Black business owners discuss challenges and opportunities
About 50 mostly black business owners and supporters from across metro Phoenix met Friday in what organizers say they hope is the first of many gatherings to strengthen and promote their businesses through networking.
The meeting was quickly put together this week by friends and associates of Adrienne Bryant, who runs a Phoenix commercial real-estate firm.
The meeting took place amid nationwide protests over police killings of black men and women in different cities, but participants spent little time dwelling on those issues and more on how they could help one another.
“We did not want to turn it to negativity,” Bryant said. “We all know the undertones.”
Several business owners spoke about the challenges they have faced in the business community as minorities, but the nearly three-hour meeting shifted to a forum where business leaders offered what advice they thought was most helpful for entrepreneurs launching companies in Arizona.
The crowd included a range of professionals, from developers, construction companies and accountants, to owners of a skin-care company, fastfood franchises and a tattoo parlor.
She and others at the meeting said they wanted to emphasize their own success and help others navigating the business community.
“I don’t want this to be about black business owners,” Bryant said. “We are business owners that are making an economic impact.”
Several attendees shared stories of how they overcame obstacles to build their businesses, such as people trying to take advantage of them in business deals or having to borrow from their own 401(k) retirement plans to fund businesses when they couldn’t get loans.
Chuck Kelly, who owns a State Farm insurance office in Phoenix, spoke about a time before he ran his own business when he was mistreated by a co-worker.
“He told me that I wanted to be the best black agent, and I was like, how about the best agent?” Kelly said. “I wasn’t going to let that deter me. We all have a story. It is not a level playing field.”
Tish Times runs a networking and sales training company that hosts many events. When she produces an event, she usually hires people, often white women, to help set up the event.
Times said she still finds that workers setting up the event will assume those other women are in charge when they show up for the job.
“It happens very subtly,” Times said. “It’s very sad it still happens. We have to be willing to not let those things be deterrents for us.”
Many of the attendees offered professional advice to the group, and their own services. Five public relations or media firms each offered $100,000 worth of pro bono services to assist black-owned businesses, according to the organizers. Others offered their professional help, especially during the challenges of the coronavirus.
Donna Mitchell, a Tempe accountant who spent 14 years working for the Internal Revenue Service before launching her own practice, told the gathering that helping people with accounting issues was her passion.
She said she has spent much of her time in recent weeks helping business owners navigate the U.S. Small Business Administration loan programs to help through the coronavirus pandemic.
Tamala Daniels, a residential Realtor and developer, advised entrepreneurs just getting their start on building wealth through property ownership.
“Your wealth begins with real estate,” she said, adding that home equity is often what allows small business owners to get their initial financing.