432.
Restaurants and cafes: Dhamaka, Adda, Semma, Kolkata Chai, Malai Ice Cream (also sells in stores), Tagmo, Angel Indian Restaurant, The Chai Spot, Baar Baar, Bungalow, Chai Pani, KoolFi Creamery.
Cookware: Our Place.
DJ and Production: Zainab Hasnain.
THE VENTURE CAPITALIST BILLIONAIRES WHO ARE NOW PROUD TRUMP SUPPORTERS
Elon Musk, David Sacks, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, among other Silicon Valley venture capitalists, have come out as Trump supporters—“tech broligarchs” as Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer calls them.
Why would these VCs who have voted Democrat in the past vote for Trump? Their investments in cryptocurrency and AI startups, plus taxes. They prefer Trump’s ideas and proposed policies around regulation, antitrust laws and taxation over policies from the Biden administration. These policies override any other aspect of Trump’s platform, personality and ethics they might find disagreeable.
On July 16, David Sacks, yes the one who wants to abandon Ukraine, tweeted a photo of Trump giving a thumbs up and a list of 17 prominent Silicon Valley VCs and the sentence, “Come on in, the water’s warm.” The list includes: Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen of Andreessen & Horowitz, Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Holdings, twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss of Gemini, Doug Leone of Sequoia Capital, Elon Musk, Eoghan McCabe of Intercom, investor Ken Howery, Kyle Samani of Multicoin Capital, author and advisor Jacob Helberg, Joe Lonsdale of 8VC, Palmer Luckey of Anduril, Peter Thiel of Founders Fund, Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital, inverstor Trevor Traina and Tushar Jain of Multicoin.
Journalist Kara Swisher who has covered Silicon Valley for decades reacted to the list of Trump-supporting VCs on Threads. “Yes, all the pissy people are indeed on that list.” She added, “I will note: Zero women. Then again, women don’t pee in the pool with their tiny dick energy.”
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In early June, Sacks held a fundraiser in his San Francisco home for Trump, raising $12 million, co-hosted by Chamath Palihapitiya (oddly, Palihapitiya’s name is not on the list). Sacks and the 17 VCs are willingly supporting a presidential candidate who looks up to authoritarian leaders around the globe, screwed over small businesses, entrepreneurs and contractors his entire real estate career and created a for-profit sham university. (These may seem minimal compared to Trump’s other offenses, but the way he conducted his business operations sums up his character.) Do they assume Trump will not throw them under the bus if it suits him?
A New York Post article by Lydia Moynihan outlines how instrumental JD Vance has been in introducing Trump to these key Silicon Valley VCs with deep pockets. (There is already chatter among pundits that Vance isn’t preforming well, utterly without charisma, and Trump might kick him to the curb.)
Vance is anti-abortion even in the case of rape and incest. Most of these VCs voted Democrat in the past, so let’s assume they do not have moral/ethical issues with pro-choice policies. They are now willing to look the other way on the issue of abortion, among others, and endorse Trump/Vance. These VCs care more about their investments than a woman’s legal right to have autonomy over her body.
“Andreessen specifically highlighted Trump’s support of cryptocurrencies as a reason for supporting his re-election in November,” writes Alex Hern in the Guardian. Hern adds that cryptocurrency-focused PACs have raised more than $187 million for the upcoming election. The PAC has spent $38 million, which has primarily gone to support Republicans and oppose Democrats, noted in Follow the Crypto.
Elon Musk plans to donate $45 million a month to a pro-Trump super PAC, according to a New York Times article by Lauren Hirsch, Michael J. de la Merced and Sarah Kessler, but he’s made financial promises before and not followed through.
While many VCs and founders of the gigantic tech companies remain silent, like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Cuban is outspoken in his opposition to Trump, as is Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. In response to Musk’s tweet encouraging Khosla to get on the Trump/Vance train on July 21, Khosla responded: “Hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me. He may cut my taxes or reduce some regulation but that is no reason to accept depravity in his personal values. Do you want President who will set back climate by a decade in his first year? Do you want his example for your kids as values?”
PIGEON ALERT: THE LOCAVORE VARIETY STORE, THURSDAY JULY 25, 6PM - 8PM, BOOK PARTY & CONVO
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Come and see what’s “behind the feathers” at The Locavore Variety Store this Thursday night, July 25, 6pm to 8pm, 434 6th Ave, Manhattan. Pigeon portraitist, folklorist and oral historian Andrew Garn will be talking about the new addition of his book, The New York Pigeon with designer and curator Jacob Ford. This free event is generously hosted by Caroline Weaver, the proprietress of The Locavore Variety Store, which features items made within 100 miles of New York City. As stated in the official book talk invite, “All burning pigeon questions will be answered.” The New York Pigeon, published by PowerHouse Books, will be for sale at the store which helps support this wonderful independent retail business and The Wild Bird Fund, where Garn is donating 100% of his earnings from the book.
CDFIs PART 2: HOW TO BORROW MONEY FROM A CDFI
On June 19, I wrote about CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions) prompted by New York City having had its first Small Business Month Expo in May. Numerous CDFIs were present, including Accompany Capital, this newsletter’s marvelous sponsor. But many people have no idea what a CDFI is and what has to offer small business owners looking for capital.
A quick review: CDFIs lend money and provide financial services for people who are often not qualified for loans from traditional banks due to no credit history, less than ideal credit scores or no collateral. CDFIs do not necessarily offer a better interest rate than bank loans, but they will take the risk of lending to people often rejected by traditional banks. CDFIs were created to democratize access to capital and fuel economic growth in overlooked populations.
CDFIs are traditionally nonprofit organizations and each one has a mission. A CDFI might focus on lending money to business owners operating a particular region, like a designated food desert, or a specific group of business owners, like veterans—or immigrants and refugees in the case of Accompany Capital. New York State currently has more than 80 CDFIs and there are approximately 1,300 across the US.
If you are a small business owner and curious about CDFIs loans and want to find out specific criteria for eligibility—it can be challenging. I would suggest using the OFN’s website’s CDFI locator page. Scroll to the bottom of the page and there is a long list of CDFIs in alphabetical order. I find searching by state helps to narrow down the list of CDFIs, but keep in mind a CDFI might be located physically in one state but operate in a region or even nationwide.
There is no quick and easy way to find a CDFI’s loan criteria, you have to read each listing, which can take some time. Each listing has a link to the CDFI website and contact person. Most CDFIs offer free financial or business workshops for their community.
MERCANTILE MAYHEM NEWSLETTER SPONSORSHIP
Yes, the rumors are true. I am still looking for two additional sponsors! Any individual, business, organization or foundation who believes independent businesses are essential to New York City (and other cities, towns, rural areas, I might add) prosperity and quality of life. Sponsors, like the extraordinary Accompany Capital get a footer banner in the newsletter, which is viewed by all sorts of brilliant people in various sectors. If you would like to know the newsletter rates (it’s a bargain, maybe the equivalent to what a CEO might pay for one business lunch) and stats, please contact me: ninarobertsnyc@gmail.com and I’ll send you the details. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to others, especially that eccentric gazillionaire neighbor who loves independent businesses.
Some of you generous readers have paid for subscriptions, thaaaaaaank you so much!
Special thanks to Mercantile’s Mayhem’s sponsors: Accompany Capital, thank you!
OPPORTUNITIES
1. NYU-Yale Summer Accelerator Pitchoff
July 26, 5pm to 7pm, there will be a pitch competition between six seed-stage startups, three from NYU and three from Yale. Panelists include: Chika Ogele of Newark Venture Partners, Justin Silver, founder of AAVRANI and Christine Hong, Investment Manager at Techstars. Event details here.
Great article! Thanks for the mention of Simply Masala @SimplyMasalaSpices or Simply Masala.com)
Thanks so much for rounding up and defining the VC/Orange Menace component of things! "Vance is anti-abortion even in the case of rape and incest. Most of these VCs voted Democrat in the past, so let’s assume they do not have moral/ethical issues with pro-choice policies. They are now willing to look the other way on the issue of abortion, among others, and endorse Trump/Vance. These VCs care more about their investments than a woman’s legal right to have autonomy over her body." So Republican. So gross.