Group launched for black women business owners
TULSA — Charity Marcus and Aszurdee Sade in November started a Facebook group as a networking tool for black women entrepreneurs. Ten days after the launch, about 150 people had joined. “So I put up a poll and asked what everybody was wanting out of the group,” said Marcus, founder and CEO of Avenu PR. “Literally, it was just about everything, from marketing to funding to business plans to taxes to financial planning and office space. We were like, `We can really do something.'”
And so they have. A few months ago, the pair co-founded the Black Women Business Owners of Tulsa, a professional organization devoted to the finer points of business creation. Thus far, the group has 15 paid members and scores of other devotees, Marcus said.
It held three events in January and four in February, with five scheduled for March. “It's been amazing,” said Sade, a real estate professional who in 2016 started The Fashion Cruiser, a Tulsabased boutique on wheels. “The general public has received us very well.
“The idea is that it's an exclusive organization, but we're also inclusive. You may not be black. You may not be a woman. But any ideas you can offer us through a workshop or through training, we're open to that. With people knowing that, it's been overwhelming as far as our support.”
The number of black women-owned businesses with employees grew 160 percent in Oklahoma from 2002 to 2012, according to Black Women Business Startups, a report released last year by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Based on national data and interviews with 34 black women business owners from Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, the report found that these businesses have experienced unprecedented growth over the past two decades. Of all businesses owned by African-Americans, 60 percent are owned by black women, making this ethnic group the only one in which women own a majority of the businesses.
“Marketing is what's mentioned most as a need,” Marcus said of her group. “People say they need more clients and customers.
“A lot of women say that they don't even have a marketing analysis, a strategy to effectively market their businesses,” Marcus said. “I'm really just taking it back to some of those basics to say, `We can't tell you how to market your business until you have a market strategy. You have to know your clientele base and your customers. What are their demographics?' I've been trying to push lately to backtrack to that.”
Black Women Business Owners of Tulsa offers three levels of paid membership, with annual fees ranging from $75 to $250, Marcus said. Through the founders' partnership with 36 Degrees North, BWBOT also has some co-working and conference space amenities available through that facility.
The organization is planning an expo in August.
“We tell them it is not easy,” Marcus said on advising would-be entrepreneurs. “But, of course, we try to encourage as many women to put more investment into their businesses and invest in themselves. Most important, we tell them don't be afraid to get out there and take that leap.”