Blacquity Executive Director Gwen Chambers leveling the playing field for black-owned businesses.
Gwen Chambers is the Executive Director for Blacquity, a non-profit that works to help black-owned businesses get access to information needed to be successful.
The old sayings about business have long fallen into the realm of the cliché: “The only place success comes before work is the dictionary.” “Be the first to clock in and the last to clock out.” “Hard work beats talent.”
The subtext of all these sayings, however, is that failure comes from a lack of hard work, which is almost never the case. Ambition, hard work, talent … these things can only take you so far if the doors to success have been closed to you. For a large percentage of black businesses, those doors are often difficult to locate, much less open. It’s part of why black-owned businesses make up just seven percent of the business landscape, while black people make up 13 percent of the population.
“It’s not that black businesses need any help learning their trade. They have ambition and drive, they just don’t have access,” said Bridgette Frazier, co-founder of Blacquity, a new initiative designed to elevate, empower, and promote local black-owned businesses. “We wanted to position them in a way that gets them access, shows them how to bid on a quote, how to become vendors with local government … that’s how we wanted to level the playing field.”
The idea for Blacquity sprang from conversations between Frazier and local businessman/philanthropist Billy Watterson, head of Watterson Brands. Watterson knew of Frazier’s work with Bluffton MLK Observance Committee and how that group was looking to expand their mission. The pair of them not only became fast friends, but they seized on an idea that could give black-owned businesses the support they need to live up to their potential.
The organization takes a two-pronged approach to building up black business. The first is through creation of a black-owned business directory, an idea that had been bouncing around Lowcountry business circles for years without being executed. The second is through Black Equity University, an intensive 12-week course that dives deep into the nuts and bolts of running a successful business, with classroom sessions, guest speakers and facilitators that represent a cross-section of local success stories.
While Frazier and Watterson shared a passion for their new project, they knew that each of them had far more on their plate than would allow Blacquity the attention they deserved. Not only is Frazier a member of Bluffton Town Council and part of the MLK Committee; she is the owner of the Chef B’s Eatz food truck, and soon Ma Daisy’s Porch. They needed someone who could take this concept and run with it.
“We had quite a list of very good candidates,” Frazier said. “We wanted someone with drive and ambition who was going to really create community relationships.”
Sonya Grant, Owner, Gullah T’s N Tings and 2021 BEU Pitch Context Winner
Jacquelyn Brown, Home Sweet Home In-Home Care Services
They found that someone in Gwen Chambers, now executive director of Blacquity. A mainstay of the Lowcountry, Chambers has immersed herself in the community through work with Bluffton Self Help, the Town of Bluffton’s Affordable Housing Committee, the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Program and more. With a foot in the world of both the black-owned business community and the broader business community, she was the ideal fit.
“It’s absolutely rewarding, seeing these business owners go through the process, have those ‘ah-ha’ moments and push through,” Chambers said. Under her leadership, the Black Equity University program has sharpened its curriculum, expanded its roster of students and pushed dozens of black-owned businesses to new heights.
“It’s 12 weeks of a lot of work,” she said with a laugh. “They’re looking at their fixed expenses, variable expenses, cash flow projections, making sure they have a better understanding when speaking with a commercial lender or investor or customer, all so that they can speak confidently about their business.”
Already, three cohorts of businesses have passed through BEU’s hallways, representing businesses ranging from pre-K education and in-home care to photographers and restaurateurs. Well-known names like Melly Mel’s and Gullah T’s N’ Tings have all taken advantage of the opportunities and access for which Blacquity was founded.
“It really helps them look at their business from a new perspective and learn how they can expand. So far we’ve had 22 graduates, which may not seem like a lot, but we’re making sure we have the right size class to address the needs of everyone,” Chambers said. “There’s a lot we cover in those 12 weeks, and we need to make sure we’re giving the hands-on help those entrepreneurs need.”
That hands-on help is already making a major impact on the black business community, elevating entrepreneurial dreams above the roadblocks in their way. For Chambers, it represents a chance to put her considerable talents to use, helping level the playing field and create new opportunities for everyone.
“Just being in a position to elevate and promote black businesses is rewarding,” she said. “It really makes me feel like I’ve found what I need to be doing.”
To learn more about Blacquity, visit blacquitysc.org.
