Black History Month 2023
February 8, 2023
Portland Business Journal
Several things spurred Anyeley Hallová, formerly of real estate firm Project^, to found her own business in 2020, not least was the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2020 she started Adre, which translates to "seven" in the Ewe language of West Africa, where her father's side of the family is from. This interview with Hallová has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Why did you found the company?
There were a variety of reasons. One is the murder of George Floyd. Black Lives Matter. I had been involved with the Portland Housing Center. I was on their board, thinking about Black homeownership. And so I had been doing a lot of these things around the Black community in my volunteer time. Another one was I was just finishing up the (Meyer) Memorial Trust project in that year. And I would say that project was the first time that I got to do what I call true sustainability, at least the way that I was taught, which was, there's three aspects of sustainability: environmental, economic, and social sustainability.
Was the Meyer project really what catalyzed you to start the business, or is this something that you were on the runway to do?
No. 2020 is when I first thought, I'm going to start a new business. The piece that solidified it, the last piece was reading (The) Color of Law (a book about racial segregation in American housing). I read that book and I was like, Yeah, I'm starting a new company.
What were some of the challenges and successes you saw in 2022?
With a startup business, cashflow is always the issue, and in real estate development, you don't primarily get paid until something goes in construction. I've actually grown faster than I realized I would. I didn't really have a plan on how many employees I was going to have. So I have three employees.
(It's been) high-growth. I would definitely say a lot of potential projects. I told you five, but we actually have two more that I'm not yet talking about that will become real. So I think that's been good.
