University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, February 19, 1992
5
Breaking through business barriers
Race presents additional obstacles to success for minority entrepreneurs
By Janet Rorholm
Kansan staff writer
Real estate agent J.R. Demby said that as an African American, he experienced racism at his job.
"You may talk to me on the phone, and depending on whether you detect that I am Black or not depends on what you expect when you come to the office," said Demby, a member of the
L aw r e n c e
Alliance, a city-
formed group
designed to com bat racism in the
the community.
and some people don't," he said.
Black History Month
and some people don't, he said.
Demby is not the only African American in Lawrence who said he had experienced racism.
Bob Davis, owner of Bob Davis Financial Planning and Insurance, said that despite being an expert in his field, he had lost customers because he was a minority.
"That's when you see that I'm Black. Some poo. I don't know what to with that.
"It's never been blatant," he said.
"But I know."
Davis started his own business in 1987 after working for another African American. Davis said starting his own business was extremely difficult. He did not receive any loans when he started his business, and sometimes he did not know how he would pay the rent.
Davis said running his businesses would have been easier if he had known there were opportunities to help minorities start their own businesses.
"I probably would have grown a lot faster and have had a lot more options." he said.
Davis said he realized being a minority was going to be a problem when he thought of starting his own business. His major concern was wondering who his clients would be since his former employer also was African-
American.
"I asked him if there was room enough for the two of us in business," he said. "I didn't think the market here was accessible to minorities."
Davis said he was applying to law schools to become an attorney to help his business. He found out about a prosecution in the case of minority groups to become attorneys.
Bob Davis
The program would pay for some of the expenses incurred by attending school.
"I never would have done this with out knowing there were things out there to do."
Davis said the same was true for other minorities who might want to start businesses.
The Kansas Department of Commerce lists Lawrence as having 15 minority-owned businesses. The list includes women as minorities.
Mike O'Donnell, director of the Small Business Development Center, said that the number of minority-owned businesses was small, but it did not include all minority businesses in the city because businesses do not have to be certified with the state.
Bob Schum, city commissioner,
said the commission never had
addressed recruiting or encouraged
minority businesses to Lawrence.
No group has come to the commission concerned about the issue, he said.
"It does not appear that Lawrence is a big enough community or broad enough to initiate these programs," O'Donnell said.
He said he thought the only encouragement given to minority businesses from the city was through the Lawrence Office of Human Relations-Human Resources. Other programs exist on the state or federal level.
Schumm said that besides recruiting major industries and offering them tax abatements, he did not know which could recruit minority businesses.
He also said recruiting minority businesses just because the owners were minorities might be harmful to
them because their product might not be marketable in the community.
"A business is not guaranteed to make money," said Schumm, who runs restaurants and other businesses in Lawrence. "To just go out and recruit minority businesses might be the biggest injustice we could do for them. The market mechanism is going to determine who is successful and who fails."
The commission decided on 12.9 percent because it matched the minority population in Lawrence, Bremby said.
Rod Bremby, assistant city manager, said the city had a procurement program, which encourages the city to work with minority businesses.
The City Commission set a goal that 12.9 percent of all contracts more than $20,000 would be awarded to minority businesses. he said.
He said that the issue needed some assessment and that it should be brought before the City Commission who could research the need for a program.
"The whole community could benefit from minority small business enterprise or entrepreneur," Bremby said.
He said that because a minority member often thought differently than the typical white businessman, they could find some niche in the market, either with a unique product or by providing a different service.
No minority incentive plan in Kansas
Kansan staff report
Lawrence, like all cities in Kansas, does not provide specific programs to help minority businesses, an employee for the Kansas Department of Commerce said.
She said a new term was used that might help people understand why minorities need extra incentives to start a business. The term, HUB, stands for "historically underutilized businesses."
"It doesn't mean there is any overt racism." Clark said. "It just that the system is already set up and people turn to a direction automatically."
"There is a lack of understanding of why there should be particular incentives to start minority businesses," said Amber Clark, research analyst and former program manager for the department's office of minority business.
"The problem is that people don't look at the history of minority businesses. The purpose of programs that target minorities is to make sure that they get an equal chance," she said.
She said the office of minority business' job was to get all businesses on equal footing by encouraging whites to consider minority businesses instead of always patronizing white-owned businesses.
The state also provides information to minorities who want to start their own businesses. It helps minorities obtain material, technical, financial and procurement assistance but does not provide any financing.
Iowa, on the other hand, has one of the largest minority incentive programs in the United States, said Mohammed Abdullah, targeted small business specialist for the Iowa Department of Economic Development.
The Targeted Small Business Program includes financial assistance, bond waivers and lower interest rates for minorities.
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