A new Carleton research center sheds light on the experiences of black entrepreneurs

A Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Center is quietly taking shape at Carleton University as it prepares to launch a multi-stakeholder approach to research that will benefit the Black business community.

In May 2021, amid growing international conversations surrounding anti-black racism, the federal government announced a three-pronged Black Entrepreneurship Program to help black entrepreneurs grow their businesses. The three components were the Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund, the National Ecosystem Fund, and the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Center.

Although the loan fund raised some questions and concerns in the black community, the knowledge center launched quietly last January. After a national competition in which universities and community partners from Toronto, Quebec, the Maritimes and Western Canada competed to host the centre, the winning bid came from Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business and its partner, the Dream Legacy Foundation.

In addition to having a well-respected geomatics research center that has worked on similar large-scale national research projects in the past, Carleton offered a highly collaborative approach in its winning bid.

“We brought together a coalition of institutions and other supporters across the country,” explains Gerald Grant, co-director and co-academic leader of the project. “We had about 100 community supporters and 13 university partners. That was one of the requirements, so our offer was comprehensive.”

Also leading the project are Executive Director Andrea Pierce and Co-Director and Co-Academic Leader Rick Colburn, both of Carleton University, and Isaac Olowolafe Jr. of the Dream Legacy Foundation.

Over the course of the three-year program, the center will research and map black entrepreneurship in Canada, including an interactive multimedia map, videos and photos, and a database of black businesses across all industries.

The team will rely on data analyses, interviews and other research methods to gain insights into black entrepreneurship that are deeper than those typically provided by Statistics Canada.

Although a large-scale national qualitative and quantitative project may seem like a large undertaking, the team partnered with a variety of stakeholders, including academic institutions and community groups, who submitted competing proposals.

“A lot of the research will be co-generated by the community,” explains Grant. “We have a network of research institutions that will work with community partners in what we call regional centers across the country, so research will be generated from the community up. One of our goals at the end of this program is to build capacity in communities to do research.

The team strives to ensure that the research has real value for the black entrepreneurial community and the business community as a whole. Researchers will examine the barriers black entrepreneurs face in accessing capital and why, and consider the regional realities of black communities, from Vancouver to Toronto to Halifax, including cultural, historical and linguistic differences, with the ultimate goal of creating real change and impact on black entrepreneurs.

“This is not about doing research for research’s sake,” adds Grant. “The whole partnership between us and a community organization like the Dream Legacy Foundation is to build capacity in the black community. Research will need to be related to issues of black entrepreneurship in the black community; not only for the black community, but with and for the black community… Research alone is not enough. Research must be mobilized to make a difference at the institutional level and within the community itself. There should be a net benefit to the black community from this research. Research is just the first part of this, but driving change and policy at the federal, provincial and municipal levels is really important to have an impact.”

The center is currently in its initial phase, recruiting new staff and soliciting research proposals from community partners. The ultimate goal is to make the center self-sustaining through capacity building and research partnerships.

For more information about the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, visit bekh.org.