Minority businesses received a boost Monday with the grand opening of the Black Wall Street Business Center.
Located in Suite 800 at 1800 S. Baltimore Ave., the roughly 2,200-square-foot facility celebrates the legacy of Sherry Gamble Smith, the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce president who was killed this past summer during a domestic argument.
“The original vision was not just co-working but incubation as well, being able to give businesses the resources they need to create sustainability and growth, depending on where they are in their process,” said Lindsey Corbitt, executive director of the Black Wall Street Business Center.
“We are expanding off an idea that she had that had begun to connect on and operate, which is Nest Collective, an accelerator program for entrepreneurs (operated through the Black Wall Street Chamber).
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“From that concept, we noticed that some of those businesses needed more resources and loved just being in that environment with other entrepreneurs, which expanded the idea into a co-working space and shared offices so people can continue to utilize those resources that we provide.”
The center will work to advance Black, Indigenous and people of color businesses and entrepreneurship.
Black entrepreneurs, on average, launch their businesses with $35,000 in startup capital and loans, versus an average of $107,000 for white entrepreneurs, according to a 2021 report from the research and consulting firm, McKinsey Global Institute.
The median Black household has a net worth of about $24,000, or about one-eighth the figure of $188,000 for white households, the report indicates.
The business center on Baltimore Avenue will offer three shared office spaces and 16 working desks. It also will have a kitchen, seating areas and a meeting room, as well as free Wi-Fi, printing, coffee, snacks, tea and water.
Shared offices will rent at $400 a month, desks at $250 a month, Corbitt said. Hours of operation will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“Our goal here was to make minorities the focus,” said Corbitt, who also serves as interim president of the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce. “Of course, at the chamber, they target Black-owned businesses. Having a space they are comfortable in and made just for them is very important to us. So, the more access they have to business education, the better.”