Business owner in Nashville gives discounts to Black-owned small businesses to show their love.

Thomas Kelly, the creative executive director of Creative Soulz Printing in Nashville, Tennessee, is determined to help small-business owners in his city. He has taken a proactive approach to support local Black-owned stores and restaurants. To that end, he has created the Nashville Black Business Coupon Book, which is a magazine-style resource that highlights more than 80 businesses.

Kelly is driven by a strong belief that together, the community can become stronger. He said, “I know that I cannot grow if I'm not helping others along the way. Especially with Black businesses, we don't have a lot of the resources and the support. So if we can branch together and form a community together, then we're going to be stronger in numbers when it comes to that.”

The U.S. Census Bureau report from 2019 indicates that there were 134,000 Black-owned businesses in Nashville at that time, and the number has continued to rise since the pandemic. Currently, 26 percent of the city's small businesses are Black-owned.

Unfortunately, sustainability and funding remain a problem for many Black business owners in Nashville. To help these businesses find more success, local entrepreneurs like Kelly and Carlos Partee have taken the initiative to create platforms such as the Nashville Black Market, where business owners can advertise their products and services.

Partee is committed to making a difference and helping Black entrepreneurs in their journey to succeed. He said, “We know Black business owners have suffered more losses than other ethnicities. We are trying to form a platform for entrepreneurs to thrive and continuously be represented.” His goal is to shorten the amount of time it takes for Black entrepreneurs to reach success. He believes that by providing resources such as classes to help entrepreneurs learn how to better manage their businesses, they can become successful quickly and be put on a platform to showcase their products and services.

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