WEBB Squared was created in 2019, when the Pandemic shuttered the vast majority of Black and Brown businesses, and people who were already vulnerable were thrown into near total economic devastation.
The wealth gap in North Carolina, as elsewhere in the country, is gaping and entrenched. And while much evidence demonstrates that entrepreneurship creates an opportunity to generate income and build wealth, rural entrepreneurs of color continue to be weighed down by the cumulative impact of centuries of discrimination and disenfranchisement.
The challenges that rural BIPOC entrepreneurs face are multi-generational and deep – barriers to credit, markets, education and training, economic and social capital. These barriers have grown larger and more difficult to navigate generation after generation as the cumulative effects of race constructed policies deepen the racial wealth and income gaps. And they remain in place today.
The next step in the Civil Rights movement is racial economic justice. Since our founding, WEBB Squared has consistently delivered programs outside of and beyond existing systems to build pathways to economic opportunity.
We recognize that entrepreneurs of color have a plethora of creativity, skills sets, resourcefulness and resilience, which are fundamental to the entrepreneurial mindset. And we help them leverage their brilliance to create profitable sustainable businesses.
WEBB Squared’s mission is to provide training and coaching for BIPOC entrepreneurs and small business owners to address the specific, racially constructed challenges they face.
Through our entrepreneurship training program and our network of community partnerships, we’re creating opportunities that support and uplift entrepreneurs of color.