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Archive for category: Economic Development

Corporations Make Historic Commitments To Black-Owned Brands and Businesses

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, Growing Your Business

Corporations Make Historic Commitments To Black-Owned Businesses

by Yolanda Cowart | January 25, 2022

If you’ve ever tried to start a Black-owned business, you’ll know that one of the most challenging aspects of starting or running it is access to capital or the lack thereof.  According to an article by McKinsey & Company titled, “Building supporting ecosystems for Black-owned US businesses,” black entrepreneurs are three times more likely than their white counterparts to state a lack of access to capital as negatively affecting their business profitability.

A study published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing in 2019 called, Shaping Small Business Lending Policy Through Matched-Pair Mystery Shopping, showed that African-American testers (or test subjects) were more frequently asked to provide information from their business financial statements, personal financial statements, amount of their accounts receivable, and personal W-2 forms when compared to Caucasian testers.  Some loan officers even asked about their marital status and the employment status of their spouse, which is dangerously close to directly violating fair lending laws.

The issue at hand is not about Black people not being creditworthy.  Reports show that Black business owners and other marginalized entrepreneurs are about half as likely as their white counterparts to receive full financing, even with strong personal credit.  The issue is about the racial biases that are so ingrained into lending practices that there’s no way for Black entrepreneurs to win against a system that is set up for them to fail.

The recent focus on racial inequalities within the nation has awakened a reflective review of many practices that have been taken for granted.  These practices include the ability of minority-owned businesses to access funding.  As a result, the following businesses have made commitments to help build up Black-owned brands and businesses.

Amazon

The Black Business Accelerator aims to help Black entrepreneurs build sustainable equity and growth to enable their success on Amazon.  The program provides access to financial support, strategic business guidance and mentorship, and marketing and promotional support.  Black-owned U.S. businesses stand to gain access to services and grants that are geared towards helping them jump-start business growth and customer acquisition.  They also have access to a network of business mentors and coaches, including Amazon experts and small business thought leaders.

In addition, the Black Business Accelerator creates marketing and promotional support. Black-owned business can also receive opportunities to be featured in the Black-owned business storefronts for Amazon retail customers and Amazon Business customers and promotions featuring Black-owned businesses.

Walmart

The Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity gave Winrock International a grant of $900,000 to support the Readying Small Business for Access to Capital program.  This program helps small Black-owned businesses to seek, prepare for and tap into alternative sources of capital to sustain and expand their businesses.

This grant aims to help provide business development support for Black-owned e-commerce and wholesale-retail enterprises in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.  According to Linsley Kinkade, Winrock’s Senior Director of U.S. Programs, “many businesses have experienced hardship during the pandemic, but Black-owned small businesses in the South’s retail sector have been hit especially hard,” To buttress her point, studies have shown that the impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent economic downturn has had a bigger impact on minority-owned businesses largely because of their inaccessibility to bank financing, funding, and poor cash flow.

With this grant, Winrock can help Black-owned businesses find alternative sources of capital to keep their businesses afloat and expand their enterprises.  The Readying Small Business for Access to Capital program will also help connect entrepreneurs to potential loan, grant, and investment opportunities through programs such as Calvert Impact Capitals’ Southern Opportunity and Resilience (SOAR) fund.

Target Corporation

The Target Corporation has committed to spending $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by 2025.  The organization intends to accomplish this laudable goal through various means, that includes hiring more Black-owned companies. Target will seek Black-owned advertising firms, suppliers, construction companies, and other related businesses. They also plan on launching a program to identify and support promising minority entrepreneurs.

The company also launched a program called Forward Founders for start-ups led by Black entrepreneurs to help them develop, test, and scale products to sell to mass retailers. It will also be adding products from more than 500 Black-owned brands to its shelves or website.

Already Target is working with 50 Black-owned beauty brands, but they want to expand. According to the company, by 2025, Target will exceed its goals and will have spent more than the committed amount.

Microsoft

In January 2022 Microsoft launched a three-month program called The Black Partner Growth Initiative. This program aims to create pathways for Black-owned partners to engage with the Microsoft Partner Network successfully. The program provides access to information, financial management, tech solutions, and go-to-market readiness training all to help Black partners accelerate their business growth.

Additional benefits to this program include strategic partnerships. Partners are paired with a dedicated specialist through the Cloud Enablement Desk (CED) that will help them grow their cloud business. Partners can also connect to the Solution Workspace to build solutions.

Published solutions and services in the Commercial Marketplace are showcased in the business directory, receive go-to-market benefits and access to readiness training.  The Accelerator program provides the additional support needed for Black-owned partners to take their business to the next level through personalized, 1:1 engagement.

Various companies such as Nike, Ulta Beauty, and even Walmart and Microsoft (besides their above-mentioned commitments) have committed to addressing racial inequality by promising to devote more shelf space to Black-owned products, evaluate how they hire and promote employees, feature more Black people in their ads and reduce the number of police or security in stores to prevent racial profiling.

Retailers such as Macy’s, Sephora, and Gap, have signed the 15 Percent Pledge, started by Brooklyn-based entrepreneur Aurora James. The 15 Percent Pledge is a promise to commit 15 percent of shelf-space to Black-owned businesses, which is in proportion to the population of Black people in the U.S.

The fight for racial equality is nowhere near completion.  However, the progress made gives us hope for a more equitable future.  With support from big corporations, as mentioned above, the future we dream of is closer to being a reality.

Author

Yolanda Cowart

Yolanda Cowart

Consultants, Cowart, Government Contracting Consultants, Pinellas

Florida PTAC at Pinellas County Economic Development
Specialty: Procurement

Yolanda Cowart has more than 20 years of experience in public service at the local and municipal levels. Early in her career, she worked as a human resources and relations professional while serving as a liaison to the business community and advocacy groups. Her prior experience includes being a human relations specialist for Lee County Government, and an equal opportunity director for the City of Fort Lauderdale. Her background combines public service and human relations experience with hands on leadership in equal opportunity, supplier diversity, business certifications programs, organizational training and development, and managing workforce diversity principles. Cowart is the procurement specialist for the Florida PTAC at Pinellas County Economic Development. She connects businesses to resources and tools for state, local, and federal contracting opportunities. She is a Certified Procurement Professional (CPP), a Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP), and a Certified Verification Counselor. She graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor of arts in political science and history.

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https://sbdctampabay.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Corporations-Make-Historic-Commitments-To-Black-Owned-Brands-and-Businesses.jpg 675 1200 sbdclarry /wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Locked-Host-Logos-Horizontal-USF-Small-e1635274663378.png sbdclarry2022-02-04 19:43:382022-02-04 19:51:39Corporations Make Historic Commitments To Black-Owned Brands and Businesses

Black Women In Business Embracing Entrepreneurship At Historic Rates

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, Growing Your Business

by Yolanda Cowart | January 25, 2022 Struggli​​ng and fighting against racial inequality and oppression is part and parcel of the minority experience in the U.S.  Perhaps no other group knows this better than Black-American women.  Despite the overwhelming obstacles before them, Black-American women still make their impact known.  In the political arena, for example, […]

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Celebrating the Legacy of Black Business Owners and the African American Entrepreneurial Experience

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, Finance, Growing Your Business

by Yolanda Cowart | January 19, 2022 Do you ever look at the African American experience and feel pride in all that we’ve managed to accomplish?  Blacks are faced with constant change and challenges in the business arena. While managing and operating any business is tough, people of color face many unique obstacles. Black business owners are often marginalized and hindered from […]

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Show Me the Money: Funding Opportunities for Startups and Minorities Now Is the Time to Persue Funding the American Dream

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, Finance, Growing Your Business

by Yolanda Cowart | January 19, 2022 For the last few years, the world has been in a constant state of chaos.  First, it was political upheaval, then racial unrest, and now a major health crisis.  We’ve become almost used to the tumult, to the extent that we barely bat an eye when a new […]

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How small businesses can tackle the current supply chain challenge

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, SBDC News

by Pablo Arroyo, CGBP | October 20, 2021 In the previous article, we talked about the reasons for the current supply chain bottlenecks and a return to normalization. This time, I want to talk about specific strategies for businesses to deal with this challenge and take advantage of opportunities that arise. In 2020, existing inventories […]

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Disruptions in the supply of consumer and industrial products

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, SBDC News

by Pablo Arroyo, CGBP | October 20, 2021 At the present time, we are experiencing shortages or delays in the delivery of various products, such as vehicles, appliances, certain food products and construction materials. One might wonder what is the root cause of this situation and how persistent this situation will be. We might also […]

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Find Your Brand’s A-Ha Moment to Break Out of the Clutter

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, Growing Your Business, Marketing, SBDC News

by Scott Carpenter, CME | October 12, 2021 When you think of the great brand names in the world, they all have one thing in common: they deliver an emotional solution every time it is consumed that is bigger than its functional benefit. Think of Corona beer. You don’t have to be a beer drinker […]

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How To Use Public Relations To Build Brand Credibility

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, Growing Your Business, Marketing, SBDC News

by Scott Carpenter | June 10, 2021 While many marketers spend big on paid advertising methods to build brand credibility and awareness, one of the most influential methods that is often overlooked and totally free is public relations. Called the art of influence, “public relations is about influencing, engaging and building a relationship with key […]

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How to Find New Customers on a Limited Marketing Budget

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, Growing Your Business, Marketing, SBDC News

by Scott Carpenter | March 29, 2021 Building your business through acquiring new customers is the key to success. While some new sales are organic where new buyers simply find you on their own, most new business is a result of a concentrated effort from businesses to find those buyers. Yet with this pivotal business […]

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In 2020, Create Your Brand With 20/20 Vision

Blog, Economic Development, Featured News, Growing Your Business, Marketing, SBDC News

by Scott Carpenter | June 30, 2020 Through our work at the Florida SBDC at University of South Florida, we provide no-cost consulting to a wide range of diverse business clients.  Some are doing very well as they seek our consultant’s insight to help them expand into new markets. And we see companies struggling to […]

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