David Bey’s business was hit hard by the pandemic. But with a Comcast RISE grant, he now hopes to hire assistants

When David Bey received the call he had been hoping for, he thought it was a scam.

“This kind of thing never happens to me,” recalled Bey, owner of Beyfilmz Media. He and 99 other local small-business owners are the most recent recipients of $10,000 grants to help them build their businesses from the Comcast RISE Investment Fund.

Last week, the investment fund announced the winners of its third round of funding, which totaled $5 million, to 500 BIPOC and women entrepreneurs across several states, including $1 million to local businesses.

“I’ve talked to small businesses and they are each challenged in different ways, and we are proud to come alongside and assist them,” said Comcast regional senior vice president Dennis Mathew.

The effort was launched in 2020, as the pandemic wreaked havoc, weakening sales and producing uneven cash flow, which hampered many small BIPOC- and women-owned businesses’ ability to meet operating expenses.

Bey was forced to return down payments as the corporate events he had booked evaporated.

Romona Mercer of Aunt Verlea’s Pound Cake Experience, a 2021 awardee, said she lost all of her restaurant clients, which left her struggling to pay her monthly $600 rent for her commercial kitchen.

And CreativeMotion Arts Center founder Ashley T. Taylor’s space in the Voorhees Town Center became unavailable when the mall was shuttered.

According to Pew Charitable Trusts data, before the pandemic three out of four city businesses were white-owned and produced 90% of the city sales revenue. This is compared with the 6% of businesses that are Black-owned and 4% that are Latino-owned, which together bring in 4% of city sales revenue. Asian Americans, who own 18% of city businesses, produce the rest of the sales revenue.

Comcast RISE, which stands for Representation, Investment, Strength, and Empowerment, initially focused on Black-owned small businesses but extended its focus to BIPOC- and women-owned businesses, and requires that owners have been in business for at least three years and have fewer than 25 employees.

Despite the shutdowns and other challenges, a 2020 McKinsey & Company poll of more than 1,000 small businesses nationwide showed that BIPOC entrepreneurs were more optimistic about economic recovery than entrepreneurs as a whole, and more than 40% pivoted by adding new services compared with 27% of all respondents.

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Mercer, for example, used the money to buy better-quality supplies, hire additional part-time help, and sell her cakes through pop-ups, which replaced almost all the revenue lost from her restaurant clients.

Taylor used her technology package of iPads, laptops, and a desktop to create virtual classes, which brought in new students.

Bey purchased equipment to provide live-streaming services for his customers who also had to pivot to virtual events. He is going to use the grant money to hire someone to help with administrative tasks.

“As a small-business owner, I’m a one-man band — handling all of the administrative duties, answering phone calls and emails, as well as shooting, editing, and production work,” Bey said. “Thanks to this grant, I plan to hire virtual assistants to help me with day-to-day administrative tasks so I can focus on my work, as well as dedicate resources toward marketing to help reach more clients.”

Despite the optimism, the pandemic has battered small businesses all across the country, with BIPOC-led businesses the hardest hit.

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According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, between February and April 2020, the number of active Black-owned businesses declined by 41%, Latino-owned businesses declined by 32%, and Asian-owned businesses dropped by 25% vs. just 21% for the general population.

“When we launched Comcast RISE in 2020, we knew a profound need existed in the communities we serve,” Mathew said.

Qualified small-business owners can apply to Comcast RISE for technology and marketing support through Oct. 14.