Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos speaks during the announcement on Wednesday, March 9, 2022
of the Rhode Island Business Empowerment Network, a coalition of nearly 80 business professionals working
to support and uplift minority- and women-owned businesses in Rhode Island. The event was held at
Kin Southern Table + Bar in Providence.
Photo by Dominique Resendes, ONE Neighborhood Builders

By Jacquelyn Voghel
Providence Business News

PROVIDENCE – Business leaders on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 [news release] announced the launch of the Rhode Island Business Empowerment Network, a coalition of nearly 80 professionals dedicated to uplifting minority- and women-owned businesses in Rhode Island.

The network will work closely together to increase resources and shared knowledge in the state’s minority-owned business community, members said at a press event held at Kin Southern Table + Bar in Providence.

“Let’s think about the benefits that will arise in our community when BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] businesses thrive,” both for Rhode Island as a whole and for communities of color, said Lisa A. Ranglin, founder and executive director of the Rhode Island Black Business Association. “When Black and brown businesses are thriving and create jobs, they hire directly in those communities.”

Referencing Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s proposal to allocate $10 million of the state’s fiscal 2023 budget to minority-owned businesses, Ranglin called on the state legislature to dedicate $100 million toward this purpose, adding that these businesses have been overlooked for too long.

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The Rhode Island Business Empowerment Network is funded through the U.S. Small Business Administration and the R.I. Commerce Corp. in partnership with the One Neighborhood Builders Business Support Center Initiative.