Each week on the The Urban Business Roundtable I offer commentary with our “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, which is my chance to talk about opportunities, news and strategies of critical importance to entrepreneurs who are serious about the success of their businesses. My topic this week falls squarely in the opportunities category: Small Business Saturday, November 27, 2010.
When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault announced this week that New York would be the first city to designate the first Saturday after Thanksgiving as Small Business Saturday, I was thrilled. Large retailers have counted on Black Friday to boost year-end sales for decades. More recently, as the popularity of online shopping continues to grow, many of those same retailers have also been major beneficiaries of Cyber Monday. It makes sense on so many levels to launch an effort specifically aimed at encouraging consumers to spend with small independent businesses, a key source of new jobs in an economy still in recovery mode.
Entrepreneurs in the UBR audience, particularly those serving inner-city communities, should be all over this initiative, with on-purpose marketing strategies including discounts and other special sales incentives that will reward consumers who recognize Small Business Saturday by holiday shopping with your businesses. Small business owners and entrepreneurial groups, including local chambers of commerce, also need to be proactive in pressing their local elected officials to formally support and recognize Small Business Saturday in their states, counties, cities and districts.
For us as consumers, this represents a major opportunity to support black entrepreneurship, which is predominantly comprised of small businesses. First, don’t forget small businesses based in low-to-middle income communities in rural and urban areas. Be willing to spend in nearby neighborhoods that may have been hit hardest by the recession. Second, although American Express is championing this initiative–and offering great incentives for both shoppers and small business owners–let’s try to include small businesses that may offer great products and services, but do not accept credit cards.
One of the fundamentals of our mission at Black Enterprise is to champion entrepreneurship. I applaud the creation of Small Business Saturday and urge the entire nation to join New York in making it an annual holiday shopping tradition at least as important to our economy as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
To learn more about Small Business Saturday, go to facebook.com/smallbusinesssaturday and www.smallbusinesssaturday.com.
Also, this week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Renita Young speaks with award-winning entrepreneur and minority business development expert Ralph G. Moore. As the founder and CEO of Chicago-based Ralph G. Moore & Associates, Moore has spent more than three decades as an accomplished expert in change management and supplier diversity. Moore is also a co-founder and past president of the Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE), a Chicago-based organization of 75 business leaders of firms grossing at least $1 million in annual revenue. In May, Moore was recognized by the National Minority Supplier Development Council with an NMSDC Minority Business Leadership Award. This week, he takes a seat at the roundtable with Young to share his entrepreneurial journey and the valuable keys to business development he discovered along the way.
Also on this week’s edition of The Urban Business Roundtable, our Executive Producer TaQuoya Kennedy speaks with author, internationally syndicated small business columnist, angel investor and public speaker Scott Gerber, CEO of Gerber Enterprises. The author of Never Get a “Real” Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business and Not Go Broke, Gerber checks in at the roundtable to share tips on making the transition from employee to employer–without bankrupting yourself.
Of course, every week on UBR you’ll get motivation and inspiration from author and entrepreneurial icon Farrah Gray, a weekly wrap-up of business news from USA Today
Business Correspondent Charisse Jones, our Patient Investor Report from Ariel Investments and key economic intelligence for small business owners from our UBR Economists Derrick Collins and Rasheed Carter.If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business Roundtable, send me an e-mail at edmonda@blackenterprise.com or to me at Twitter or Facebook.
Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM 1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each Wednesday for The UBR Morning Post, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.