DESPITE THE CHALLENGES, BLACK WOMEN SMALL BUSINESSES THRIVE DURING THE HOLIDAYS IN HARTFORD

Winterfair - Shop black small businesses week

Through the course of the years, Connecticut has been one of the northeastern states that have been proud of supporting small businesses. As a result, diverse communities have been given the step to become entrepreneurs opening the path to be part of the economy's structure in the nutmeg state.

During the holiday season, minority-owned businesses have made a strong presence during the 2021 Winterfair in Hartford, particularly black small businesswomen. With an entire week dedicated to highlighting their efforts, they have made notorious their desire to strive.

Source - 2021 SBA report

According to the SBA, there are 22,000 black or African-American businesses in the state, representing the 12.1% owned by racial minorities. BOCETO MEDIA spoke with entrepreneurs that share their experiences, challenges, and learning lessons with starting their businesses.

Ital Creations

Audrene Dias – Ital Creations

Background: Audrene is originally from Jamaica. She currently works at a telecommunications company as a sales representative and a project management student at Northeastern University.

About the business: "My business is Ital Creations, which is natural handmade skincare, body care product line. So basically, what I do is create soaps, body butters, oils that are naturally healthy for your skin.”

Dias says she started her company to make a difference within other big brand products, "The European Union has banned over 1000 different chemicals from personal care products but in the U.S. only like 11 of those chemicals have been banned. What I've done is develop products that omit all of those harsh chemicals.”

Challenges: "I started my business right before the coronavirus started. When everything shut down, it basically pushed me into developing my business plan, strategy, and go. I find that there is some struggle, but right now, there is this push for minority businesses and women-owned businesses. There are a lot of resources available now because I feel like there's a strong push towards that."

Goals: "Within the next few months, I'm looking to get into some local stores as well as I'm looking into hiring people, so I see that my business has grown, especially in the last couple of months, and I'm looking forward to growing even further."

The Key Bookstore

Khamani Harrison – The Key Bookstore

Background: Khamani Harrison is from California and came to Connecticut to study environmental engineering at UCONN. Her bookstore is located on Park Street.

About the business: "My business is the Key Bookstore; it's an Afrofuturistic, interactive bookstore. It uses state of the art technology to build community as we sell books around the world."

Khamani says she started her business right after the Black Lives Matter movement in 2016 and wanted to create a new experience for readers that differentiates it from other bookstores, "People have always been interested in black culture in one way or another you look at the biggest forms of entertainment. You got movies, popular black actors, athletes. You know, so this is where the community goes to empower essentially."

Challenges: “I love the community within the city. I think there's a lot of talented creative ideas that come here and that live here. I do feel like the infrastructure is missing a lot of things that all the other big cities around the country have. It's really missing that.”

Goals: "I utilize community a lot, so I'm partnering with people. I'm talking to people about what my vision is. I'm very much not just a talker, I'm a doer, and show-er, like you gotta see it to believe it."

Jodie's Cup of Health

Jodie-Anne Bryant – Jodie's Cup of Health

Background: Jodie-Anne is a 35 years old entrepreneur from Jamaica. She says she is proud of her cultural origins and represents it in the Hartford community.

About the business: "Jodie’s Cup of Health started as a beverage company in 2009. In 2015 my niece and I pivoted to body butters because she struggled with eczema. I started making the product for her and her mom, and then the rest is history."

Challenges: "I believe there are resources. They're just not accessible in a sense where you could just go and find them. There needs to be a better, clearer path for businesswomen, especially minority businesswomen. Still, there they are, it's just not accessible for you to just walk in the door and get it right away."

Goals: "If you're not supporting women-based businesses in the essence of just buying a product, you can support us by just going out and telling your family and friends about us, and that helps to bring awareness. It's like a domino effect; you tip one, and then that one tips another one. So, the best way that we're going to have movement is just by talking about it."

City Charms 860

Sherrell Moon – City Charms 860

Background: Sherrell started her business after she became unemployed during the pandemic. She wanted to keep productive and started making jewelry. Some of them have embedded flowers that traditionally represent the city of Hartford, and from there, the business's name.

Challenges: "I don't feel as if there were a lot of resources for me at all. Honestly, I'm meeting many people as I go and do a lot of events, but I feel like it was just challenging in itself, just trying to get your name out there and finding actual places to vend. So just not a lot for small businesses out here."

Goals: "I'm hoping to have a storefront, but I'm more so hoping to have like an awesome website. You know we're all just some people out here just trying to make it, so if you can and if you have the time come out and support local businesses for Christmas."

Pop's Famous Guac

Nicola Poplin - Pop's Famous Guac

Background: Nicola used to be a chemistry teacher and then a principal in Bloomfield. She worked in the system for 17 years. She started her business after recovering from an accident that slowed things down in her life.

"God knocked me in my head and said ‘no Nicola, this is what you're supposed to be doing now.’ So it wasn't a struggle to make that decision because the universe made that decision for me, you know."

About the business: "I used to be a teacher, and so my kids always called me Pop, that's the shortened version of my last name. During the summertime of COVID-19, I started to make the guacamole, we had the recipe before, but I brought it back into the mix. My family and friend liked the recipe and motivated me to sell. So I had a vision, and I wanted to have a logo that was kind of fun."

Challenges: "I didn't come from a business background; I came from an educational background, so I had to relearn some things, and I'm still learning. I think that was the biggest challenge to find out numbers like how to price my item, making sure that I was paying myself because, you know, it's hard to have a business. When you're not paying yourself, you're not getting that profit, and we tend to forget ourselves and almost everything, including business, so I think that was probably one of the biggest challenges for me."

As the pandemic has brought challenges to Connecticut's small businesses, they have managed to keep alive while navigating through a recovery. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs are asking for an easier way to help them stay afloat.

According to a 2021 research published by the MARCUS ACCOUNT AND ADVISORS FIRM, 82% of participants were small businesses with their primary location in Hartford county, followed by New Haven, Fairfield, and Middlesex as the top 3 locations. Of these, 8% are women entrepreneurs and 1% minority businesses. The biggest group of small businesses in Connecticut are manufacturing and construction.

The study shows that Connecticut's small businesses have concerns about how legislators are handling the state's economy. Most importantly, they considered four critical topics that must be addressed in the legislature for faster financial recovery.

"State spending and pension reforms, lower taxes, Workforce development, Business-friendly policies."

Small businesses also "believe the labor shortage, high business taxes, the state's high cost of living, workplace mandates and compliance costs, and the uncertainty of legislative decision-making are the greatest barriers to growth in Connecticut."

Source: Marcum accountant & advisors 2021

However, they also were optimistic in comparison with the recession of 2020 due to the pandemic, "39% expect Connecticut's economy to grow, with 53% forecasting national growth."

Nicole Poplin says that she is enthusiastic about what new endeavors will bring 2022.

"I hope that everybody has blessings, that the universe and God can provide for them. That all what we struggled with this year, emotionally, financially, whatever it is changes. There's going to be a change, and it's going to be for the better at some point in time. So have faith, hold on, hold on to your faith, your loved ones, and your family. Life is precious, and time is short."

To learn more about resources for minority small businesses in Connecticut, visit PortalCT.gov