Shopify lays off team supporting Black, Indigenous and women entrepreneurs

TORONTO — Shopify has laid off the team responsible for its social impact initiatives, including programs to support Black, Indigenous and women entrepreneurs, sources have told The Logic.

The layoffs, which took place in January, coincided with Shopify shutting down its Build Native, Build Black and social impact programs. Around a dozen people worked on the team, two sources said. The sources asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the press. 

At the time of the layoffs, around six people worked on the Build Black program, the sources said. “I don’t see anything continuing,” one source said. There was “no succession planning” for Build Black following the layoffs, they added. Major partners who supported the program were ghosted, another source said.  

Links to pages about Build Black and Build Native are still included on the footer of Shopify’s website, along with another link to “Social Impact.” All three links are now dead. EmPowered by Shopify, a directory of Black and Indigenous businesses launched in late 2024, has also been taken offline. News of the closure of Build Native, Shopify’s initiative to support Indigenous entrepreneurs, broke last month. 

Build Black offered events, resources and coaching for Black entrepreneurs. After the layoffs, the community was shut down and merchants lost access to its Slack community. One source said members were left without any communication or support. 

“With the rapid attacks against DEI, I hope Shopify does not disappoint us with the future of our Build Black community,” one community member wrote in the Build Black Slack community, after the layoffs but before it was shut down, according to screenshots obtained by The Logic. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they do,” another responded.

The Build Black initiative was part of 1 Million Black Businesses (1MBB), a larger collaboration between Shopify and the U.S.-based non-profit Operation Hope. The partnership is still alive, according to one source. Shopify president Harley Finkelstein is on Operation Hope’s global board of advisers.

1MBB was launched in October 2020 and Shopify, as lead partner, committed US$130 million over 10 years to help create one million new Black-founded businesses in North America. Shopify reiterated its support for the program in its 2020 annual report and fourth-quarter earnings. In December, Shopify publicized grant opportunities for Black-owned businesses, including through 1MBB.

“We can confirm the program is intact from our side,” said Operation Hope spokesperson Bill Mendel when asked if 1MBB had been shut down. When asked if Shopify was still involved, Mendel said he could only comment on Operation Hope’s work. Shopify did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

Around 60 other companies and organizations, including Uber, Wells Fargo, Mastercard, Nasdaq, Intuit and the U.S. Department of Commerce had also partnered with Operation Hope on the initiative. Nasdaq declined to comment on Shopify’s involvement with the initiative. Other companies involved in 1MBB did not respond to requests for comment.

1MBB was promoted prominently by Finkelstein and Shopify chief executive Tobi Lütke when it was announced. “Talent is everywhere. But opportunity isn’t just distributed equally,” Lütke said in a November 2020 promotional video. “I think this is going to have an outsized impact,” Finkelstein added.

Build Black and 1MBB were a part of Shopify’s broader work to support Black entrepreneurs. As part of this work, Shopify also added an option for shoppers to explore Black-owned businesses on its Shop app and hosted events to support Black entrepreneurs. The option to view Black-owned businesses is no longer visible on Shopify’s app.

Shopify made headlines recently after it took more than 24 hours to remove Kanye West’s online store when the musician started selling a single item: a white T-shirt with a Nazi swastika on it. In an internal memo obtained by The Logic, Shopify general counsel Jess Hertz said the T-shirt had not been removed because of its Nazi insignia, but rather because it was “not a good faith attempt to make money.”