Group aims to help minority women who own businesses

JONESBORO, Ark.— Wanting to give minority women business owners a better chance at succeeding, Shunquetta Cunningham has created a network of owners to share experiences and information.

The group, called Over a Cup because they meet at area businesses for coffee each month, have gathered since January.

The goal of the organization is to create a network for women to learn about obtaining grants and other financial incentives, create workshops and succeed in business.

It’s hard enough for men to start and operate businesses, Cunningham said she realized when developing Over a Cup. For Hispanic, African-American and other minority women, it’s even tougher, she said.

“We don’t have enough minority women business owners to register on the Census,” she said. “It lists us as demographically as ‘unclassified.’ We don’t have enough weight to be considered a statistical factor. “But we’re here,” she said. The Jonesboro Sun reports that businesses owned by minority women have grown recently at a rapid rate, according to statistics provided by the National Association of Women Business Owners. Within the past 20 years, there has been a 114 percent increase in businesses owned by minority women, compared with a 44 percent increase in overall business growth.

“We’re seeing an uptick in startups as the economy improves,” said Laura Miller, director of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center in Little Rock. “The access to capital is easier, and more people are interested in branching out.”

Since its inception in January, the Over a Cup group has as members two from publishing companies, two real estate brokers, a day care operator, a family consultant and several nonprofit organization directors.

“We are learning to share our resources,” Cunningham said. “We have to stop being so isolated without services. We are intimidated as minority women, but we’re tired of being only one of the few minorities who own businesses.”

Cunningham, who grew up in Blytheville, Ark., earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from Arkansas State University. She has lived in Jonesboro for the past 10 years.

She also is the founder of Kharis Grants and Services, a Jonesboro business that helps others write grant proposals and does strategic planning and nonprofit consulting.

“People have ideas of what leadership should be,” Cunningham said. “We have to fight to be considered experts in business. It’s just the culture. But it’s getting better.”

Brenda Randle, the owner of the Writing Doctor, a writing and proofreading business in Jonesboro, said Over a Cup has helped her business.

“It is an amazing group,” said Randle, who has owned her business for three years. “This provides a support system. We know who we can go to for assistance.

“In the past, there was limited access to the right people,” she said. “Now we are networking.

“It’s the central place to go in Jonesboro to find who does what.”

Cunningham said she envisions minority women-owned businesses becoming substantial and thriving “down the road.”

“It’s getting better for women,” she said.

“I see a movement of proliferation for women entrepreneurs.”