Kevin D. Kim, Commissioner of the NYC Small Business Services and Ken Ebie, Director of BE NYC

Our Building Black Biz Podcat features Lite FM's Helen Little in conversation with Kevin D. Kim, Commissioner of the NYC Small Business Services and Ken Ebie, Director of BE NYC chatting about programs available to New York City business owners. In Partnership with @DriveToyota.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to another episode of Building BlackBiz. I'm hello Little I'll be your
host today and today we are buildingwith Commissioner Kim and also kN Ebby from
the City and I'm so glad tohave you guys on. I'm going to
start with you, Commissioner, tellus a little bit about your position and

(00:22):
what it is you do every day. Absolutely, First of all, thank
you for having us both on toshare to the world all the great things
that we're able to provide for NewYork City small businesses. Here at the
Department of Small Business Services at SPS, we really focus on three things.
Where help job seekers any New Yorkerwho who's looking to connect to jobs,

(00:46):
whether it's to small businesses or toother larger sized businesses. We provide that
service through our eighteen Workforce one centers. At the same time, we help
small businesses launch, operate, andgrow. We help get connected to financing
options, We help them with cuttingthrough the red tape that can ensnare some

(01:07):
businesses just starting to launch. Andthen finally we manage the seventy six Business
Improvement Districts. Through that bid network, we're able to work on keeping our
commercial corridors vibrant. And then finally, one other thing that we really focus
on is the Minority women owned businessEnterprise certification process, so the MWBE certification

(01:33):
processes in our agency, we arereally out there trying to get as many
mwbs the help they need to beable to contract with government agencies in New
York City. New York City spendsthirty billion dollars every year and we want
to make sure that the mwbs andblack owned businesses also take advantage of that.
That's wonderful, and I'm going toswitch to you can and tell us

(01:57):
a little bit about what it isthat you do. I understand and you
were taking on something brand new,so give us information about it. Well,
thank you again, Helen for havingus on. My name is Ken
Eb. I'm the inaugural executive directorand Chief Development Officer of Black Entrepreneurs NYC.
We are known as b NYC andwe're an initiative of the New York

(02:19):
City Department of Small Business Services underCommissioner Kim's leadership. So our real mission
is in the name of the initiative, and we're really trying to provide information
resources to provide black entrepreneurs and businessowners, those who are looking to start
businesses or scale businesses to be ableto do so. And we've really done

(02:43):
that through addressing some of the structuralchallenges and issues that have historically made it
a challenge, a more significant challengefor black people to start and scale businesses
in the city and in the country. So we have a number of programs,
six programs to be exact, andwe're really fueled by public private partnerships

(03:04):
in addition to the great resources ofthe City of New York. And really
our focus is to eradicate the racialwealth gap through boosting business ownership here in
New York City in the black community. What led you both to become involved
in then the initiatives and the positionsthat you're in. I mean, what

(03:25):
where did you start in order toget where you are now? And Commissioner,
I'll start with you and then Kenafter that, Thank you for that
question. I grew up as theson of immigrant small business owners in Queens,
going through the public school system Kthrough twelve, and so for me,

(03:46):
I've seen the struggles of immigrant smallbusiness owners. They were fortunately able
to build up a business after sevenyears, but during that time we had
five members of our family live ina one bedroom, one bathroom apartment,
and so kind of seeing the growthof the potential growth of a small business
and what it can do not justfor a particular family, but obviously for

(04:09):
the next generation like me. Tobe able to then go back and serve
in public service for other small businesseshas been has made this job particular dream
of mind to do. And Ialso have gone on to create my own
businesses and so looking at it froma child of immigrant business of small business

(04:30):
owners then now to having been aformer business owner, I think I bring
a perspective to this role where takingmy lived experience, I'm able to help
other businesses. And then in termsof the b NYC program, as Ken
talked about, we know that datashows that block entrepreneurs and black small businesses
are negatively impacted and disproportionately impacted invarious areas, in particular financing. So

(04:54):
we were really excited to have partneredwith Goldman Sacks and also with MasterCard launching
the largest public private partnership opportunity loanfund, and it was directing loans two
small businesses in particular seventy five milliondollars. We just launched it, and
we are excited to see the demandfrom mwbs from black business owners all throughout

(05:20):
the city. And Ken, yes, Helen, So, I think a
lot of what Commissioner Kim said iswhy we get along so well and work
so well together. In fact,I'm the son of immigrants as well,
and uh, you know, myparents are business owners. Uh my father

(05:41):
running a small business and my motherhelping him to run it, and and
uh you know, also I'm ablack entrepreneur myself started my own strategic social
impact strategy firm actually right before theworld shutdown in twenty twenty, and so
I am very much familiar with andvery entrenched in the very real issue of

(06:05):
trying to start a business and builda business as a as a black entrepreneur.
Um. I think that one ofthe things that was critical for me.
I've had a career in law,politics, government, and actually had
previously served in city government. ButI got information about this new initiative and

(06:27):
was really in many ways called toit because I learned about it after the
economic shutdown in twenty twenty, butmost importantly after the summer of protests following
the killing of George Floyd and Sothis, the mission of this initiative really
resonated tremendously with me, in additionto having done work in city government here

(06:50):
in New York City and also leadinga campaign for for the first black Brooklyn
District Attorney, which was focused onsocial justice and and and and structural challenges
that the criminal justice system presents.I saw it as a very natural progression
in terms of my career, andyou brought up something that was already on

(07:14):
my mind. I'd like to goback to and I'll go to you first,
Ken on this one. How didthe pandemic affect small business black business
women owned businesses through this period?The initiatives that you work with have they
been able to, I guess,help sustain businesses during these difficult times.

(07:38):
Yes, it's a wonderful, wonderfulquestion, and I think Commissioner Kim h
is very much, very much um. You know, we've been working very
closely in terms of the issues thatspecifically have impacted black business owners. We
actually, uh during Black History Month, I had a very good, fruitful
meeting with a group called the BlackRestaurant Coalition, which was really speaking about

(08:00):
the challenges that these black restaurant ownershave faced as a result of the pandemic.
And it was not just during thatperiod of time when businesses were essentially
closed to the public uh in person, but it continues today. Some of
those businesses we've seen, broadly speaking, UH, you know, we're entered,
we're forced to enter into some verychallenging financial circumstances, including taking on

(08:24):
some very burdensome debt with with verypoor terms. And they are they are
continuing to suffer from the impact ofthat just to keep their businesses afloat during
COVID. Uh and they're still nowhaving to deal with some of these really
unreasonable predatory lending terms. UM.So we've noticed that, you know,

(08:48):
I think in through the course ofthe pandemic, there are some numbers which
is said nationally about fifty percent ofblack businesses, small black businesses shut down
shuttered as a result of COVID.We have seen that a number of them
did shut down in New York Cityand a lot of that was due to
some of the structural challenges including accessto capital M that have really burdened black

(09:13):
business owners. But access to capital, access to M to customers through online
commerce, that connectivity. We sawthat a number of the businesses that UM,
the businesses that were able to surviveand in fact thrive through COVID were
those that that had an already existingand robust online presence and the ability to

(09:35):
do business online so that they werenot severely impacted in terms of being able
to continue to get revenue. UM. I think one of the things which
the Commissioner and I have spoken about, which is which is important to notice
and to notice that UM, wesaw a rise in entrepreneurship in the black
community as a result of the pandemic. UH. In some cases it meant

(09:58):
you it was coming from people whohad been laid off or let go from
their jobs out of necessity starting businesses. UH. In some cases it came
from kind of an appreciation of theneed to take ownership of your financial future
and the future of your family,essentially to be able to to own your
destiny, which many black people wereappreciating. UM. And we saw,

(10:26):
you know, in certain pockets ofNew York City rise in entrepreneurship and businesses
started. We also did see thatthere was some very good UH collaboration among
black businesses over the course of theCOVID pandemic, both in terms of communicating
information on access to p p Ploans, helping UH to collaborate, to

(10:48):
to stay afloat, and to drivebusiness to other black owned businesses. And
so you see stories that came outof the pandemic such as UH what's referred
to as Black Girl Magic Grow onTompkins Avenue in bed Sty, where a
number of black woman owned businesses bandedtogether to support each other to be able

(11:09):
to survive through the pandemic. Sosome very positive good things have come out
of this. I'm hoping that wehere at SPS, and we're hoping the
Commissioner and I in terms of thelessons learned, that we'll be able to
really grab and amplify the good inaddition to resolving some of the less positive
outcomes. You know, it's interestingas you say that, I recently spoke

(11:33):
to a woman who actually opened arestaurant in the Times Square area in the
middle of a pandemic, and shetalked about the challenges, but she's thriving
now and I'm assuming that's part andparcel to some of the programs that are
offered at the Department of Small BusinessServices. So I know Commissioner Kim that

(11:56):
there are some things that are thatwe've been sharing on our Building Black Bis
website. Can you tell us aboutthe sps and kinds of programs available to
New Yorker is interested in building abusiness. Now that's probably a little bit
easier. Well, absolutely, andit is exactly what you said. One
of the things I get to doin this job that I love the most

(12:16):
is I get to walk the commercialquarters in all five boroughs with city council
members, so people who know theirlocal population and small business is the best.
And when we were walking around inJanuary and February of twenty twenty two,
I was shocked to see how manybusinesses opened up during the pandemic,
just like what you said. Youknow, there's a Haitian owned bakery in

(12:39):
Jamaica, Lebon Pat that opened upjust right in the height of the pandemic,
and now they were thriving just aswell. And we were like,
wow, who does that? Andthen you think about what makes New York
City so special and so unique,and it really is a lot of the
immigrant mentality, you know, peoplewho come from all over the world,
including any of the Caribbean islands.And so we visited little HAITI in Brooklyn,

(13:03):
and we did our launch of ourNational Small Business Week last year in
Bedsty. We are we know thatthe services we provide can make a difference.
So some of the programs that youasked about, we work with over
forty partners to provide financing options differentstate loans, grants, city owned,

(13:24):
city run programs as well in federalprograms. But there's also private CDFIs that
we can nonprofit cdi fis that wecan connect businesses too that are looking for
financing. We also provide networking andmentorship opportunities. That's incredibly important. We
understand that starting a business can beeasy just to incorporate yourself and have an
idea, but getting it to thenext level requires that kind of networking and

(13:48):
mentorship that oftentimes historically underserved communities don'tlack. And so b NYC under Ken's
leadership has really focused on the mentoringpart of this, and then we provide
through our MWBE program. We wantto make sure that the black entrepreneurs can
connect with the city agency government contractingopportunities. As I said, there's thirty

(14:11):
billion dollars, over thirty billion dollarsbeing spent by New York City agencies in
one year every year alone, andwe want to make sure that the opportunities
are there for black owned businesses totake advantage. And so finally, I
think the training programs. We alsoprovide training programs that can connect New Yorkers
and aspiring black entrepreneurs, two industries, high performing industries like the tech industry,

(14:39):
and then now with the legalization ofcannabis NYC. At SBS, we
are in charge of the city's educationand outreach opportunities, and we want to
make sure that, in particular,the communities most harmed by the prohibition on
drugs understand the best what the opportunitiesare in the one point two billion dollar
industry that's come next year. Andit's not just about having a retail license.

(15:03):
There's nine different licenses. There areso many other services that don't touch
the plant that you can be involvedwith. But at SPS, we want
to make sure you know about thoseopportunities. We can hold your hand to
open up a business that can takeadvantage of that industry, and that's what
we do at SPS every single day. And you mentioned the b NYC initiative,

(15:28):
and I know this has touched alot of lives. So many New
Yorkers have benefited from this. Canyou give us can an example of a
couple of entrepreneurs who have been helpedby NYC? Absolutely? And it's it's
really I have to say, Helen, one of my greatest joys, probably

(15:48):
the best compensation that someone like CommissionerKim or I can receive in public service,
which is to have the opportunity tospeak to individuals who have benefited from
the programs that have been provided throughthe Department of Small Business Services or b
NYC initiative in particular. And soI've had countless encounters this way and have

(16:12):
really been been lifted up and inspiredby them. There are a couple that
come directly to mind for me whenwhen we talk about this. Uh,
there's the story of Jacqueine Washington,who was a personal trainer who's based in
Manhattan, and he founded his company, a personal training company, jtw Fit

(16:33):
and the Harlem Kettlebell Club. AndJacquine spoke about his involvement in the b
NYC programs and how they helped himbuild up a broader understanding of how to
run his business, how to maintainand how to build out his client base,
and then importantly to Commissioner Kim's pointabout the partnership with Goldman Sacks for
the Small Business Opportunity Fund how toaccess loan and grant programs that he just

(16:57):
did not know existed. I.You know, I grew up on cartoons
UH and g I Joe. Therewas this tagline that some folks my age
might remember. They said, Knowingis half the battle. And so what
we try to do with b NYCis provide black business owners and aspiring business
owners with access to the information sothat they can then pursue that information and

(17:21):
get things such as being able toapply to the to the Small Business Opportunity
Fund UM. So so Jack Keaneis an example UH. And there's another
example that I often UH cite.Who's Alison Dunne. She's a serial entrepreneur
UM and she she owns a businesscalled Hybiscus Brew in UH in Brooklyn,

(17:44):
and she participated in our b NYCStartup Intensive UH course, which is a
rigorous UH sixteen UH course program whichessentially, at the end of the program
enables individuals with skills on how topitch their business to raise capital, prepare
business plans, and then also havea plan of how to approach your your

(18:08):
your customers. So she found thatthat startup intensive of course, was really
instrumental to her in helping her launchher business, one of several that she
has started, and more importantly,helping her visualize her business concept and just
think through what is the most viablebusiness model. I know Commissioner Kim has
been out to Hybiscus Brew and cancan testify to the fact that she is

(18:30):
utilizing that knowledge very well and successfully. You know, I've always believed that
small businesses in New York City isreally what makes the city so amazing,
so unique. It's like the heartbeatof the city. And you can find
almost any kind of a small businessin this town, in a big town.

(18:52):
But there are a lot of peoplethat are probably daunted by the notion
of starting their own business. Ifthere were one thing, Commissioner Can that
you would recommend to someone who hasit on their heart right now, I
want to be in an entrepreneur,I want to start a business. I
don't know what's the first or mostimportant thing I should do first. What
would you say to them? Iwould say to them, Well, there's

(19:15):
so many aspects, and it reallydepends on what type of business. So,
as a former commissioner of the NewYork State Liquor Authority, for example,
I'll give you somebody who dreams aboutopening a restaurant, and they often
say, hey, if I canonly just get that liquor license. And
I think this is a very goodlesson for people who say, hey,
if I can just get that cannabislicense retail license, I'm going to make

(19:38):
it. I'm going to be rich. Well, what you realize is that
getting the license is just one aspectof actually launching a successful business. Though
the bigger and longer portion of yourcareer in your business is going to be
actually running the business. So whatI would say to people is, really
do your homework beforehand. It doesn'tca anything to take advantage of all of

(20:02):
our free courses that we have online, we have mentorship programs, take advantage
of mentors, talk to people,get your business plan on paper, written
down, Understand how to do bookkeepingbefore you actually start having money going in
and out of your bank account.If you can take care of a number
of the initial steps of what asuccessful business looks like upfront, you'll save

(20:26):
yourself a lot of headache, butyou'll save us yourself, even more importantly,
a lot of money. And wheredo they access this information for programs
that you just mentioned. I'm ifI'm just starting out or someone listening is
just starting out, they want toknow where's the first place to go to
find that information? How do theyfind that? Yes, they should come

(20:47):
to our website NYC dot gov backslashSBS or they can call us on our
hotline one eight eight eight s BS the number four NYC. Okay,
And before we wrap, you knowwith B NYC. What's the one thing

(21:08):
that makes getting up and going towork every day for you, Ken exciting
when you know that you're going outand working with this initiative aside from coming
to see me, right, Ken, you read my mind, Commissioner,
I was going to say that,but I'm going to say something different now.
You know, the thing that reallygets me up, and honestly it

(21:30):
gets me up every morning without analarm clock, is the notion that we
are working every day to live outan old African adage that I was raised
on and that I often cite,and that we frankly operate by here at
the New York City Department of SmallBusiness Services. But I explicitly incorporate this

(21:52):
into all of our programming at theNYC, and that is, if you
want to run fast, run alone, If you want to run far,
run together. So so fundamentally,we're really in the business of building community.
And this is in some ways incontraposition to the traditional notion of entrepreneurship.

(22:14):
But we understand that fifty percent ofall small businesses fail within the first
five years of operating, fifty percentof all businesses will not be in existence.
And what is it that actually youknow, determines whether a business will
survive. In addition to what CommissionerKim said, which is having a plan.

(22:37):
In operating with a plan, weknow that relationships matter. We know
that the regardless of what business you'rein, regardless of what stage of your
business you're in, it is importantto know people who can serve as mentors,
who can help guide you so thatyou avoid some of those critical mistakes
that will completely dash the entrepre preneurialdreams of a founder. And we just

(23:03):
have less of a runway to beable to do that within the black community
due to some of these structural challenges. So we know that knowing people matters.
If you are in a business whereyou're you're in a retail business,
it's important to have an initial baseof customers who you reach out to and
then when you provide a good service, to have them come back and to
tell other people. And so yourrelationships really do matter, if it is

(23:27):
getting contracts with the City of NewYork, having the relationship with a commissioner
KIM or or with b NYC tobe able to know about the free webinars
that will tell you how to getyour company certified as an MWBE so that
you can get on a priority list, so that you can have information about
these contracts coming from the City ofNew York and its agencies so that you

(23:49):
can bid in and you can youcan successfully obtain that these relationships matter,
and so we are fundamentally in thebusiness of building community. And one thing
which I wanted to mention before closing, Helen, is we're we've launched a
really exciting new initiative here at theNYC which is first of its kind,

(24:11):
and it is the Shop Black NYCOnline Business directory. This is the city's
first ever online black business directory andso currently we have over three thousand,
two hundred businesses listed on this directory. We want, as the City of
New York and the Department of SmallBusiness Services to help black owned businesses by

(24:34):
providing additional marketing and visibility and thenenabling those businesses to have access to tailored
information that comes from the Department ofSmall Business Services. Whether if you're a
business that is not yet certified,we can reach out to you with specific
information on how to get certified inthe benefits of doing that. If you

(24:56):
need access to capital, whether it'sloans such as a Small Business Opportunity Fund
or grant opportunities as they come,as they come to our attention, we
can get that information out to thebusinesses that are registered on the Shop Black
NYC directory. We want to makeit easy for New Yorkers to be able
to support black owned businesses, notjust during the month of February, not

(25:19):
just on Juneteenth, but three hundredand sixty five days a year. And
so this is going to be apoint and click, one stop opportunity,
the most comprehensive list of black ownedbusinesses, which will allow you to search
by industry, by the particular goodsor services you're looking for and as as
local as your zip code. Right, you can search by borrow and zip

(25:41):
code. So I encourage all ofyour listeners immediately to go to the website
for Shop Black NYC, which iswww dot nyc dot gov forward slash shop
black. That's nyt gov forward slashshot black, register your black owned business

(26:06):
on our Shop Black NYC directory,and also spread the word to help us
get more support to our city's blackowned businesses. I have been looking for
just that thing, so thank youfor sharing that. This is wonderful.
I'm so excited. You almost gotme wanting to start a business because you

(26:26):
make it sound not easy but possible. Yeah, And I think that's where
most future entrepreneurs need to start,is like with the possibility and knowing that
they have this kind of support systemand the level of experience and passion that
you both bring to the table.I cannot imagine it not inviting more people

(26:48):
who have the idea to start abusiness to do that. Now, if
listeners want more info, I wantto get both of those websites that we've
already discussed again. But where theyfind you? Are you on social media
platforms or they are you in alot of different places, or the best
places are these the two websites yougave for Shop Black and for small business.

(27:10):
Yes, they can just come toany of the social media platforms and
find us at NYC Small Biz BizAnd we're on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter,
We're everywhere. We would love toengage with them, but you know,
and I do this when I'm outin public, but they can also
email me directly if they want.It's it's very easy. It's Kevin Kim

(27:32):
at SBS dot NYC dot gov.And you're welcome all in particular. I
know you've got a rabbit following,so I may regret this one day,
but I want I want New Yorkersto know that we are accessible to them
in the in always, and sosocial media is one. I gave you

(27:52):
our hotline, which had over onehundred thousand calls since the pandemic, and
now I'm giving you my email.It might take a little bit to respond,
but we promise that we will begetting back to and responding to your
emails and um again, the websiteis for the directory is NYC dot gov

(28:15):
forward slash shop black. That's correct, telling that's correct, and uh.
And I would say as well,UH, the the email if people want
to reach out to learn more aboutb NYC, in particular as an initiative
of the Department of Small Business Services. Our email is b E NYC at

(28:37):
SBS dot NYC dot g o V. That's b E NYC at SBS dot
NYC dot g o v UM andI also want to encourage people interested specifically
in b NYC to go to ourlanding page which is which is a asociated

(29:00):
with the SPS page, but itis NYC dot gov forward slash b E
NYC and sign up for our listserve to get updates on all of our
programs and events. Well, Keneb and Commissioner Kevin Kim, I cannot
thank you enough for your time today. This has been wonderfully informative and I'm

(29:23):
sure it's going to help a lotof people. Thank you for being a
part of the Building Black Buss podcasttoday. Thank you, Helen, Thank
you so much. Thanks for havingus. Helen