Meet Sika Lawson

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sika Lawson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Sika, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

There are really two sources that I would say I get my resilience from. Firstly, I come from a very rich Togolese & Nigerian culture, which innately harbors extremely strong and resilient people, due to the pressures we overcome daily whether that be from socio-economic, governmental, developing infrastructure, and the like, yet we are some of the most joyous and optimistic people. Many people may have heard of the common colloquial phrase that Nigerians love to say, “Naija no dey carry last.” meaning, that we are going to come up on top and win no matter what and against all odds. So to begin with, it is ingrained in my DNA. Secondly, I have developed a strong sense resiliency in my life due to the many challenges, setbacks, disappointments, and even hardships I’ve faced, but knowing that I have overcome each of them through my faith in God and my determination to get to the other side of whatever that challenge is successfully. In entrepreneurship, this is a journey of resiliency and surely a marathon! When you have an idea, a dream, a vision that you are looking to bring it to life, you are inevitably going to encounter speed bumps along the way that is going to cause you to pivot or stop altogether. The question in that case is how much do you believe in your vision and the good that it will bring to people through your services and products, and how much are you going to fight to ensure that your business comes to life against all odds? Those are the founding blocks that make me resilient. I strongly believe in the mission and purpose of my vision to help close the racial wealth gap by empowering Black entrepreneurs and creatives with the tools, resources, and most importantly platform needed to help them generate more revenue and allow for a simple and easy means to practice group economics as a collective.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Greetings! My name is Sika Lawson, and I am the founder of Makolaa – a platform that is truly reshaping the way we shop Black and support our global community of Black-owned businesses and creatives. Makolaa is a tech-enabled marketplace that makes it easy for people to discover multiple Black-owned brands and shop from all of them in a single, seamless transaction. For our sellers, Makolaa serves as a home where they can create and manage their own storefronts, track revenue and traffic, and access tools, resources, and community support to build sustainable enterprises. Our motto is: “Where culture meets commerce, and community thrives.”


And we mean that literally. Makolaa isn’t just a digital platform, it’s a business ecosystem. We’re intentional about knowing the stories behind each brand, the families who started them, and the inspiration behind them starting their ventures. We want our shoppers to not only love the products they buy, but to also know the who behind them. That sense of pride, belonging, and cultural connection is at the heart of everything we do.

At a time when job uncertainty is high and people are searching for community, ownership, and identity, Makolaa offers a space created specifically with our people in mind. It’s a place that affirms: you are seen, your work matters, and your business belongs here. To every product-based Black business owner or creative out there, if you know you have quality products to share with the world, I personally invite you to join us. Think of Makolaa as another powerful stream of visibility and opportunity for your brand. Our shoppers are intentionally looking to buy Black, and our sellers manage their own storefronts, giving them full control and direct access to customers who value and celebrate what they offer. Unlike other marketplaces where you’re fighting for exposure, we actively promote our sellers, highlight their stories, and work to drive traffic directly to their storefronts.

We officially launched in March 2025, and we are excited about the momentum, growth, and expanding awareness of this community-powered platform. You can learn more at www.makolaa.com or find us on all social platforms at @makolaa_official. On a personal note, my mission is to be a beacon for building Black wealth through the power of entrepreneurship. I’ve witnessed firsthand how entrepreneurship can create stability even in economic uncertainty. I’m a second-generation entrepreneur (inspired by my mother at just 12 years old) and I’ve launched multiple ventures since then. But Makolaa… Makolaa is my heartbeat. It is the culmination of everything I’ve learned, every gift God has placed in me, and every part of my purpose. This is a God-ordained assignment, and I am humbled and excited to bring it to the world. Makolaa represents not just a business, but a movement; one that boosts the revenue, growth, and visibility of Black-owned brands, and one that empowers our people to reclaim the wealth we generate.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I’m going to speak to my fellow entrepreneurs here, especially those who are aspiring or are new to entrepreneurship. The three most impactful qualities that I have had and continue to have that shapes my journey is having a {vivid} vision, knowing your “why”, and having tenacity. These are also three of the qualities in mindsets that I will advise for others who are early in their journey. Why I say having a vision, but above all that being a vivid vision is because when you know exactly where you are heading with your business, how you want that to look, the type of people that you have working with you, the type of impact that you’re seeking for your business to have, Documenting and having it all down to the tee is what’s going to help make that dream a reality. This concept is taken from the book titled vivid vision by Cameron Herold. And above all this is also what scripture tells us in Habakkuk 2:2, to ‘write the vision down and make it plain so that they may run who read it.’ I am an avid vision board maker and strong supporter of it. Each year in December, I create a very detailed (SMART goals included) and illustrated vision board, and I can say times without number how many things that I place on my vision board actually comes to pass. I hang it up in my office and look at it and speak to those goals every day. As an entrepreneur, having visual reminders is what will keep you motivated during the challenging seasons or any unexpected turns that you may have to take.

Secondly, knowing your “why” is also important because this is simply what’s going to remind you of your reason and motivation for starting your business in the first place. Even if you completely change lanes with your business idea or venture (which most entrepreneurs will do many times), your “why” is going to remind you of why you wanted to start on that entrepreneurial path in the first place; whether it be for financial freedom, generational wealth, more time to travel and do the things that you love, etc. Entrepreneurs are not your average people. They are often those who are visionaries, who may go against the status quo, and who are deeply moved by a passion that they want to gift to the world. Stepping out on faith and going into entrepreneurship is an uneasy and unsettling time in the beginning until you get to those higher levels of stability where you’re soaring. So staying grounded with your “why” is what’s going to help you navigate any season that you’re in and enjoy it while you’re doing so.

Lastly, I will say having tenacity is key. And this is tenacity whether it comes to seeking out new business opportunities, pitching yourself for new partnerships, sponsorships, or collaborations with organizations and business owners, and the tenacity to get up every day and grind to build your business up and running. This is not like a 9-to-5 job where you have a steady check coming in every two weeks. You have to go out there and actively seek opportunities and make moves in your industry/marketplace. You are the architect of your income and financial freedom. Having this fire and hunger beneath you is what will help you seize any and every good opportunity that comes your way; and if you don’t see those opportunities to make them yourself!

You’ll notice that these three qualities are really things that are more character traits. For skills, I feel that you can always do more learning whether that be taking a course, a mastermind, or an incubator/accelerator program. That is something that as an entrepreneur, you should be working into your annual planning anyway; to undergo different learning opportunities to become better at your craft, service, and overall business efficiencies. Every stage of your entrepreneurial journey is going to require more advanced skill sets so that is something that anyone can obtain. But your mindset is what it’s going to keep you successfully in the path of entrepreneurship, and this is something that begins with you.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

There are two books as of late that I would say has played in an important role in my development as a CEO. The book “Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork” by Dan Sullivan, and also another book by Dan Sullivan, “10X is Better than 2X.” These books really helped lay the groundwork down for how my mind needed to operate as a highly skilled and effective entrepreneur – all rooted in strategic leadership. If someone wants to have a passion project that they mainly see themselves managing then these books may not necessarily apply, but if you want to scale your business venture to multiple 6-figures, then these books help put you in the state of mind of tackling the most important tasks that will progress your business forward and also bring on the right individuals and team members/employees to help you achieve your goals. That is exactly what these books have done for me and I highly recommend them to others.

The nuggets that I gained from these mindset shifts were invaluable because I am very skilled in all technical aspects of my business such as video editing, design, copywriting, things of that nature. It’s easy for me to handle everything because I feel others may not exactly meet my standards. But with the book ‘Who Not How,’ that really helped me to scout diligently to find the right people to do the job versus just anyone who said that they can meet the job description. And with ’10 X is Better than 2X.’ time management has always been an issue for me as an entrepreneur because I was often juggling many other projects, working FT, running around little kids, and this book was helpful in helping me map out my week by tackling certain aspects of my business at set times, an to also focus on those things that that are going to have a 10x impact in my business and catapult my success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://makolaa.com
• Instagram: @makolaa_official
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Makolaa-The-Black-Owned-Marketplace/61565301803997/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/makolaa/