Celebrating Black Business Month 2024

“Do not desire to fit in. Desire to oblige yourselves to lead.”
– Gwendolyn Brooks

August is National Black Business Month! Honoring global, and local, black-owned businesses is imperative and ever-important in 2024. Shining the spotlight on this demographic of entrepreneurs is a crucial and timely reminder that efforts are still yet to be made regarding equity and inclusion in the business world and economy.

As cited in an exposé from National Today, “Denise Moore, CEO of the Black Business Alliance in Peoria, Illinois, has this to say about the importance of Black Business Month: ‘Black Business Month is exciting because it gives us an opportunity to focus on a community that is far too often underrepresented when it comes to access to capital and opportunities to build wealth.'”

And how did this month of acknowledgment and celebration become established?

“The history of Black Business Month can be traced back to the year 2004, when engineering entrepreneur Frederick E. Jordan partnered with the president and executive editor of the scholarly publishing company eAccess Corp,’ John William Templeton, to start this annual event. The intention of the pair was to ‘drive the policy agenda affecting the 2.6 million African-American businesses,’ in order to highlight and empower Black business owners all over, especially given the unique challenges faced by minority business owners. This stemmed from Jordan’s own personal experience of the struggle to gain financial backing and funding when he began his own firm in San Francisco in 1969.”

Some additional insights and resources follow:

• Black Business Month in Evanston!
• Local events set to celebrate Black Business Month
• Illinois Celebrating Black Business Month in August
• Black Business Month: economic equity in focus

wegg® applauds all African-American entrepreneurs within our community and beyond! We hope you feel seen and celebrated every month of the year.