- Just ahead on Black Issues Forum, desired wealth creation for the black community has created a rise in small business ownership, but not without its challenges, stay with us.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Welcome to "Black Issues Forum," I'm Kenia Thompson.

Have you been thinking about starting that business that you've always wanted?

Well, studies show that you're not alone.

We've talked about the great resignation before and the insanely rapid growth it has caused on the numbers of small businesses that opened, especially during the pandemic.

But the journey is not for the faint of heart.

We'll talk about it to our expert panelists in a bit, but the entrepreneurial landscape here in North Carolina has changed and we'll explore those reasons.

But first, I had the opportunity to enjoy some delicious Beninese food and chat with Ilewa Foods owner, Chef Ade Carrena about her journey and the bigger purpose behind her spices.

- My name is Ade Carrena and I am the owner and founder of the Ilewa Foods.

I come from a very tiny country on the west coast of Africa called Benin.

- [Kenia] Known for its rich culture and suya spices, the taste of Benin has made a stop in North Carolina, as Chef Ade makes it her mission to share her beloved country's flavors and experiences.

- I became really, really passionate about highlighting our food, our culture, and bridging that gap.

- [Kenia] A gap that, if closed, would allow for cultural awareness.

- So in the midst of COVID, I owned a catering company, and like most of us in the restaurant or hospitality field, we really suffered during this time.

So I had this bright idea of traveling back home so that I can source ingredients from the women in the markets of my home country.

- [Kenia] And while back home, Ade realized that her journey had great meaning, and it was more than just a trip.

- It's about, how can I be that bridge between Africans and the diaspora?

How can I create safe spaces for us as Africans and those of us in the diaspora to have intimate conversations that can spark healing between each other?

And it's important to be rooted in that foundation so you don't sway one way or the other.

- [Kenia] The sankofa principle is what Ade shares as her driving force.

It is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.

- In order for you to move forward, you have to look backward so you can understand where you've been.

So you have some sort of guidance in where to go.

- [Kenia] And as she began to gain clarity in how her business could be at the crux of bridging the gap, she knew it was bigger than herself.

- To be able to connect these women entrepreneurs to global markets.

And the objective is, as we grow, we're able to support them even more.

We want to be able to help the young girls from my home country gain access to education or access to resources if their goal is to build a business for themselves.

- [Kenia] Prior to Ilewa Foods, Ade's catering business, Dounou Cuisine, catered to the masses, providing African dishes that shatter the stereotypes.

But, like with most businesses, it certainly was not easy.

- There's so much of what we do that you don't see.

You come and you sit in a restaurant, you have a plate of food in front of you.

You've enjoyed it, but you have no idea what went into making that dish.

When it comes to Black businesses, I can guarantee you that many of us are very professional.

Many of us believe in the quality of service.

Many of us want to make sure that you have a great experience when you support our business.

- [Anchor] And support is what businesses like Ade needs in order to thrive.

- Living in a capitalistic society and having a business in a capitalistic society, I find myself a lot of times being conflicted because of my culture and where I come from.

It's very easy for us to barter things.

It's very easy for us to understand everyone's worth in the sense that it's not tied to a dollar, you know.

And when you have that way of thinking, I feel like you're more whole.

It's a lot more simple to do business because you're thinking of community, because that's where our support comes from.

And not just, "I wanna make money."

- [Anchor] In spite of a pandemic and the day-to-day struggle that comes with entrepreneurship, Ade wouldn't have it any other way.

- I am so proud.

I'm so proud of myself because I had a thought at three in the morning a year ago, and a year later, I have something tangible in my hand.

And I'm also very proud that my daughter gets to watch me do this.

I'm very proud that I'm starting some sort of legacy.

- [Anchor] A legacy that her daughter and future generations, local and abroad, can take as hope for what our community can do when we come together and bridge the gap.

- I'm very proud that I can be that kind of example to my daughter, where when maybe all odds are against us, as a Black woman here, I'm doing something and I'm doing something really positive.

That's the kind of impact we are having and we're hoping to grow more.

- Just in case you were wondering, yes, I did get to taste the lamb chops and the other amazing foods that she cooked.

Delicious.

You can find Ade's Spices by visiting her website at www.ilewafoods.com.

She is also a regular vendor at the Black Farmers' Market in Durham and Raleigh.

- While everyone starts a business for their own reasons, there are a handful of motivations.

In the past two years, business owners primarily went into business because they were ready to be their own boss and overall dissatisfied with corporate America.

With women being at the helm of the uptake.

To discuss some of the facts surrounding this, we invite our panelists to the show.

Jes Averhart, CEO of Jes and Co and the host of the Reinvention Road Trip, Kevin Price, President and CEO of the Institute Providing Economic Prosperity for Diverse Populations and Crystal Taylor, Co-founder of Black August in the Park.

So grateful to have you all here.

- Thank you.

Great to be here.

- Thank you for having me.

- Thank you.

- So you're all entrepreneurs.

And while I'm sure each of your paths were unique, there is a global understanding among small business owners of what it means to embark upon that journey.

But unfortunately, research shows us that about half of those that take the leap, don't make it past their five year mark.

Kevin, first question to you, how have the socioeconomic and demographic changes in North Carolina impacted that outcome?

- Well, I think from a socioeconomic perspective what we're seeing is that for many minority owned businesses in particular, they start a disadvantage because we don't come from money or have relatives or friends who can give us a loan or even a donation to start a business.

So we start out generally in debt.

My concern particularly in North Carolina is that we saw the tale of two states, we saw a significant increase in the number of minority businesses that well, businesses in general that were created as well as minority businesses.

We set a record in 2021 of over 178,000 businesses that were started.

Many were minority and women owned businesses.

What I'm often telling these young entrepreneurs or new entrepreneurs is that please don't use, don't burn through your 401k, your 403B, your savings to finance your business.

We find that a lot of them come to us after they've already done that.

And then they're looking for a loan and they have no leverage and so I encourage them to come to us first so they have resources to leverage to have a better outcome or more likelihood of success with their business.

- Let's say they didn't come to you first, how do you recover from making those decisions in your business journey?

- Well, it becomes challenging.

We look for other ways of funding them, we may have the stack financial resources, they may need to start with a grant and start that way first or much smaller loan amount than they may have requested from us initially.

And that is generally how we address those issues.

- So, Jes, one thing that I've come to admire about your journey, your entrepreneurial journey is your ability to pivot and create new opportunities for yourself especially during a time of economic instability.

Tell us what's contributed to that and do you take your clients on that journey of understanding how they pivot?

- Yeah.

Thank you.

You know, I'm a fourth generation entrepreneur.

So I always like to level set with that, I was raised in a very entrepreneurial family and they put me to work at six years old.

So, you know, we were gonna make it they had me doing something on a Saturday morning to try to make it, right?

So, you know, it's a lot about hustle, it's a very hard working kind of mentality when you get into entrepreneurship, but it is really this idea of spirit of reinvention and you know, Kenia, that this is my business, right?

I really work with women, high performing women on creating pathways for, you know, what's next for them.

What does reinvention and what does that journey look like?

And you know what Kevin is saying across the state, we saw this sort of uptick.

We talk about the great resignation, but really what I've been watching is this great reinvention, right?

People are saying, hmm, maybe I don't have to do this nine to five.

What do I have within me that I can bring forward?

What's special and unique about what I bring to the world?

What are my gifts?

And can I monetize that?

And so, yes, that's the journey I take my clients on is to really unlock that and help them untangle that web that oftentimes we get caught up in.

And a lot of it is in our head, right?

Unlocking the belief that we can't do a thing when in fact we absolutely can.

And, you know, when you're getting ready to talk to Crystal, she'll share with you her journey.

But even Kevin talking about the resources that are out there.

I mean, there are resources, there is a network that can help set entrepreneurs up for success, black entrepreneurs up for success especially in the State of North Carolina.

It's just a matter of tapping into it.

- You make a good point cause I also am an entrepreneur, but for years I battled with, can I do it in my head?

Right?

And so I love the fact that you help people realize you can do it.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

It's all there.

It's all there.

And oftentimes you just need someone else other than you to tell you that you can do it cause you think, I think I can do this.

As soon as someone speaks it to you, you're like, oh, yeah.

Okay.

I believe it now, and that's key.

- Yeah.

So, Crystal, let's bring you in.

Black August in the Park creates a safe space for our Black entrepreneurs.

Tell us why is this important and how do you create that space, or how have you created that space?

- Yeah, so Black August in the Park, you know, it's just a space to be able to create liberation and freedom and joy.

It's imperative that we have it because we need to be able to have that as Black people, because of all the things that we have experienced and gone through that can be diminishing to our dreams and values and hopes and encouragement.

So we make sure we create this space so people can come together, so they can feel joyful, so they can feel excited and motivated and inspired to be able to just be Black in America but also pursue your dreams and to be able to execute these types of things for your own selves and your own groups and networks and families.

- Yeah.

For those that have never experienced Black August in the Park, tell us a little bit about what that that experience is like.

- Oh, Black August in the Park is like a huge family reunion, cookout, homecoming party, all in one space.

We make sure we create it where people are learning about what Black August is, because we weren't the first ones to start it.

Black August is a movement that creates a space of commemorating liberators and freedom fighters that were falsely ingested, you know, falsely accused of doing things for years back in the 60s and the 70s.

And so we just try to give space to people to be able to release all that and reset your minds and reset your goals and be able to come together without knowing everybody.

But knowing that we are a community.

We are a people.

You'll see and hear music and dancing all day.

You'll see food trucks, so you can have any type of food you want.

You want to get a fish plate, you can get a barbecue plate.

It's a great time to be able to come together and just be joyful and just celebrate being Black, being free, and searching for those things that can be motivating and inspiring to continue on as a community, as a people.

A lot of times we see each other fighting, and we hear about the different violence that's going on in the community, but we were not created to be that type of person, that type of people.

The way the community's climate, culture's climate, has created this stronghold over us to make us feel like we have to fight each other instead of working together.

And Black August in the Park really creates a space of like, no, we are one community, one people.

Let's come together.

Let's be joyful.

Let's celebrate each other and just go back out and win the next day.

- Well, it sounds like the perfect place for us, for sure.

So U.S. Treasury Department announced just last week that it has approved the state's application for funding under the state's Small Business Credit Initiative.

North Carolina is expected to receive about $200 million in loan funding.

This comes right on the heels of PPP-fraud-investigation decision to extend the statute of limitations on fraud charges to 10 years.

The news has been flooded with reports of those who used PPP money to enhance their lifestyles.

While the numbers are still being tallied, reports are showing it close to $80 billion stolen.

Kevin, we know that many in our community took advantage of these relief funds in the past, not fraudulently but just simply because they needed it.

What impact will this news have on business-owners feeling confident or secure about taking advantage of the $200 million that's now available?

- Well, Kenia, I really think it goes back to the trust in those facilitators or those who are going to administer those funds or disperse those funds out to recipient.

And what happens is, even if we go back to Reconstruction, there's a trust factor that we have to get past in our community.

It's those institutions in our community that come from our community that have built trust within the community that the community trust.

And so I spend a lot of time with large organizations that received those dollars saying, we have to partner together.

We have to collaborate with one another, so we can make those funds available.

They're places my team can go that others cannot because they won't have the same level of trust that my team has developed.

And so I think a lot of it goes back to that.

We did a really good job over the last two years of administering RETOOLNC dollars from the general assembly and the governor.

And a lot of that in partnership with another community development financial institution, we've provided over $20 million in grants to minority and women-owned businesses across North Carolina, across North Carolina, in rural and in urban communities, over 800 businesses we've supported, and all of them are doing the right thing.

And so I think the challenge is not to scare people into thinking, don't go after these funds because we want to make sure there's accountability.

We need to have accountability.

We have to make sure that's in there, because these are tax dollars but use them to support your business.

- Thank you so much, Kevin, for contributing to the conversation.

We appreciate what your organization does and what you continue to do for the business community.

- Thank you.

- Crystal, let's go to you.

In our feature earlier when we talked to Aday about the importance of community support, she brought up the thought of buying Black, right, of continuing to support our own.

How detrimental is that to our space?

- It's incredibly critical that our community supports one another.

One of the reasons why we started Black Farmers Market is because we didn't see Black farmers and Black businesses in other spaces.

And so, there is, like Kevin spoke about, there's not an equal playing field.

We came into a situation that we didn't have access to loans, grants, buildings to even sell merchandise and meet with people to be able to have a new clientele of people to follow.

So it's critical that these spaces are created.

And so we think of ourselves as some type of an incubator almost to be able to help support those businesses, help their platform grow, and then they'll be able to have access to opportunities that they otherwise wouldn't have on their own.

And so with our spotlight, with our demo, the following that we have it helps create more support with those businesses.

We're very passionate about making sure businesses and people have the opportunities, the inspiration to be able to go forth and cultivate something new and big for themselves.

But we saw that that's just not happening throughout the climate where we live in.

You don't see the intentional pursuit of Black businesses and entrepreneurs in spaces that don't have that cultural divide.

And so it's important to be able to challenge people, cities, commissions, and organizations to make sure they support Black businesses on a regular basis, because otherwise it would just look the way it looks right now.

So we're just trying to make sure that if they're not going to be intentional, then we will.

And we'll travel it and we'll continue to be a support and incubator for businesses to be able to get where they need to go to flourish because if we don't work together as a community to do that, then obviously it's not gonna happen on its own.

- Right and one thing I think I love the most is the exposure opportunity.

We compete with these larger organizations all the time.

We're overlooked and sometimes we can't find that edge to compete against the larger groups.

Jes, I'd like to think that if we as entrepreneurs worked a little more to focus on the needs, right, the pain points of our clients and how we reinvent our offerings and our businesses to cater to those points, we could really make a lot of money.

[chuckles] So tell us a little bit about how you journey this process with your clients.

- Yeah, so most entrepreneurs get into business because they have a great idea, right?

But the ones who stay in business are the ones who talk to their customers, who understand if their great idea is really a fit in the marketplace.

Besides making sure that your business is set up properly, if you're gonna make money and stay in business and hit that one year mark and then hit that five year mark, and then bring on staff and build generational wealth, you have to be in tune with your customer.

So who are they?

What do they need?

We just came out of a pandemic.

Needs have changed.

So if you had a business two years ago, your business probably doesn't look the same as it does now.

And if it does look like it did two years ago, you might feel the pinch.

That bottom line might not look the same, right, because the market has shifted.

So, you're right.

I mean, understanding how you reinvent your business is really understanding what the world and the market at large, how they have reinvented themselves and staying right on the edge, right on the edge, and meeting those needs in a way that is excellent and is memorable.

You wanna be the standout and have that differential value proposition.

- Yeah.

I love this because I think both of you are in spaces of understanding what your business needs to help other people understand what their business needs.

And so, Crystal, when you think about community and thinking about supporting the small businesses in the spaces that you have, Black August and other ventures that you create, how do you pivot and adjust to creating exactly what those business owners need?

- I mean, Jes just hit it, nail on the head.

I mean, it's exactly that.

We see a lot of things that are standard.

People create business models that work for them and not necessarily for the community and the culture that they're serving.

And so, Black August in the Park, Black Farmers Market, everything is very intentional.

It's to feel at home.

It's to feel safe.

It's to feel familiar to what Black community sees and they already do.

You know, they already have cookouts.

They already have family reunions.

We already have homecoming.

We already create these spaces of engagement within our own families and small cohorts, and so to be able to do that on a massive level for people to let them see what the possibilities are coming together, serving businesses, creating space of education.

At Black August in the Park, we have social justice organizations that come and they let the resources be known, like this is what we can offer you and this is what we can support you.

Jes made a great point earlier that the resources are there.

We just don't know about it.

And we need to be able to create a space for them to tap into it.

So that's the intentionality behind Black August in the Park, not having vendors that are selling shea butter or clothes, but are actually advertising and promoting their organization's benefits for a community that are black and brown.

It's a beautiful thing because you're seeing this huge, massive cookout and there's like 10,000 people doing the electric slide and you've never seen that thing before but it's also encouraging.

It's uplifting.

And so it gives people the idea, man, I can do that, or man, I wanna be able to offer this type of service or I wanna start this type of nonprofit.

- Right.

- And so it all goes back to the same point like reinventing yourself and understanding what the possibilities are.

I feel strongly that our community doesn't see what the possibilities are.

They won't think of it of themselves.

It's very rare that you meet people that just come up with something and do it, execute it.

And it runs off and grows legs.

And so we have to continuously inspire each other.

We have to continuously uplift each other and that space created to do that is what it actually ends up doing.

- Yeah.

And, you know, I love the idea of seeing yourself in the movement, of seeing yourself because it provides options of possibility for you.

And, you know, I think it's okay to recognize too that not everyone is an entrepreneur.

If everyone was an entrepreneur, then obviously we wouldn't have a lot of other functionalities in business.

Jes, you know, how do you kind of help someone come to that conclusion that entrepreneurship may not be the right journey for you?

- Yeah, that's a great point, number one, and not everyone needs to be an entrepreneur.

You have to understand and unlock the gifts and the talents that you bring to the table.

So we all have passion, purpose, right?

These sort of flowery words that people throw around, it seems like, but you do have to get clear on what that is for you.

And so, you know, what's driving you, what's waking you up in the morning?

What lights you up?

And if it lights you up to go and crunch numbers and tighten up someone's budget and be the best accountant that you can possibly be for a business, thank God for you because I need you in my business.

Right?

So it's not a competition like entrepreneurship isn't necessarily this gold ring that everyone should aspire to, just aspire to the thing that's within you that contributes the most for your time on this planet.

Right?

We have a finite amount of time.

What are you doing with it?

Where are you going?

And how do you make the world a better place along the way?

And we just do a lot of conversations, a lot of unlocking, a lot of like strength and areas of growth work.

You know how this is.

But the key is doing that.

The key is creating the space in your day or a week or on a weekend to get really quiet and do that work for yourself.

Write it out, have conversations with trusted friends and family and see where your best positioned and then the rest is the rest is up to you.

- It's beautiful.

Beautiful work.

Well, Jess Averhart, Crystal Taylor, thank you so much for joining us today.

I'm grateful for you, and what you guys do in the community.

- Thank you friend.

- Thanks.

- Thank you.

- Glad to be here.

- I wanna thank today's guests, Kevin Price, Jess Averhart, and Crystal Taylor.

Thank you for joining us today.

We invite you to engage with us on Twitter or Instagram using the #blackissuesforum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum, or listen at any time on Apple iTunes, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

For Black Issues Forum, I'm Kenia Thompson.

Thank you for watching.

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