business

As Black businesses struggle to recover from COVID-19, local experts have gathered to talk solutions and resources to rebuild Black wealth amidst the ongoing crisis. In partnership with the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA) and Berkshire Bank, the Bay State Banner’s Howard Manly moderated a panel on “Helping Black Businesses Thrive.”

When Marcus Medley set out to launch Apace Forms, a software that provides easy-to-use templates for real estate contracts, he knew it all started with the answer to a very simple question: what is a problem I face that needs to be solved?

A WGBH investigation has revealed that minority businesses may not get as great a share of state contracting dollars as the governor is reporting.

The BankBlack credit card, announced in December of last year, also positioned the bank to thrive amid the social unrest that followed the May 25 killing of George Floyd and the rise in support for black businesses that grew out of it. In the three-and-a-half months following Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, the bank has received 50,000 new customers, bringing in $50 million in new deposits.

Despite the passage of nearly 60 years between the original 1963 March on Washington and its 2020 recommitment, many of the issues that have plagued Black America remain the same.

With all of the recent talk about systemic racism and the across-the-board efforts to dismantle it, an unlikely front is emerging in the battle for racial equity — retail grocery store shelves.

Roxbury businesses face an uphill climb when it comes to returning to normal, so Haley House Bakery Cafe has pulled from all their resources to bring hospitality back to an unpredictable situation.

Black Tech Pipeline is a one-person operation where founder Chandler, who lives in Cambridge, connects Black and brown technologists with employers who want to diversify their workforce.

Alex Joachim runs a multifaceted branding business providing creative storytelling to clients that run the gamut from local mom-and-pop shops to Fortune 500 companies.

The City of Boston offers many resources for small business owners — from COVID-19 guidance and support, to workshops in marketing, accounting, HR and more.

A recent study from MassINC Polling Group shows that a third of small businesses in Massachusetts aren’t able to fully reopen, and Black-owned businesses continue to struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.