In an effort to provide aid and guidance to Black and Hispanic businesses, Grow with Google — the technology behemoth’s digital training initiative — will bring its Digital Coaches program to Memphis this month.
“Memphis has a vibrant and growing Black and LatinX small business community,” Lucy Pinto, Google’s Digital Coach program manager, said in a press release. “The Digital Coaches program will provide business owners in these communities with ongoing workshops, and hands-on coaching sessions focused on the techniques and digital tools to reach new customers, thrive online, and grow.”
The program is free, and the coaches used for the sessions are successful Black and Latino business entrepreneurs. By the end of the year, Google plans to have expanded the program to eight new cities, which would bring the number of coaches to 20.
Excluding Memphis, the program is currently in 13 markets, according to the company website: Atlanta, Austin, the Bay Area, Birmingham, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, North Carolina, Pittsburg, and Washington D.C.
The coach for Memphis will be Dana James-Mwangi, founder of Cheers Creative, who, through her business, has developed an international client roster, and helped grow businesses through brand and website design.
The first workshop, titled “Get Your Local Business on Google Search and Maps,” will be held over a video conference on Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. Those interested in participating can click here.
“I am honored to be part of the Google Digital Coaches Program here in my hometown of Memphis and am thankful for Google’s initiative in recognizing the need for this type of program,” James-Mwangi, said in the release. “When I started my own business, Black business owners in Memphis were the first ones to give me a chance, so I am excited to see this come full circle and share these digital skills with Black and Brown entrepreneurs to help them take their own businesses to the next level.”
This isn’t the first time Google’s presence has been felt in the Bluff City. Recently, Erica Plybeah, founder of local startup Medhaul, and Amber Hayes, founder of Memphis startup SecondKeys, received $50,000 awards as part of Google for Startups' $5 million Black Founders Fund.
For minority businesses owners — and Black business owners in particular — starting, and keeping afloat a company, can be more challenging than it is for their white counterparts.
Recently, MBJ, along with its sister Business Journals across the country, explored the obstacles Black business owners face in accessing capital.
The annual number of Small Business Administration loans to Black businesses decreased 84% since peaking before the 2008 financial crisis, according to an examination by The Business Journals of lending data for the agency’s flagship 7(a) program. This decrease came despite 48% growth in the economy, a 101% increase in bank deposits, and an 82% jump in commercial loans. The decline also corresponded with a 53% decline in all 7(a) loans awarded.
