• In Georgia, minority-owned businesses generate only about 12 percent of the state's corporate revenue; black-owned businesses account for just two percent.
• Black-owned businesses have great difficulty obtaining financing, with only one percent of loans received in their first year of business, compared to seven percent for non-minority-owned businesses.
• Watch the video to hear from Valdosta's Black-owned businesses about how the community can help.

TRANSCRIPT

In Georgia, minority-owned businesses generate only about 12% of the state's total revenue.

For black-owned companies, this figure is 2%

“Some of the challenges I face are… lack of money.”

I'm Malia Thomas, your Valdosta neighborhood reporter, and I'm talking to some of our local Black-owned businesses about why they need your support.

“I just love being here in Valdosta.”

This is Lucilla Griffin. She is a longtime neighbor of Valdosta and has operated her own cleaning business since 2001.

Despite the challenges, she tells me that owning her own business has allowed her to live the life she always wanted.

“My grandson is very busy at school. I get to watch him do what I need him to do, whether it's flexibility or financial stability. I love it.”

Lucilla is one of 5.1% of black private business owners in the state.

Although 54% of Valdosta's population is black, our black businesspeople represent a similar proportion.

One of the reasons for this is, as Marion Ramsey, vice president of operations for the Black Chamber of South Georgia, says…

In their first year of business, black-owned businesses tend to get only 1% of loans approved, compared to 7% for non-minority-owned businesses.

That's why our region's South Georgia Black Chamber is focused on obtaining financial assistance for those who qualify.

Lucilla tells me how I can best get by without this capital: through the support of her fellow citizens from the Aosta Valley.

“If you see someone doing a good job and doing what they're supposed to do, you have to support them. That's how I feel about it.”

Even though Black Georgians' purchasing power accounts for $118 billion of our state's purchasing power, their business owners still only receive about 2% of the state's corporate revenue. I'm Malia Thomas from Valdosta, reporting for ABC27.