The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) is partnering with Amazon Business to help Black-owned businesses achieve their goals, by supporting and highlighting Suppliers or Sellers in the Amazon Business store. The goal is to empower the 100,000 Black CEOs, 200 chapters across 40 states and 50 nations to capitalize on Amazon Business and increase their sales.
Amazon Business helps millions of customers worldwide—from small businesses, schools, hospitals, and government agencies, to large enterprises with global operations—reshape their procurement with cost and time savings, greater productivity, and insightful purchasing analytics. Procurement and business leaders enjoy convenient shipping options on hundreds of millions of supplies across categories like office, IT, janitorial, food service, and professional medical supplies.
Businesses of color are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. A recent report from The Center for Responsible Lending states, “The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) continues to be disadvantageous to smaller businesses, businesses owned by people of color, and businesses without employees. Businesses of color were more likely than White-owned businesses to be disadvantaged by the PPP program’s structural limitations. Had PPP been designed to serve businesses of color equitably, businesses of color would be better positioned to participate in the recovery.”
Many organizations recognize if the gaps that exist for Black-owned businesses are not filled, the business ecosystem and our communities will suffer. They have been contacting NBCC to see how they can help support our communities, which is why we are excited to partner with Amazon Business kicking off with a convening of Black-owned businesses on Dec. 17th. Together with Amazon Business, NBCC will be hosting a virtual pop-up event to discuss the benefits of Amazon Business and share the challenges of underrepresented entrepreneurs figuring out how to sell their product and grow during COVID. They are bringing together entrepreneurs and those thinking about retail’s future to listen to and engage with influential voices from Amazon Business.
“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Amazon Business. We want an opportunity for Black businesses to expand their exposure and increase their experience in the business world,” said Kay DeBow, NBCC Co-Founder.
Additionally, NBCC will provide access to a four-week quick start webinar series, which will cover: updating your business plan with online strategies that work, identifying your customer needs, servicing the needs of online customers, brand strategies, fulfillment strategies, customer service, and how to grow and thrive online. The webinars are free to attend and will take place each Tuesday/Thursday in January, beginning on Jan. 5, 2021. We look forward to providing our members access to educational opportunities through our partnership and guiding them alongside Amazon to succeed with selling online.
NBCC members can register for the webinar series here. NBCC members can register for an Amazon Business Selling Account today here.
Amazon Business serves millions of business customers and hundreds of thousands of business sellers in nine countries. In the U.S., 80 percent of the 100 largest enrollment education organizations, 55 of the top Fortune 100 companies, more than half of the 100 largest hospital systems, and more than 40 percent of the 100 most populous local governments are Amazon Business customers. Amazon is celebrating and sharing the stories of Black business owners, founders, and makers in their store to help customers discover new brands and shop from Black-owned businesses. To see a sampling of stories of successful Black-owned businesses utilizing Amazon, visit our B2C and B2B stores.
More details on benefits and services will be available soon. Please contact info@nationalbcc.org for more information.
The National Black Chamber of Commerce® is the largest Black business association globally. It is dedicated to economically empowering and sustaining African-American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity. The NBCC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization dedicated to African American communities’ economic empowerment. One hundred forty affiliated chapters are based throughout the nation, and international affiliate chapters in Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, France, Botswana, Cameroon, and Jamaica.
Harry C. Alford is the co-founder, President/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Kay DeBow is the co-founder, executive vice president of the Chamber. Website: www.nationalbcc.org
DISCLAIMER: The beliefs and viewpoints expressed in opinion pieces, letters to the editor, by columnists and/or contributing writers are not necessarily those of OurWeekly.
