Adenah Bayoh
Liberian-American
Founder + CEO, Adenah Bayoh and Companies/Co-founder, Lapwood LLC
Website: adenahbayoh.com
After moving to New Jersey under a refugee re-settlement program at the age of 13, Liberian-born Adenah Bayoh took full advantage of her second chance in life. While growing up in low-income housing, she went to high school in Newark, New Jersey, and put herself through college at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, earning a degree in business management.
She began her career in banking, but was unable to foresee a future in the industry, so she started purchasing multi-family homes in Irvington, New Jersey. This sound investment strategy catapulted her success, and allowed Adenah to begin real estate full-time. In 2008, by the age of 27, she was able to open her first Ihop restaurant in Irvington, New Jersey, making her the youngest African-American Ihop franchisee in the country. And by 2015, she opened her second Ihop location in Paterson, New Jersey.
As of today, her real estate development portfolio includes over $200 million in urban redevelopment projects, and is focused on transforming and empowering disadvantaged communities. And thanks to her outstanding success, Adenah was named one of Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 and appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Advisory Council on Small Business and Agriculture, both in 2015.
Adenah has undeniably become a true inspiration to the African-American story and paves the way for young entrepreneurs who are on the journey!
Interesting fact: paying homage to her cross-cultural heritage, Adenah is slated to open Cornbread in spring 2017 – a unique restaurant concept using farm-to-table ingredients in Maplewood, New Jersey
Sources: adenahbayoh.com and Shoppe Black