Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, a show where we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is Nikisha Bond, VP of Corporate Affairs at the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce. Thank you so much for being here.
Nikisha Bond
Thank you so much for inviting us. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.
Maya Gwynn
So excited to have you. You're here to help promote the Unity and Diversity Business Summit, which is a two day in- person event designed to empower entrepreneurs at every stage on October 16 and 17th, which is incredible. The Unity and Diversity Business Summit is now in its third year. What inspired its creation and how have you seen it grow in the three years?
Nikisha Bond
Ron Brown has this amazing conference that they do every year. And one year I got to go to it, and it was a three day conference. And the way that it was designed was that you got to go in and then pick whatever one that you wanted - so if you wanted to learn about marketing, you know that campaign, if you wanted to learn about AI, you could go to that conference or that room. And so I went there, and I was like, Oh, this is so inspiring. I learned so much information, in like, a short amount of time. And so I was really inspired, because as an entrepreneur, there's not, like, a place you can go to really just get plugged in. I mean, you can, of course, find places, but sometimes you need that in person, touch the flesh, meet somebody. And so I worked with our president, and I told him, Hey, I think we can bring it back here, and it's such a huge event. He was like, I'm not sure. So the first year we did it, and we called it a Mergers and Acquisition conference. So mergers and acquisitions - you want to merge your business with another one, or you want to acquire a business. But it was a little bit over for our Chamber members, so we wanted to do something that was, like, there's unity in the diversity. Like, even though we have so many different people here, we have a lot of unity because we have the same thing. We're all trying to get the money. And so we had our second conference last year up in Palm Springs at the Double Tree. It was really, really great. We had Fiona Mai from the Treasury Department come out, and she talked about all the money that was available in California. And so we just realized that, you know what, we need to bring this to the Inland Empire. People need to, in business, be able to come to a place where they can get all the information that they need. And we also wanted to bring out all the state and federal agencies so that people could learn about minority certification, which I don't know if you're familiar with, the supplier diversity program. That's what really opened my eyes about federal and state agency programs where they have money that's actually allocated for businesses, and so once you get certified, you now can tap into a pool of money and a pool of opportunities that can really take your business from being small mom and pop to being a huge, large organization. And so I just felt like we needed to bring that here. We needed to bring it out of LA, not in San Diego, but like right here in the IE.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, it's so much information and so much stuff that you don't even know about until people like you make us aware of it. Black entrepreneurs consistently face challenges accessing funding. For example, in 2024 only 0.4% of total US VC funding went to black, founded entrepreneurs and startups. How does the Chamber and the Summit specifically help break down these types of barriers?
Nikisha Bond
You know, one of the things that people don't realize is that a lot of these banks, they actually have requirements so that they can really diversify the types of members that they have at their banks. And so when they come and work with us, like, Chase Bank and US Bank, and I know Flagstar Bank is going to be there. They're like, we are coming here because we actually have a goal to really reach the black entrepreneur. And so we're going to come here help them get started in their business. We'll get them their EIN number, will start up their bank account. We'll talk about a growth program. We'll get them the coaching. Because a lot of times when it comes to getting some of these VC or some of these larger type investments, our small businesses are just not structured properly, right? They don't have a relationship with the bank where the bank can say, You know what, this person is good. So even if maybe your credit is not perfect, or maybe your income is looking a little splotchy, if you have a banker that you've been working with for a long time, and you have them on your team, then when you go and you talk to the VCs, it's a lot easier to get them to come on board. So really, what we're doing is we're giving you that tool belt that you really need as an entrepreneur, because you going at it alone, it's a struggle, right? You're just trying to swim all by yourself. And I think that's the most important thing, is working with people who want to see you win, which then makes you a more attractive opportunity for some of these VCs. Also part of that is, I think that as black entrepreneurs, we deal with a lot emotionally, psychologically, socially, and so we're just maybe not feeling confident enough to go out there and do it. And so when you come to a summit like this, you can now meet a whole bunch of entrepreneurs. Totally changes your perspective.
Maya Gwynn
I looked at some of the workshops which were like, grant writing, government contracting and using AI. These all feel especially timely. Which workshops do you think will have the biggest impact on black entrepreneurs right now.
Nikisha Bond
I would say the ones they're most interested in is probably the grant writing, but I think the one that'll have the biggest impact is AI. I think people are really underestimating AI right now. A lot of people are very scared of AI, but it reminds me of like, when the internet first came on. You know, I'm an old school person, so I remember when the internet came online and everyone was like, email, do I really want to do that? Who's on the other side of that screen? We were very afraid, and now it's just kind of the foundation of everything that we do. And I think AI is going to be that same thing. It's like, everybody's a little scared. We're not quite sure what is ChatGPT? Are they watching me? I think people really need to learn how to do that, because then you won't be able to be competitive if you don't know.
Nikisha Bond
Beyond the summit, how does the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce continue to support entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the year?
Nikisha Bond
You know, I always like to say you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. So that's really what the Chamber is like. We got a whole bunch of water over here, so you just got to come over here and drink. We are sitting on the board right now of Caltrans to make sure that they're handing out contracts to African Americans. We used to sit on the board of the high speed rail. We have connections with all of the different state and federal agencies. So that's really what we're doing, is we're giving you access where you might not have gotten access before. If you're saying, like, hey, I need access to the money, we've got access to capital. We have banks who are saying, like, we have a mission that we want to loan out this much money. Another example was when the COVID hit, as soon as it hit, we had the SBA on the line. We had the IRS on the line, letting our members know, this is how you get money. This is how you get access. We knew about PPP before they even called it PPP. We had people already applying. We already had the links in hand. So that's really what we're doing. We're not trying to sit here and say, I'm going to change your business, but I'm saying that if you come and join us and you're having a problem or you need a solution, we've got that here.
Maya Gwynn
We're going to move to our rapid fire portion. So just the first thing that pops in your head. If your work had a theme song, would it be?
Nikisha Bond
Oh. All I do is win, win, win, no matter what.
Maya Gwynn
Not the first time someone said that. If you had to teach a master class or give a TED talk on a random skill you have besides business, what would it be?
Nikisha Bond
A growth mindset. I think a lot of people underestimate their limiting beliefs. A lot of people just think they can only do this one thing. But once you start thinking, I can accomplish anything if I really put my mind to it, and with AI man, you are powered to outer space right now.
Maya Gwynn
That's a good one. What's your favorite Inland Empire restaurant? Or like a landmark, that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
Nikisha Bond
There was a restaurant that opened up. It was a pudding shop. It was owned by a father and a son. And the father used to do the business a long time ago, and he had all these pictures of his son helping him out, and now to see his son working in the shop with him and bringing his friends and bringing on Instagram, that, to me, just really represents the spirit of entrepreneurship. I feel like that is really the inspiration of the IE. We're very much a bedroom community here. So many families, and I love the idea of family entrepreneurship, so that's kind of what I think about.
Maya Gwynn
And how can someone find out more information about the Black Chamber of Commerce and come to this event and sign up?
Nikisha Bond
Definitely go to the website at www.BlackChamberofcommerce.org. If you click on Events, there will be a link for the Unity and Diversity Business Summit. Click on that, click to register. We also have a coupon that I want to give you. It's $20 off for tickets to the summit. It's SUM25, that's for $20 off. Just come out there, even if you're just thinking about starting in business, this is definitely the place you want to be. If you want to grow a business or start a business, this is definitely where you want to be.
Nikisha Bond
You're welcome. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.
Maya Gwynn
Awesome. Thank you so much for being here.
Maya Gwynn
Of course. Nikisha Bond is VP of Corporate Affairs at the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce. Find this segment and others at kvcrnews.org/bpie. Support for the segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long term investments in black led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn. Thank you.
