Not only is August Black Business Month, it’s also Black August, a month to celebrate Black resistance and honor activists. What does that have to do with ecosystem building? As ecosystem builders, we are [we should be] social justice advocates working to build equity within the business community. As Victor Wong says, “All entrepreneurs have the right to start,” and it is our responsibility to make sure they feel empowered and equipped to do so.
In celebration of Black Business month, here’s a look at some work being done by Black ecosystem builders across the country to move the needle towards equity, and their words of wisdom for how you can do the same.
Resources and training
Together we’re better
Point blank period.
Darlisa Diltz is the founder of the North Texas Entrepreneur Education and Training Center (NTEETC), the first and only Black owned, woman owned, minority owned business resource center in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. Her center has always focused on underserviced, underserved, and minority businesses. They provide education and training for early stage entrepreneurs to establish their business value right out of the gate. In addition to training, NTEETC also partners with local entrepreneurs to provide initial services needed to launch their business (web development, marketing, legal, etc).
Darlisa and her team work hard to ensure that her clients have the resources, training and mentorship they need to become successful entrepreneurs. She also works on community outreach to ensure she knows all the resources available and that economic departments, schools, and other organizations know about the programs of their clients and how they can help.
As an ecosystem builder who works with minority business owners, she offers this advice:
“Share their messages, patronize their businesses, send out their events to your network, recommend products and services that are offered by Black corporations. Do interviews and highlight the Black businesses that are out there so people know about the services being offered by Black organizations. Be engaged and look for partnership opportunities. If there are initiatives at your company, bring on a minority or Black owned business to help you in that initiative and give them additional exposure to other networks. A lot of times, share/like/retweet is really good for Black businesses because it’s about that exposure.”
Building racial equity in tech ecosystems to spur local recovery
Dell Gines, Senior Community Development Advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and Rodney Sampson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for The Opportunity Hub, recently published a framework entitled “Building racial equity in tech ecosystems to spur local recovery.”
“One high-priority recommendation in solving the country’s racial wealth equity problem is developing inclusive local tech ecosystems, which can drive Black tech entrepreneurship and increase the Black tech workforce. By prioritizing inclusive tech ecosystems, Black households will be able to leverage the power of innovation and the increased global reliance on technology to create wealth and contribute to enhanced productivity and quality of life in the nation’s local economies.”
Do. Do More. Do Better.
In Portland, Oregon, Stephen Green has been working on a new initiative called Do. Do More. Do Better. to help folks who want to do something but aren’t sure where to start. This framework is meant to provide a tool that helps folks take a bottom up approach to DEI. This “alternative approach” seeks to empower the voices of the individuals who are standing up and committing to do the work. “Not the companies. Not the leaders. Not the marketing departments. The people.”
He’s also hosting the 3rd annual PitchBlack, an event to give Black and/or Latinx startup entrepreneurs a platform to connect with the larger startup ecosystem, while also awarding them with cash prizes.
In an earlier blog post we did on Portland, Stephen talked about how we get too focused on the complex things like systems change without understanding how powerful doing the “little things” are first.
“If we’re not willing to take time to do the simple stuff, people are never going to trust us to do the complex stuff.”
“Buying from Small businesses is the lifeblood of our community. It’s the simplest and biggest thing that we can do. In Portland, on a typical day (pre-COVID), Portlanders spend $4.5 Million dollars on food. In one day. Our biggest lender in the state of Oregon, in a typical year, they do about $30M in loans to small businesses. So in a matter of less than two weeks, people spend more on food than our largest, $5 Billion bank spends on loans to small businesses. So if you start thinking about the power of money, it's not banks, it’s not VCs, it’s customers.
I have a friend who is a professional bodybuilder who has these things called cheat days. What if we picked days where we’re going to cheat on Amazon or Starbucks? Every Thursday I’m going to find a Black owned business. When you think about how money is spent… those $5-$10 investments… that’s the kind of stuff that creates the sands of change. When you talk about impact, that’s where impact comes from. So when you think about ecosystem builders instead of opportunity zones or a new VC fund, what if we just said ‘Hey, I’m going to rally my city every Thursday to shop at Black owned businesses.’ That would be a cataclysmic shift for those companies.”
Stephen also recently hosted a panel to talk about equity in his ecosystem that is definitely worth the watch.
Resolve
Lauren Castine has been working as the Program and Events Coordinator for NexusLA since January 2020. NexasLA runs a number of different programs centered around providing coaching, capital, and connections to entrepreneurs in Louisiana. They’ve had to pivot their programming due to COVID, but have been able to provide some great virtual options. One program they’re launching soon is specific to building equity for Black entrepreneurs in the state.
RESOLVE is a virtual event series to provide a platform for dialogue around equity. The series of discussions will allow opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn from each other and network with experienced Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) founders and executives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The series will help attendees build understanding of the issues BIPOC entrepreneurs face, provide connection to each other in a diverse environment, bring awareness of services and resources, and provide direct, tangible actions.
RESOLVE is just one of many action items the organization committed to taking around equity and inclusion. Read about their other actions here.
“Representation is key, ensuring that your local minority entrepreneurs are invited to contribute to key factors within the ecosystem. For example with the RESOVLE series, we’ve curated a panel of Black and minority entrepreneurs and provided a platform to amplify their voices to local investors, policy makers and corporate executives that’s an imperative to an underrepresented community," says Lauren.
Equity Metrics
Dwayne Johnson is the President of Globe Three Ventures where he works with ecosystem builders on a national level. Right now, he’s developing a metrics dashboard to help measure equity. Metrics get thrown around a lot in the economic development world but we’re rarely measuring the right things. For Dwayne, measuring equity means looking at hiring percentages, dollars invested in small businesses of color, retention rates within companies, and who owns property.
“I want to see numbers going up. I don’t want to see that 90% of people getting laid off are of color. Do they cycle in, get a job, and cycle out? What does property ownership look like across the city? What percentage of people of color own their houses? What do those rental conditions look like? You can start asking these questions without having the data at first. Figure out how to find it.”
His advice to ecosystem builders is to understand and acknowledge cultural differences. He uses a powerful metaphor to explain, “I’m a land dweller and you’re a fish. I have to come into the water to work with you. Do you realize the barrier I have to overcome to come to you? I can’t breathe water.”
There are just a few initiatives that are being done by ecosystem builders across the country that provide a starting place for those looking to do more. If we as ecosystem builders are not truly invested in doing DEI work, then we are not effective ecosystem builders. We cannot have a flourishing ecosystem without supporting and lifting up ALL entrepreneurs.