Morgan State And Howard University Team Up With PNC For Black Business Hub

Morgan State University and Howard University have joined forces with the PNC Foundation to help expand Black-owned businesses.

According to CBS, a new business hub and pop-up market aims to encourage students to display their from-the-ground-up business skills.

Morgan State University’s Dr. Mary Foster underscored the resources in today’s culture that can level the playing field for potential Black business owners.

“There are many rich resources already out there, so we want to not reinvent the wheel, not duplicate things,” Foster said to CBS. “We want to create new things that are needed to help reduce those disparities for Black entrepreneurs.”

The new program also includes novice business owners. Owner of Nobel Gems Community Health Services, Cierra Jones, recently completed Morgan State and PNC’s business hub.

“It’s deeper than a Google search, it’s deeper than what you can find in a dictionary or encyclopedia, right, or even a newspaper, but it’s about having access directly handed to you or having those direct relationships with the most important people that can bring you those resources and direct you to the right opportunity,” Jones said to CBS.com.

Howard University is also partnering with PNC for the business hub. Anthony Wilburn, dean of Howard University School of Business, said the collaboration would have long-term effects on Blacks in the business space and the overall Black community.

“Entrepreneurship is the engine of this nation. Our students and alumni are entrepreneurs by nature and really embrace the concepts of what it means to start up and run a business,” said Willburn, cited by PNC.com. “Some of our students go on to become entrepreneurs themselves, while others find entrepreneurship concepts useful within corporate jobs. We’ve been trying to support their passion and interest in entrepreneurship as much as possible, and it is very much a part of what we do at Howard University.”

PNC Foundation will host its conference for Black entrepreneurship from June 14–16 in Washington, DC.