by G.E. Loveless
In 2022, there is a rapid growth of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) founders, co-founders and teams identifying a need in their community and creating an enterprise to be the solution. To support BIPOC-owned or managed businesses, we created a list for you and your company to take in your next meeting and strategize.
Visibility Is Equity
Equity is visibility. The pillar of equity and supplying opportunities to support BIPOC businesses is to sponsor these businesses and organizations but also to take a step forward and feature their team, current needs and impact too. Simply, from sharing their social media posts or having them highlighted in your monthly newsletter is a great way you can support.
Reach Out & Ask
A simple, yet effective way to support BIPOC businesses and organizations, especially during this economic hardship, is to simply ask how you can help. First, identify the BIPOC-owned businesses in your community that you’d like to assist, reach out to the founders, and ask how you can best support them. Every business’s needs are so unique, and everyone needs different levels of support. Getting specific and making a conscious effort to reach out will go such a long way.
Invest
The greatest way to support Black-owned businesses and organizations is financial. Identify a business or organization that provides a service or sells a product that you enjoy, appreciate or need and spend your money there. Supporting Black-owned businesses throughout the year can help stabilize a community and create more opportunities for meaningful savings, property ownership, credit building, and generational wealth.
When a Black-owned business thrives that leads to more jobs and a stronger workforce, not only for economically distressed areas but, in affluent communities as well. An equitable business sector is a strong business sector. Black-owned businesses need more access to capital, more coaching, and more people spreading the (positive) word about them.
Financial service providers should support Black-owned businesses by dismantling and limiting the hurdles that can disrupt their ability to access the necessary capital to operate and thrive. Understandably, though, creditworthiness and a business’s profitability projections factor into gaining access to said capital; as such, Black-owned businesses would benefit from access to quality coaching to help them understand how to create businesses they love, that others will also love, and that investors will want to support.
It is important to be intentional about providing support beyond the holidays and throughout the year. Support can come in the form of making a purchase, referring others, engaging on social media with tags, shares, and comments. Subscribe to the company’s email list and submit a positive review. Be an advocate for small business.
Change comes in various forms as does impact. We challenge you to support or invest in Black-owned and managed businesses today. Let us give opportunity through visibility and continue to be the change we envision in our communities.
