Oakland Black Business Fund Partners With Leading Bay Area Companies and Financial Institutions to Support Black-Owned Businesses

OAKLAND, Calif., June 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Oakland Black Business Fund (OBBF) announced numerous corporate partnerships with leading Bay Area corporations and financial institutions to support Black-owned businesses and boost the Black economy. OBBF's latest corporate partners include Clover, Community Bank of the Bay, Fiserv, Square, Target, and Xero. In addition to donating to OBBF's grant program, each partner has committed to offering additional services to OBBF's portfolio of Black-owned businesses.

As part of OBBF's Corporate Partnership Program, corporations have developed programs to engage directly with OBBF grant recipients. Community Bank of the Bay is working closely with grantees to secure PPP loans, while Fiserv and Clover are providing additional funding, business expertise, and technology solutions as part of their Back2Business support program. In addition to hosting a pop-up program on the retail floor of its office in downtown Oakland, Square has created an affiliate program that allows OBBF grantees to process up to $3,000 in transactions without any processing fees. Xero is connecting grant recipients with local Black accountants to set up bookkeeping infrastructure using Xero's software, and Target's Pro Bono for Small Business program provides select small business owners with up to 300 hours of pro bono consulting support from Target team members over a 12-week period.

Founded in June 2020 by Oakland community leaders Elisse Douglass and Trevor Parham, OBBF has since raised more than $500,000 via individual contributions and corporate partnerships. OBBF will continue to use these funds to support Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and address systemic bias from traditional financial organizations that perpetuate the funding gap for Black businesses. To date, OBBF has boosted more than 95 businesses and aims to support a total of 250 before the end of the year.

"We've had the amazing opportunity to work with multiple members of OBBF's Corporate Partnership Program," said Kyrah Ayers, co-owner of Queen Hippie Gypsy, Oakland's first Black-owned artisan botanica. "Square has been with us since day one and with OBBF's assistance, we're steps closer to fully realizing our e-commerce potential by transitioning our website to Square's platform. Additionally, Community Bank of the Bay has been helping us set up our business for greater financial security, and we're looking forward to working with Xero's network of accountants to optimize our bookkeeping."

"Initially, I was running every part of my business on my own, but I've been able to hire additional staff to support day-to-day business operations through OBBF's grant program. As a result, it became clear that I needed to better track my business expenses," said Isis Asare, founder and CEO at Sistah Scifi, the first Black-owned bookstore focused on science fiction and fantasy. "Over the next few months, I'll be working with Target's team to implement a comprehensive financial dashboard to better understand the success of my business and easily access all of the information I need when meeting with potential investors."

Historically, Black-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted by lending bias and a lack of community support. Black business owners experience increased scrutiny when applying for business loans, and the average level of startup capital among Black entrepreneurs is $35,205 compared with $106,720 for white entrepreneurs. OBBF is the only Black-led fund providing business grants and technical assistance from other local Black business owners to address this historical lack of access to capital and resources for growth. Its unique approach to building peer-to-peer relationships between Black business owners, Black technical assistance providers, technology companies, and financial institutions offers a sustainable growth model for under-funded businesses.

"OBBF's approach to using capital to cultivate a resilient and sustainable ecosystem of local Black businesses is based on a proven model that improves neighborhoods, creates jobs, builds wealth, and provides strong and meaningful financial returns to our communities," said Parham. "By working with corporate and financial partners, we're able to better provide the kind of technical assistance and networking opportunities that small businesses need to scale in the face of economic instability and long-held systemic biases."

OBBF supports a broad array of businesses and nonprofits with a focus on scaling its city-specific model to other municipalities across the country. The fund is seeking investors and corporate partners to bridge the gap to their next milestone of $1M by the end of 2021.

Businesses interested in receiving capital or technical support can apply directly at www.oaklandblackbusinessfund.org/apply. Investors or organizations interested in contributing to OBBF can contact [email protected] for more information on partnership opportunities.

About Oakland Black Business Fund

Oakland Black Business Fund redefines capital deployment systems to create possibilities for Black economic growth that defy the confines of systemic racism. The fund supports Black businesses with capital and technical assistance to elevate Black entrepreneurs as thriving leaders in the local economy.

Oakland Black Business Fund offers opportunities for tax-deductible donations through its 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, Alliance for Community Development, whose mission is to increase access to capital and support for local, underrepresented entrepreneurs. Follow OBBF on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. More information available at www.oaklandblackbusinessfund.com.

SOURCE Oakland Black Business Fund

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http://www.oaklandblackbusinessfund.org