Center for Economic Inclusion

Businesses owned by people of color are not scaling. In Grand Rapids, less than 1% of businesses bringing in $250k or more a year are owned by a person of color. 98% of business revenue in Grand Rapids comes from white owned businesses.

The Center for Economic Inclusion builds upon and creates an umbrella structure for current Chamber offerings to promote economic inclusion like West Michigan Minority Contractors Program, Mosaic Business Collective, Diversity Your Spend Business Showcase, Elevate and more.  

To address the barriers facing underrepresented businesses, the Center will provide technical assistance, leadership development, employee skills training, actionable plans, access to attractive lending and strategies to connect with customers.

“Successfully starting and growing a firm requires access to capital and social connections. The need to effectively address barriers to entrepreneurs of color is apparent and our goal is to play a significant part in meeting it.” said Attah Obande, Vice President of Business and Talent Development at the Chamber and leader of the Center.

“The Center for Economic Inclusion is a holistic approach addressing the lived experience of entrepreneurs of color. It will connect entrepreneurs to already existing services within the ecosystem and provide opportunities through our programs and services needed to scale,” he continued.

Read the full press release here.