Samuel & Sons Barbershop

Samuel Jenkins loves fishing metaphors. So let’s call his Samuel & Sons barbershop the “big catch” in a 20-plus-year career cutting hair.

Samuel was patient, working in 13 different shops before he opened his own business. . When the time was right, he cast his line and hooked the big prize, purchasing the shop on Angier Avenue in East Durham. Self-Help and the City of Durham worked with Samuel to make it happen.

“The opportunity came and I was willing to take a chance, not knowing how I’m going to pay for it,” he said. “I’ve got enough try in me to try before I quit.”

For Samuel, success came after years of learning the ropes at other barbershops.

“Every shop I went to, I learned a little more about the business,” Samuel says.

Samuel knows how to run a barbershop. Keep the floors tidy. Provide plenty of seating so the shop serves as a community center. Make everyone happy – and play up Triangle sports rivalries – by recognizing UNC, Duke, and NC Central with wall decorations.

Samuel’s an entrepreneur with an eye for opportunity. Little more than year after receiving his first loan, an additional Self-Help loan helped him improve his shop.

Indoors, he lowered the ceiling and moved a wall. Outside, he installed a fence to give neighborhood folks an inviting area to sit.

Samuel is deeply connected with his East Durham community and wants to help bolster the neighborhood’s economic climate and quality of life.

“I work for the public,” Samuel says. “They expect a lot out of me; I expect a lot out of them.”

Every summer, Samuel takes neighborhood children on a fishing trip. This treat allows him to share his top hobby with excited youngsters and give a little of himself..

Really, it all ties back into lessons from fishing. Like his favorite pastime, Samuel says running a small business is about hope, patience, and – hopefully – reward.

And Samuel says he’s found that last part by being an entrepreneur and community leader and having a shop that others respect.

“This is a reward to me,” he said.