Local business leaders convene to help Black businesses grow

Dave Huddleston
·2 min read

Channel 2 gets real about income disparities between white families and those from the Black and brown communities.

The U.S. Federal Reserve points to long-standing barriers like housing discrimination and a lack of access when it comes to income equality, but some business leaders are trying to change that.

Recently, Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston was in DeKalb County at the new Black Wall Street in Stonecrest recently, where he was looking into a program that is helping small businesses grow.

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On Saturday, there was a forum where people learned the best practices on how to grow their businesses and generational wealth.

“Access to capital. The insurance industry right now is really crazy,” Kevin Pratt said.

Pratt and his wife, Moira, started a video recording and streaming service in 2020. They said that it can be hard to know the ins and outs of running a successful company.

“There’s a lot of Black businesses that exist, especially here in Georgia, they just need to understand where the connections are,” Pratt said.

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“We’ve been privileged and blessed, let’s go out and advocate and use that wealth of knowledge and influence of their business leaders and bring them all over from the state of Georgia,” Bruce Levell said.

Levell is the owner of Dunwoody Diamonds and a former advisor to ex-President Donald Trump. Levell hosted a small business forum on how to apply for credit, loans and build financial wealth.

“When financial crashes hit or pandemics hit, other cultures have been blessed to have three or four generations they have a stronger chance of sustainability,” Levell said.

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The U.S. Federal Reserve said Black and brown households have only 15% to 20% of the net worth of white families. Levell said home ownership and owning a business are good ways to close income disparity and sharing best practices can grow your business, especially for people like the Pratts.

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