For the past 20 years, Bill Chapman has been building his hair care company. Many Greenvillians remember Chapman Products' first offering -- Grandma's Secret Potion, an everyday moisturizer, growth tonic and repair solution. After more than a decade of mostly modest success as a manufacturer and supplier of Grandma's to retail outlets such as Bi-Lo, the company decided to expand its line and shift its focus. Instead of strictly retail sales, Chapman Products began growing its business selling directly to hair care professionals. This created a nearly all-African American business network that shows the power of cooperative economics. While Chapman Products does the manufacturing, it is independent distributors who put the products in the hands of beauty shop and barbershop owners who serve African American customers. The shop owners, in turn, become both users and retailers. And in the process, black dollars are recycled among black communities.

With this model the Nairobi Professional line has become one of the nation's fastest growing line of black hair care products. The brand distributes in every Southern state, all along the Eastern Seaboard, parts of the Midwest and even as far west as Seattle, Washington. WJMZ salutes Bill and Kim Chapman, black business pioneers who are proving African Americans have what it takes to be master every aspect of business.