[Black Business Month]
Essence: ” Supporting Black business goes beyond buying services and goods from our own community.”
Photo: Twitter
August is Black Business Month and if 2020 has taught us anything it’s that we must support our own.
Created in 2004 by founders John William Templeton and Frederick E. Jordan Sr., the original intent of the 31-day effort was to drive the policy agenda impacting more than two million African-American businesses. In 2020, Facebook also began to rally behind Black businesses launching Black Business August.
“The national support of Black-owned businesses is critical to our continued success,” says Keenan Beasley, founder of the non-profit organization Venture Noire.
In a climate where aspiring Black and minority founders often can’t even get their foot through the door, let alone break through the white male-dominated gatekeepers of silicon valley, supporting Black business goes beyond buying services and goods from our own community.
The National Bureau of Economic Research recently revealed that 440,000 African-American businesses were shuttered due to the economic shutdown. This is nearly 41 percent of Black-owned businesses. In contrast, 17 percent of white-owned businesses were impacted.
According to a recent RateMyInvestor and DiversityVC study, 81 percent of VC funds have no Black investors.
Read the rest of this ESSENCE story here: https://www.essence.com/news/black-business-month-keenan-beasley-interview/
