Strategy, Access, and Community: How Louisiana Economic Development is Helping Black Businesses Grow, Scale, and Thrive – Essence

Growing a small business takes more than just a good idea. It takes capital, strategic resources, and the right community of support. On day one of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture, innovative entrepreneurs Carrita Tanner-Cloud and Iam Tucker join Louisiana Economic Development (LED) and Emmy-winning journalist, Brandi Harris, to give SOKO MRKT attendees a deep dive into what it really takes to scale – from access to funding to leveraging programs designed to help emerging Black-owned businesses thrive.

This growth-focused panel kicks off with LED representatives, Stephanie Hartman and Shamela Pete, walking small, aspiring business owners in the audience through the importance of accessing capital and leveraging government resources.

“All of the support and resources we offer are underutilized,” Hartman explains. “What we want to do is stop these programs that support our small businesses from being the best kept secret and do more to connect folks, like [Cloud and Tucker], to these programs that can help them achieve their goals…but do it with a little bit more support and fewer barriers to be able to get there.”

To help bosses-in-the-making better access capital, LED offers a variety of credit enhancement programs that Pete says more small businesses in Louisiana should take advantage of. “We have the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a microlending program for companies who need loans for startup costs and smaller financing needs,” Pete shares. “We also have a collateral support program that is for companies who typically have a hard time providing sufficient collateral to actually obtain a loan. And our final program is our small business low-in-guarantee program, which provides a governmental guarantee to increase your chance of a lender extending a loan. All of these are available for small business owners and are excellent financing options to help grow your business.”

Alongside Hartman and Pete are two Black women entrepreneurs who have directly benefitted from the resources LED has to offer, including Iam Tucker, a second generation business owner who serves as president of Integrated Logistical Support, Inc. – a 100 percent female, minority owned civil engineering firm. Tucker says one of the best LED programs she has enjoyed the most are the CEO roundtables, where executives have the opportunity to discuss business practices with other executives who deal with similar growth challenges.

“The CEO roundtables with LED really help to put you in the same room with people of different types of businesses and to understand that you’re not on an island,” Tucker shares. “Everything looks real smooth on the surface, but in reality, it takes a lot of kicking and churning to stay afloat.” 

Tucker says the CEO roundtables also serve as a great networking opportunity, which she also says is crucial for any business owner. “People don’t do business with businesses; they do business with people they trust, people they know can provide a service, and people they genuinely like to be around,” Tucker shares. “You need to understand the people in your industry. To be able to do that, you have to network. Go to conferences. Go to open houses where there are people inside your industry. Meet people. Tell people what you do. Learn what they do. And what I do then is…l like to get all the people that look like me together on one team and go after something because that means we’re expanding our resources, we’re expanding what we can do, and we’re going after it together.”

All businesses have to start somewhere, and in Cloud’s case, her advertising and graphic design agency started “in a closet, seven months pregnant” after she decided to step away from corporate and realized nobody was going to hire a mother-to-be. She started building $300 websites, and now, seven years later, Cloud serves as the founder and CEO of Creativity Justified – an advertising and graphic design agency that has worked with major clients, including with the NFL, NBA, and Microsoft. 

“Thank God for my husband and my kids that were patient with me because it took a lot of sacrifice to get here today,” Cloud shares. She says it also took a lot of research, which is how she learned about the programs and resources LED offers to small business owners. “Through my research, I learned a lot of their resources don’t cost money, but it does cost time. And a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we’re like, ‘I don’t have time for that,’ but you don’t have time not to.”

Cloud shares the same sentiment as Tucker when it comes to the importance of networking as an entrepreneur. “A lot of the contracts we are able to secure start with relationship building…[but] a lot of us don’t know how to form and create those relationships because we’re scared to talk to people, we’re scared to get in the rooms, or we get in the rooms and we go in the corner and sip our little drinks. But a lot of the time we don’t even know who we’re sitting next to. So open your mouth and build genuine, authentic relationships. LED positioned us to be able to do that.”

Networking and building relationships can also come with overcoming barriers, such as being the only person of color in the room at times. “What I had to realize is that the only difference in all of us generally is just the layer of color on our skin. When we learn to begin to embrace stories from people, then you get to build those relationships that open up doors for opportunity,” Cloud says. “For me, as a black woman entering those spaces, I ask myself, ‘What can I do to serve while I’m here?’ Service and servanthood are always at the forefront of what I’m doing. I believe that you can have everything in this life that you want if you help enough people get what they want. So when you position your mindset not to say, ‘What can I get from this relationship?’ but, ‘What can I do to serve in that relationship?’ 

Both Cloud and Tucker add that it is now more important than ever to take advantage of the new digital era the world is entering and maximize the skills of your current staff. “We’re in an environment that is so tech-heavy right now that if you’re not leaning into AI and leaning into technology, you will be left behind,” says Cloud. “Whatever your business is, find a way to incorporate technology and be innovative.”

“These are difficult times we’re in,” Tucker adds. “We know that a lot of us have to work twice as hard to go half the distance, so the advice I have right now is to find different ways to market yourself. I lead with my qualifications. I lead with my experience, and that is the main thing that gets me through the door. In addition, find more ways to utilize what you have now to leverage other jobs with the same staff. That is how you increase revenue…by finding more ways to do more things with the current staff you have now.”

The biggest takeaway for anyone looking to start or scale their businesses: believe in yourself and don’t give up.

“I’ve had a lot of fetal position moments where I crawled into the closet and cried, ‘Lord, I know you told me to do this, but I’m about to go to Indeed and go find me a job.’” Cloud shares. “But if God gave you the vision and if He gave you the dream…don’t stop – be consistent in what you’re doing. When it is your time, and when it is your season, no one can stop it because only God defines it.”

“Learn to get comfortable with the uncomfortable because nothing that is comfortable or quick or easy is sustainable,” Tucker adds. “If it’s hard, it’s meant to be hard for a reason, and you’re going to get through it, and you’re going to be stronger on the other side of it. Know you’re qualified for it. It’s a tough time right now, but we have always persevered and we will always persevere. Keep going.”