A new organization hopes to make a positive impact on minority-owned businesses throughout Martinsville and Henry County.
On Thursday, the men and women behind the Minority Business Consortium unveiled the new nonprofit at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the New College Institute. The event was the culmination of work dating back to 2019, according to MBC President Charles Whitfield.
“This is a date that we’ve been looking forward to for a very, very long time,” Whitfield said.
Christy Harper, MBC’s inaugural executive director, said the organization, located at 191 Fayette St., came into existence after a handful of people recognized a need in the region. Outside of organizations like the chamber of commerce, there aren’t many groups geared toward helping the area’s minority business owners or minority entrepreneurs who want to move to the area, she said.
Harper said MBC aims to make the process of opening and running a business a less solitary experience for minority entrepreneurs while making the business landscape more stable.
“Our goal is to … decrease the amount of businesses that are closing,” Harper said. “We want to increase sustainability for our businesses.”
Harper said this entails bridging the gap between business owners and resources they might not be aware of by providing grant and program information and networking opportunities, and hosting events that focus on topics like marketing and customer service.
“We actually prepare them for funding opportunities on the back end,” Harper said. “Any businesses that may come upon challenges as life hits them, we want to make them prepared for that.”
Harper said that the MBC has community partners, such as the Longwood Small Business Development Center and Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce, to help connect them to minority-owned businesses.
The group has been in contact with 139 minority-owned businesses since work started on creating the MBC in 2019 and leading up to Thursday’s ribbon-cutting event.
“I think it’s pretty fantastic really,” said Faye Holland, an entrepreneur who attended Thursday’s event.
Holland is the owner of Holland Accounting and Tax Service. She said she remembers starting work as an accountant in 1998 and receiving no assistance.
“Up until eight to 10 years ago, if you were a small-business owner in this area, you were on your own.”
Harper said these sentiments are common among the minority business owners who helped develop the idea for MBC in 2019.
“Everything is a process,” Harper said about the nonprofit choosing now to introduce itself to the community. “It’s a process, everything is a process. Making sure you have the right things in place.”
This included partnering with the right organizations, like the Harvest Foundation, which invested $609,641 into the organization.
[Disclosure: The Harvest Foundation is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Harper said the goal for the organization’s first year is to increase its network while continuing to diagnose what it is that minority-owned businesses in the community need.
Holland said the community is in need of a collective effort, adding that MBC is well-positioned to provide just that.
“It’s a godsend, it’s great that we are coming together like this,” Holland said. “They do it in other cities. I think … it’s good to get back to our roots where we help each other.”