Participants in a capacity building workshop for capacity builders raise their hands during a “this or that” game related to small businesses and service organizations.
Chicago's minority-owned business ecosystem gathered at the Quinlan School of Business in June 2024 for the first annual “Building Capacity for Capacity Builders” workshop.
Throughout the day, more than 140 leaders from 50 business serving organizations (BSOs) built relationships and learned about common challenges, opportunities, and best practices for supporting minority-owned small businesses. The workshop was planned by a steering committee of more than 20 minority-serving organizations.
Michael Behnam, Dean of the Quinlan School of Business, expressed his excitement at the inaugural event.
“I was amazed at the turnout, the energy in the room, and the reactions I heard,” Behnam said. “All of us at Quinlan are honored to partner with BSOs and others in the important work of creating a more equitable Chicago.”
Building capacity for capacity builders is one of the key activities of the Quinlan School of Business's Social Impact Initiative, which is supported by a $625,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The three-year initiative collects data on equity gaps faced by minority-owned businesses and develops equity outreach strategies. This will create a dashboard that enables minority-owned businesses to easily access support services.
Main sockets
Several key points emerged during the workshop, which included interactive sessions with speakers from business support organizations, local and federal government, business, and Loyola University Chicago.
1. Connecting companies to existing resources
A struggle that many minority-owned businesses face is connecting with existing resources such as financing and career advice. Like other small business owners, Jackie Jackson ('97) struggled to find the financial resources to support her business. She risked everything by mortgaging her house and borrowing from family.
It was only later that I learned about small business grants offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). With the help of these grants, Jackson now operates seven successful Kilwins locations across the Chicago area and is opening a Fatburger location. In 2024, she was named Illinois Small Business Person of the Year by the SBA.
Her message to workshop attendees: Share your knowledge of resources with other business owners so they don't have to take the same risks she did.
“There should be a brochure, a big brochure that tells you everything for small businesses,” Jackson said. Until then, “relationships are the key to success.”
2. Improve support through interpersonal skills
BSOs face their own unique challenges. During the session moderated by Cheyenne Doy and Lindsay Mueller of the Women's Business Development Center, attendees discussed the attributes of a final BSO female advisor. In addition to traits like experience and connections, soft skills like empathy, honesty, and sensitivity to the unique needs of the community and its businesses rose to the top.
In addition, people expressed a desire for referral networks, accessibility to business owners whose primary language is not English, and updated resource indexes. Business support organizations are also concerned about size constraints and having insufficient resources to train their employees.
3. Rely on lists of data and resources
Manjima Bose of Baker Tilly shared a list of community development financial institutions, which feature credit, trust-building, community-based staff and products that promote equity in finance. See this list and other resources from the workshop in the Resources section of the workshop web page.
4. Aspire to change
Jonathan McGee, a Chicago-based economic development expert who led the capacity-building workshop, encouraged attendees to commit to implementing the ideas presented and to continue deepening collaboration between minority-owned businesses and business organizations.
“Together, we can move the needle on the racial wealth gap in this city by cultivating a diverse ecosystem,” said McGee, a Baumhardt MBA graduate. “Next year, when we meet again to build capacity for capacity builders, I hope to be able to celebrate how all of our commitments are making a difference for Chicago.”
partner
The Quinlan School of Business plans to hold its next Capacity Builders Workshop in Summer 2025. BSOs are invited to sign up to be partners to receive project communications. You can also contact the project team by contacting QuinlanServes@luc.edu.
Event photos
See photos from the capacity building workshop for capacity builders below or on Flickr.
