Like a lot of entrepreneurial success stories, Greentop Gifts is built on the concept of creating a product a customer base had been waiting for, but for some inexplicable reason no company previously had produced. Of course there are people who want Christmas items featuring a black Santa Claus and while some items like black Santa ornaments exist, wrapping paper featuring a black Santa simply did not.
Launched in October by married couple Jackie and Shaun Rodgers, Greentop Gifts (named after Jackie’s grandfather’s North Carolina restaurant) was started to make “creative magical items that could be a part of every family celebration.”
In an interview with NBC News, Jackie credited the breakout success of the company to her and her husband’s degrees in business and the support they received when they reached out to the alumni associations of their colleges, Clark Atlanta and Morehouse College.
“We were both business majors and we both work in sales now. My husband started in finance and he has is MBA from Duke University. All our educational background has really helped to launch this for us because when you think of it, all our experiences in our corporate jobs helped grow Greentop. In addition to that, we really relied a lot on our HBCU network with finding different vendors, from our attorney, who’s an HBCU,” explained Jackie.
In addition to wrapping paper, the family sells sweatshirts, mugs and gift labels featuring “Clarence Claus.”
For more info, visit Greentop Gifts.