Black Business Month kicks off in Wisconsin

WISCONSIN — Businesses owned by Black Wisconsinites are now in the spotlight; Tuesday marked the start of Black Business Month.

In addition to highlighting the various successes of Black-owned businesses across the Badger State, the initiative is also a way to highlight an ongoing fight for more capital. Ruben Foster, CEO of the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce, said that’s been one of Black-owned business’ biggest obstacles.

“Money and resources — because money gives you choices that not having money will never give you,” Foster said. “I would say that’s the biggest challenge is making sure we have the resources in the community necessary for us to grow the [Black business] community.”

Another challenge is simply getting the word out about how to support Black-owned businesses in-and-around Milwaukee and throughout the rest of the state.

“We do a lot of marketing and try to come up with different things to highlight our businesses,” Foster said. “We have a ‘Black Milwaukee: Where to Go and What to Do’ — that’s something we put in all the hotels in southeastern Wisconsin, so when people check into hotels they can find the brochure that tells them where our Black restaurants are, where our Black barbershop is, where our Black beauty salons are and where the Black church is.”

Watch the full interview above.