Black business owners often struggle to find one another and miss out on many opportunities to  work together. Other times business owners have trouble finding their target market.

A new platform, www.ByBlack.us is designed to alleviate the obstacles, allowing business owners to join for free. Lead developer, Ron Busby, Jr. of Oakland says he and a few colleagues from Facebook and Google came together to find a solution.

“Our platform is powered by data and linked to Black Chambers of Commerce nationwide making businesses more visible to other businesses and consumers,” he said.

Busby, Jr. says another issue Black business owners face is a lack of city, state, and federal contracts due to complex requirements and certification processes.  “Another component of our platform will be a premium service that assists companies in this process and streamlines a pathway to be qualified to compete for these government contracts.”

Cathy Adams, the new president and CEO of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce (OAACC), is excited about Busby, Jr.’s project and encourages Black businesses to sign up on the platform. “There are too many missed opportunities that can be bridged by being on this platform together, she said.

In the coming months, Busby, Jr. and his team will continue to develop the platform’s marketing plan to get the word out while scaling additional features and resources useful to Black business owners. For more information, visit www.ByBlack.us

Carla Thomas

Posts by Carla Thomas