Rhoni Thompson has always had a hand in R.L. Cole Enterprise, a trucking company that supplies and delivers limestone, gravel, mulch, sand and salt in Northeast Ohio.
She recalls being a single mother in college, working to help her father with the company little by little since its inception in 1993. After years of working nights and two jobs, Thompson decided to focus fully on R.L. Cole Enterprise in 2018 and has since become president of the Warrensville Heights company.
Thompson acknowledges challenges she's faced as a Black woman tasked with leading a small business. The key to supporting entrepreneurs like her, she says, is to ensure people from different levels and diverse backgrounds have a seat at the table.
"It's just really important, as small business owners, that we have a voice but there definitely has to be some action and involvement from us," Thompson said. "The other big thing is remembering that there's different levels to small businesses and depending on your level, there's different needs."
Thompson is participating in the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals Diversity Equity Inclusion Supplier Accelerator, a six-month program that provides mentorship to entrepreneurs from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.
Now in its second year, the program provides business coaching and networking opportunities to a cohort of five small business owners from varied sectors and backgrounds, including women, minorities, veterans and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Participants were selected from a pool of 48 applicants and receive $10,000 upon completion of the program.
Census estimates show that racial minorities are underrepresented as business owners in the U.S. In 2020, nearly 20% of employer businesses were minority-owned while more than 42% of the population was a member of a minority group, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey.
Still, the rate of Black women-owned businesses is growing rapidly, according to the Brookings Institute. Black women-owned employer businesses increased by 18.14% between 2017 and 2020, outpacing the rate of growth among women-owned businesses (9.06%) and Black-owned businesses (13.64%), Brookings reported.
From 2019 to 2020, Black-owned businesses grew by 4.72% followed by Latino or Hispanic (8.19%) and Asian American (5.33%) firms, according to the Brookings Institute. Meanwhile, white-owned businesses shrunk by 0.9%.
Chad Fleischer, vice president of supply chain at University Hospitals, said the DEI Supplier Accelerator program is also important for the region.
"It's so important to have small businesses around our organizations and to keep things here in Cleveland. You've got the big players in the market, too, but we really need small business opportunity just to keep things moving along in Cleveland," Fleischer said.
The opportunity to network with leaders from different business sectors, such as marketing and human resources, has been invaluable, said Gabrielle Christman, president and CEO of Hunter International Recruiting. Sharing experiences with the other small business owners in her cohort has also made a difference.
"These are fantastic business owners. All of us bring something different to the cohort in terms of our strengths," Christman said."We're really able to lean on each other and learn from one another to help push all of our businesses forward."
Interface learning is the overall goal, said Steve Downey, Cleveland Clinic Chief Supply Chain and Support Services Officer.
"I want them to come in, and when they leave the program, they've got new business, they've got expertise to line themselves up for that and they can grow," Downey said. "We help them from whatever stage they are to get the tools they need to be bigger, better at what they do. The whole point is to incubate. We are bringing them in and bringing them to that growing enterprise."
