Since the shutdown of COVID-19 back in March of 2020, African American entrepreneurs have had to close their doors at more than twice the rate of their White counterparts. Black-owned businesses declined by 41% between February and April 2020 in comparison to a 17% decline amongst White-owned businesses.

According to a survey from the Black Chamber of Commerce 75% of Black-owned small businesses saw spikes in customers in the two months following Floyd’s death. But immediately after the surge, Black-owned businesses sales begin to plummet back to their pre-covid days.

During this time the government continued their lack of support and understanding of the disparities many black entrepreneurs faced. The coverage gaps in the Paycheck Protection Program left many Black-owned businesses out of the government relief.

“I went to my team and told them that I had this wonderful idea about helping Black-owned smaller businesses prior to the pandemic. My team and I created online eBooks that entail innovative and creative strategies on marketing & advertising, instructions on how to obtain press for their business to help with building buyer’s trust, business branding plans, budget plans, how to convert a brick and mortar operation into an e-commerce business, savings organizer, and a personal planner along with a health and wellness plan.”

“This was something that I had been working on for almost 2 years. So once the pandemic hit, it had affected us all tremendously and that’s when I knew that it was time to help my brothers and sisters stay afloat. All that I have learned with my time spent at BET Networks it was time that I poured back into my community.”

“I had no idea whether or not this would work. So I stepped out on faith and gave it try and literally my team and I helped over 137 businesses during our first week. The rest is history.” – Prince Carter

On Juneteenth 2021, Global Line Media Group and Prince Carter will launch the small black-owned business directory (www.globallinemediablackout.com). The directory will promote 5,000 selected businesses for 1 FULL YEAR!