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Building the capacity to serve

People raising their hands while sitting at round tables

Attendees of Capacity Building for Capacity Builders raise their hands during a game of “This or That” relating 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 “Capacity Building for Capacity Builders” workshop.

Over the course of the day, more than 140 leaders from 50 business-serving organizations (BSOs) built connections 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, was thrilled with the inaugural event.

“I was amazed at the turnout, the energy in the room, and the feedback I have heard,” Behnam said. “All of us at Quinlan are honored to partner with BSOs and others on the important work of creating a more equitable Chicago.”

Capacity Building 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 is collecting data on equity gaps faced by minority-owned businesses and developing equitable outreach strategies. It will result in the creation of a dashboard enabling minority-owned businesses to easily access support services.

Key takeaways

Several key takeaways emerged during the workshop, which featured interactive sessions with speakers from BSOs, local and federal government, business, and Loyola University Chicago.

1. Connect businesses with existing resources

A struggle for many minority-owned businesses is connecting with existing resources such as funding and professional advice. Like other small business owners, Jackie Jackson (MEd ’97) struggled to find the financial resources needed to support her businesses. She risked everything by mortgaging her house and borrowing from family.

Only later did she learn about small business grants offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). With the help of these grants, Jackson now runs seven successful Kilwins locations across the Chicago area and is opening a Fatburger location. In 2024, she was named the Illinois Small Business Person of the Year by the SBA.

Her message to the workshop attendees: Share your knowledge of resources with other business owners so they do not have to take the same risks she did.

“There needs to be a booklet, a big pamphlet that tells you everything for small businesses,” said Jackson. Until then, “relationships are the key to success.”

2. Optimize support through soft skills

BSOs face their own unique challenges. During a session led by Cheyenne Duy and Lindsay Mueller from the Women’s Business Development Center, attendees discussed the traits of the ultimate BSO counselor. In addition to traits such as experience and connections, soft skills like empathy, honesty, and sensitivity to the unique needs of a community and its businesses rose to the top.

Additionally, people expressed the desire for referral networks, accessibility for business owners whose primary language is not English, and updated resource indexes. BSOs are also concerned about size constraints and having enough resources to train their employees.

3. Lean into the data and resource lists

Robin Newberger and Garvester Kelley from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago shared challenges and statistics gleaned from the Small Business Credit Survey, a nationwide survey of small businesses conducted by the Federal Reserve, and Demystifying Underwriting (DU), a community-led research project using quantitative and qualitative methods. The DU research provides valuable insights into how capacity building can help BSOs better serve the needs of small businesses as they unpack past trauma, build knowledge of business lending processes and create trust in themselves and the financial system.

The DU project finds that many small Black-owned businesses are debt adverse: they don’t want to or are not capable of taking on debt. Black-owned businesses reported general distrust of financial institutions, having experienced discrimination. Half said they were not aware of their own banks’ loan services, and 72% reported being debt adverse. However, responses to the Small Business Credit Survey showed 80% of businesses carry debt, and lending increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manjima Bose of Baker Tilly concluded with a list of Community Development Financial Institutions, which feature credit and 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 webpage.

4. Aspire to change

Jonathan McGee, a Chicago-based economic development expert who spearheaded the capacity-building workshop, encouraged attendees to commit to implementing the ideas brought forward and to continue deepening the collaboration between minority-owned businesses and BSOs.

“Together, we can move the needle on the racial wealth gap in this city by cultivating a diverse ecosystem,” said McGee, who is a Baumhart Scholars MBA graduate. “Next year, when we gather again for Capacity Building for Capacity Builders, I hope to be able to celebrate how all of our commitments are making a difference for Chicago.”

Get involved

The Quinlan School of Business plans to hold the next Capacity Building for Capacity Builders workshop in summer 2025. BSOs are invited to sign up to be a partner to receive project communications. You can also connect with the project team by contacting QuinlanServes@luc.edu.

Event photos

See photos from the Capacity Building for Capacity Builders workshop on Flickr.

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