Black Entrepreneurship: It has a Past and It can have a Future‪.‬

INTRODUCTION By the time Thelma Lewis (not her real name) showed up at the Baruch College Small Business Lab, she had been in business for six months. Her gift shop with products aimed at the Black community was growing, but she was facing a cash crunch brought on by collection problems from vendors to whom she rented booth space in her store. She had begun to believe that the lease she had negotiated was onerous. She had not been able to advertise because the radio station she wanted charged $400 per commercial: ten times more than she expected. Thelma had never produced a budget, a cash flow projection, or dealt with real estate issues. At the Small Business Lab, she took classes in planning, computers, and business law, and she was coached through the process of creating a business plan and dealing with specific issues that were threatening her gift shop. Thelma was able to renegotiate her lease, make more financially secure arrangements with her vendors, and develop a marketing plan that fit her new budget. Today, Thelma's business is still growing and her confidence has returned.