Greater Augusta Black Chamber Launches Program To Boost Minority-Owned StartUps

A new initiative from the Greater Augusta Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation hopes to help Black start-up owners navigate starting a small firm, with a new program providing training and grants of $3,000 for 25 Augusta area entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneurship training program already has several business owners hoping to participate. The 25 initial participants will go through four weeks of training and six weeks of coaching, learning everything from record-keeping and insurance to marketing and risk management.

According to Yahoo, it’s funded with $125,000 from Bank of America, partnering with the Greater Augusta Black Chamber to begin what they hope will become an annual program.

The Bank of America has already committed $1.25 billion to advance racial and economic equity over five years.

Stacey Roberts, the lecturer at James M. Hull College of Business and owner of SMR Leadership Solutions,  told The Augusta Chronicle that many small businesses struggle with learning technical skills when they start. But Black business owners face some particular challenges.

“What a lot of African Americans face, a lot of Black people face, is a lack of funding,” Roberts said. “That’s a big one, and many of them, they deal with not being taken seriously and a lack of hard access to capital. And that’s why we’re so happy for the Greater Augusta Black chamber and their initiative because that access is huge.

“A little bit of everything, social media, how to make that platform work for me, definitely learn how to do accounting correctly,” she said at the launch of the program. “How you can help yourself, and if it’s in your goals, to set a legacy for your family …This is a great opportunity, I believe.”