When Phyllicia Pringle was starting her food business, she quickly realized that there was a lot she needed to learn. 

Pringle turned to the Connecticut Community Outreach Revitalization Program (ConnCORP)  for help. She joined the organization’s Entrepreneur Academy, a monthslong program operated with Quinnipiac University, to learn more about running a business. After graduating from the program, Pringle continued to develop her business, Exquisite Flavors, which crafts home cooked Caribbean-inspired meals.  

But even with the support she received, Pringle said navigating Connecticut’s sprawling network of business support organizations has been difficult.

It’s a difficulty, she said, that many Black entrepreneurs across the state face. 

“The truth is, we are not lacking drive, talent or vision. We’re building every single day,” Pringle said. “What we need is access, alignment and investment.”

A new report, released this week by ConnCORP, highlights the needs of entrepreneurs like Pringle. The organization’s first State of Black Business report gathered its findings through a mix of survey data from more than 300 respondents across the state, information collected through a focus group, interviews with support organizations and an analysis of national data. 

The report found that for many local Black business owners, trying to navigate the state’s business support network is complicated and overwhelming, and much of the network is not tailored to the specific needs of Black-owned businesses. Because of this, business owners aren’t receiving the help needed for them to thrive and grow, especially when it comes to accessing funding and capital, the report concluded. 

“Black businesses are not peripheral to our economy. They are central to our economy. Entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful tools for wealth creation, job creation, community stabilization and breaking intergenerational poverty,” Erik Clemons, founder and CEO of ConnCAT and ConnCORP, said during an event in Hamden Tuesday. “But we cannot address poverty if we do not understand the barriers that constrain business growth.”  

The hurdles Black businesses face in Connecticut are rooted in structural inequities that make it harder for them to succeed, the report found. And for businesses that often serve as community anchors and support networks, those challenges affect more than a single business owner. They have neighborhood-wide or community-wide effects.

To change things, ConnCORP argues that state and local governments must take action to better support Black businesses. And by providing a concrete document that outlines the lived experiences and self-reported needs of business owners, advocates hope to inspire new investment, updated policy, and systemic change that can benefit Black entrepreneurs.  

“We already have systems that were built without certain voices,” said Jahkeeva Morgan, the vice president of business incubation and entrepreneurship at The Lab at ConnCORP. “Now we have to rebuild those systems to intentionally include those voices.”

Black business owners are navigating a fragmented system and struggle to access capital

The State of Black Business report was put together over the course of a year, and combines qualitative information, surveys and quantitative data to describe the current reality for Black business owners in Connecticut. 

According to the report, while Black entrepreneurs have become prominent community anchors in neighborhoods that have long lacked resources, these entrepreneurs face “disproportionately high barriers at every stage of business growth.”

Money is often the biggest of those barriers.

In the report, entrepreneurs cited having issues finding funding for their businesses, including problems accessing loan and credit opportunities that could help them expand. Some respondents expressed concern about being discriminated against when trying to get a loan, saying those fears ultimately stopped them from applying. 

In other cases, survey respondents said they had trouble completing paperwork and loan applications. The report notes that more financial literacy support could help business owners better navigate the vast array of financial resources available. 

But some of those resources are difficult for Black business owners to access. An overwhelming majority of Black businesses in the state are “micro-businesses,” employing fewer than ten employees and taking in less than $250,000 in revenue annually. Micro-businesses often have limited staff, limited cash reserves and typically require self-funding to get off the ground. 

“Programs, funding models, and policies that assume ‘small business’ capacity often fail to meet micro-business owners where they are, unintentionally reinforcing the very barriers they aim to remove,” the report authors note. 

To address this, ConnCORP suggests expanding access to microloans, administrative assistance, and tools like tax support and financial literacy planning.

The organization also notes that better visibility for entrepreneurial support organizations, municipal organizations like economic development offices, and educational institutions could also help Black business owners unsure of who to turn to for help. Currently, businesses report that support networks in the state feel fragmented, leaving Black business owners unsure of how to navigate the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

That uncertainty can pose problems for businesses, causing them to miss out on key  opportunities that could help them scale, including funding, mentorship, and networking. 

A call for action

Speaking before a crowd of community members, local officials and advocates during the report’s launch earlier this week, Black business owners and support organizations said Connecticut has all of the tools to help these entrepreneurs. But the state needs to find a way to patch up the fragmented ecosystem entrepreneurs currently face into something more accessible, they said. 

If the state fails to act, some business owners said they may look outside of Connecticut to grow further.

“The state has a job to do to keep us here,” said Aaron Rogers, a Grammy award-winning producer and co-owner of The Breed Entertainment, a New Haven-based production company. “It’s the state’s responsibility to make sure we have the resources.”

Organizations that support Black business owners also emphasized that while they have benefitted from collaborations with businesses and support from their communities, local economic development organizations need to provide assistance as well. 

“Capital has to flow in two directions. It has to go to entrepreneurs and has to go to the organization serving the entrepreneurs,” said Samantha Williams, a business owner and the founder and president of nonprofit business support organization CMWP Foundation, Inc. “Otherwise, we’re asking people to continue pouring from an empty cup, and then we act surprised when that cup runs dry.”

ConnCORP and other support organizations say the state cannot afford to overlook the needs of Black-owned businesses. And in the coming months, they hope Black business owners will receive a level of attention and state investment that matches their local impact. 

“Leadership determines what happens next,” said Anne-Marie Knight, the executive director of the Black Business Alliance. “No single organization can meet this moment alone. The need is too great and too urgent.”