The Black Entrepreneur's Journal Issue IV

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BOOST the black business ecosystem

By Ehis Nzewuji

The story of the Black Business Ecosystem is told through diverse tongues and experiences, albeit with similar challenges, motivations, and aspirations. A significant part of the information about the Black business ecosystem remains anecdotal, considering the absence of empirical findings in an area so specific. A sector of the economy with boundless latent opportunities for growth deserves more attention. We do not know enough about Black entrepreneurs in Alberta, which hampers the support and resources channelled toward their businesses; this also increases the challenges they face in their entrepreneurial journey.

In our operations at Africa Centre, we have acquired a firsthand understanding of particular factors that affect the Black business ecosystem. We intend to analyze these findings and their impacts, to put forward standards to measure outcomes that could serve as a springboard for growth. Our goal is to create a balanced business ecosystem and to ensure that Black entrepreneurs' potential is harnessed. Increasingly, entrepreneurship has been a significant source of job creation. Small and Mid-Size Enterprises (SMEs) continue to carve market niches for growth and seek ways to serve customers more intimately. The opportunities for scaling up and market expansion are illimitable, considering that entrepreneurship also serves as a means of cultural expression and integration. A society where Black entrepreneurs are fully integrated and have equal opportunities to realize their dreams helps us all.

The ecosystem comprises various categories of people and businesses in different phases and therefore requires varying resources. What this means is that there is no one-size-fits-all. While some generalisations are necessary to obtain a starting point of action, a more targeted approach is expedient. That way, growth opportunities are extended to more people; businesses access resources that meet specific needs; and the evaluation process becomes more transparent and measurable.

Our BOOST Youth Employment Program at Africa Centre is one strategy in addressing these gaps. This program is a free initiative that helps Black youths between 18 – 30 years old to develop and improve the skills and knowledge to address various social, institutional, and systemic barriers in the pursuit of employment. Upon completion of employability and life skills training, participants are linked with employers. Participants are given opportunities to put their skills into practice, broaden their horizons, contribute to the economy and set a path to self-reliance. This process supports a continuous feed of skilled members of the Black community in the economic sector by equipping our youth with the tools that enable them to access opportunities for economic growth.

The skills our youth learn in this program teach them to build relationships, gain visibility, foster adaptability, and create more opportunities for advancement. BOOST Youth Employment Program graduates also often go on to participate in our Entrepreneurship Empowerment Program. Black immigrants face challenges that impede the most basic steps towards financial security and independence, such as language barriers, education, and trauma to name a few. The BOOST program provides a safe and culturally sensitive space to develop the basic skills required for

...the effects of the recent pandemic on the Black business community were a wake-up call for everyone... small business owners in our community had no safety nets...

entry-level positions. The remarkable aspect of this program is that through mentorship, coaching, and networking opportunities, youth discover latent potentials and incubation of ideas that lead to further studies or entrepreneurship goals.

On the entrepreneurial journey of members of the Black community, the issue of low start-up capital cannot be overstated. These businesses are mostly started with personal savings rather than bank loans, which are usually outside their reach. Also, the lack of mentorship and social capital gained through professional and social networks critically affects the growth of the Black business ecosystem. As a result, their operations remain classified in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector with no strategic plan for mainstream ventures.

This is not to invalidate the contributions of SMEs in the economy. According to Statistics Canada, SMEs account for the largest proportion of the labour force. Chances are, many of your family, friends, and neighbours work for one. Statistics Canada considers a small enterprise as one with fewer than 100 employees, including those that do not report any employment. Medium-sized enterprises have 100 to 499 employees and large ones have over 500. In addition, a survey on the Financing and growth of SMEs in 2020 published by Statistics Canada showed that small and medium-sized businesses contribute significantly to the Canadian economy, making up 98.1% of all employer businesses in Canada in 2021. Small businesses employ 9.7 million individuals in Canada. By comparison, medium-sized businesses employed 3.2 million individuals (21.2% of the labour force), and large businesses employed 2.3 million individuals (14.8% of the labour force). As such, small and medium businesses are significant drivers toward economic prosperity.

Considering that many Black-owned businesses fall within the SME category, a lot more attention is required to ensure continuous growth and a soft landing for unforeseen circumstances. The effects of the recent pandemic on the Black business community were a wake-up call for everyone. From interaction with participants of our programs at Africa Centre, small business owners in our community had no safety nets. They had no way to bounce back from the effects of the pandemic on their businesses. This calls for more work to be done in capacity building, levelling the playing field, and access to support and resources.

A lot is being discussed about the difficulties that people of colour face in the labour market, which usually generates the savings that are used to start businesses. Africa Centre had embraced holistic and sustainable ways of feeding and building the ecosystem through capacity building, which funnels skilled workers into the workforce while simultaneously helping employers fulfil their organisations' equity, diversity, and inclusivity goals.

Africa Centre continues to prioritise the full participation of Black entrepreneurs in economic and social development by actively mobilising resources towards developing new initiatives and expanding existing services to improve opportunities for all Black entrepreneurs to thrive.