black owned businesses in Memphis

The Black Business Association of Memphis (BBA), a 50-year-old organization founded by Black merchants with the intent to support African-American business owners in their endeavors through advocacy, is looking to expand their vision and purpose.

BBA will take on a “chamber of commerce” model and will now be known as the Black Chamber of Memphis.

Being in a unique position that sees the talent of Memphis’ own Black entrepreneurs, the BBA also recognizes the potential Memphis has to elevate such talent.

Heartland Forward, a nonprofit organization, released their report, “Black Business Opportunity Strategy: The Journey of Black Business Owners in Memphis,” in October 2023, where they found that 12,571 Black individuals in the city earn their income through self-employment.

They also found that while the city has a density of Black-owned businesses, it is disproportionate to the population size with 46 percent of the Memphis metro area being comprised of Black citizens, with only 7.3 percent of firms being Black-owned.

Ernest Strickland, president and CEO of the Black Chamber of Memphis, said a challenge that the city faces is that the landscape is spread out and lacks a concentration other cities, like Atlanta, Georgia, and Houston, Texas, have. Atlanta and Houston have become prime locations for Black business owners not only to see their businesses thrive but also to create generational wealth and legacy.

“We don’t have the density …, which is why it’s even more important for business owners to take a step back before starting, to see where they would have the best propensity for success,” Strickland said.

He added that this anniversary year serves as the perfect opportunity to tackle these challenges and take on a new journey.

“The BBA has done amazing work over these last 50 years,” Strickland said. “One of the things I challenge my team with is, imagine Memphis being this robust metropolitan — the capital of the South if you will. People are pouring in, opportunities being bountiful, companies booming. Once you imagine that type of Memphis, I want you to take a step back and ask, ‘How do we get there?’”

Strickland said they are working to rebrand BBA into an organization that is laser-focused on helping build wealth in the Black community, while also serving as a catalyst to unlock Memphis’ full potential. As a result, they are looking to move toward a “chamber of commerce model.”

“It will allow us to do more as far as bringing on new members, identify[ing] and attract[ing] more corporate sponsors,” Strickland said. “It will allow us to focus our programming on what’s important. That’s people, helping business, and building wealth in the Black community.”

While the BBA is excited for this next chapter and the opportunity to revamp, this doesn’t mean they’ll scrap the framework that has gotten the organization to this point.

“You really have to pay homage and honor people who had the vision and foresight to recognize that Memphis was a mecca and metropolitan, but also we had a large concentration of Black people who called Memphis home,” Strickland said. “It was very visionary for them to say, ‘Hey we need an organization or agency that works to help grow these Black businesses that are here.’”

The landscape has changed significantly since 1964, with many people opting to hone their own talents as opposed to taking them to a larger corporation. Strickland said this was especially true since the pandemic, with him seeing a boom in restaurants, retail, and mom-and-pop shops.

The organization is primarily focused on growth, and they realize that growth looks different for each person. Strickland said many of their members are part-time owners looking to expand intro full-time, while some may want to build “the next FedEx.”

Regardless of each member’s end-goal, Strickland said they meet them wherever they are and understand their viability, qualifications, and more.

“What can we do to help ensure success and mitigate failure? That’s our role in this entire process,” Strickland said.

Part of ensuring success and mitigating failure is propelling the organization forward. Strickland added they will be a stronger partner in the economic development ecosystem not only by supporting other chambers but also by ensuring that Black businesses are victorious.

New Report Details Strategies for Development of Memphis’ Black-Owned Businesses

A new report released by Heartland Forward says that 12,571 Black residents in the city of Memphis earn their income through self-employment.

“Focusing on Shelby County alone, there are 10,613 Black business owners, 3,174 of which own an incorporated business,” the report said.

However, the city also has a disproportionate number of Black businesses without employees.

This makes Memphis “one of the densest concentrations of Black business ownership in the United States.”

The report titled, “Black Business Opportunity Strategy: The Journey of Black Business Owners in Memphis,” examines data to “provide key insights regarding Black business ownership.”

“The report examines the unique data and characteristics of the Memphis entrepreneurship ecosystem with the goal of identifying the key areas to focus on for developing programming and policies supporting and growing Black businesses across the country,” said the company in a statement.

Memphis was chosen as the city to focus on, not only because of the number of Black residents but also because the company felt that the city can “no longer afford to material invest in strategies that do not address the core issues facing Black businesses.”

Heartland Forward states that business ownership can be a positive tool for generational wealth. However, they also explain that the path to entrepreneurship is “complex and nonlinear.” There are also systemic inequities that can make this journey harder for Black business owners, compared to their white counterparts.

“For underrepresented populations, entrepreneurship is exponentially hard,” the report says. “While white entrepreneurs have numerous examples of successful business owners from their community, access to startup capital via friends, family, and personal savings …underrepresented populations do not have comparable access to these resources.”

The pandemic also brought to light the inability for Black business owners to pivot as easily as white business owners. According to research from the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, Black business owners suffered the largest loss during the pandemic.

“Black business owners still experienced a disproportionate negative impact on business earnings of 12 to 14 percent higher relative to White business owners,” said the study.

Heartland Forward said that this was likely due to systemic inequities such as access to innovative tools, as well as internet and digital literacy.

The report also explains that a major issue for Black business owners is “a lack of understanding the innovation process and having little exposure to alternate business models.”

While the report goes on to list a number of issues that contribute to the struggles the Black business owners face, it also contains solutions dealing with technical assistance, material resources, and increasing the percent of contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses.

It also heavily emphasizes the importance of support and promotion in the success of Black-owned businesses.

“Promotion of contemporary and successful Black business owners is critical for the next generation to visualize what their businesses could become,” the report says. “Memphis needs to both promote and celebrate their Black business owners. This also provides exposure to opportunity entrepreneurship and cultivates ideas for business growth and development among necessity entrepreneurs.”