Why Black Entrepreneurs Must Create the Next Google

How to succeed in the "Innovation Economy"

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Create or die. That’s how “digital content architect” Michelle Ferrier dubs her program that brings together journalists, business owners, educators, programmers and the like to conjure up new vehicles for consumers of media. Moreover, it’s a fitting message for entrepreneurs in today’s unmerciful business climate. While in Philadelphia attending the recent National Association of Black Journalists conference, I had the opportunity to meet Ferrier and a score of dynamic entrepreneurs, financiers and journalists during a special lunch meeting at a local Italian eatery. As you would expect, informal chats and introductory conversations eventually turned to our most pressing issue: The devastating impact of an alarmingly high Black unemployment rate of 16%. Instead of sharing a series of doomsday scenarios though, each attendee focused on targeted, long-term solutions. The universal answer in the room could be boiled down to job creation through entrepreneurship. To do so will require adopting a philosophy akin to the one that drives Ferrier’s program: “Innovate, incubate, initiate.” According to Deputy SBA Administrator Marie Johns, self-employed individuals represent 95% of roughly 2 million black-owned businesses nationwide. So it will take individual effort and partnership with government, corporations, foundations, HBCUs and other institutions to build Black enterprises of considerable size and scale. Boldly participating in today’s “Innovation Economy,” Black entrepreneurs must create the next Google, Facebook, Apple and IBM.