
Business Daily
Meet the first black woman to own a billion-dollar company
7 October 2026
Available for over a year
We meet Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder of ActOne Group. She arrived in Los Angeles with just $900 borrowed from her mother and went on to build a multi-billion-dollar business, becoming the first Black woman to own and run a billion-dollar company.
But Janice says the foundations of her success were laid much earlier, growing up as one of 11 children in the segregated American South.
So, how did those early experiences shape the entrepreneur she would become?
Presented by Leanna Byrne
Produced by Bisi Adebayo and Barbara George
(Picture: Janice Bryant Howroyd)
