Adenah Bayoh

At age 13, Adenah escaped the civil war in her native country of Liberia, immigrated to the United States and is now one of the most successful restaurant and real estate development entrepreneurs in her home state of New Jersey. Adenah is the founder and CEO of Adenah Bayoh and Companies, which is the parent corporation that owns IHOP franchises across the state and a real estate development portfolio with several major residential and commercial urban redevelopment projects across northern New Jersey. In 2017, Adenah launched her own signature fast casual, farm-to-table, soul food restaurant, Cornbread, which she co-founded with Zadie B. Smith in Maplewood. In 2019, through a landmark partnership with Walmart, the restaurant chain expanded to Pennsylvania, and in Spring of 2020, will open a second location in Newark.