Helping Minority-Owned Businesses

Cny

By Stefan Yablonski

Minority businesses in CNY have a strong advocate in Me’Shae Rolling.

In September 2020, she became executive director of Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA) in Syracuse.

Founded in 2015, UMEA remains the only minority chamber of commerce in the 16-county Upstate New York region.

Its board of directors is comprised of some of the region’s most prominent members and organizations and is “exploring means and initiatives to combat an economy plagued by economic disparity,” Rolling said.

The nonprofit’s mission is “to harness the economic power of the mi- nority community for the benefit of the Upstate and Central New York region, with a vision to create greater regional prosperity through enhanced minority economic opportunity,” she explained.

UMEA’s vision: “We strive to create a greater regional prosperity through enhanced minority economic opportunity,” according to its website.

UMEA and CenterState CEO partnered to create the region’s first minority chamber of commerce, which works on behalf of minority business owners and as an agency for economic development focused on professionals of color.

Through its alliance, UMEA and CenterState CEO offers members of each organization greater opportunity to connect, network and collaborate, while advancing shared goals to create a more inclusive economy.

Rolling planned to grow the group. It already had about 150 members by December 2020. It has 170 members nowadays, she said, primarily African American and Latino.

UMEA ‘exploded’

“I’m running UMEA solo. I am in the process of hiring not one but two people to help me expand capacity. UMEA has exploded! Our membership has exploded,” she said, emphasizing the word.

“The chamber, the grants every- thing has exploded, she added. “The bad news is I am still one person. That’s why it’s so hard for people to even get a simple appointment with me. I am constantly going —grant deadlines, all kinds of deadlines. I choose not to work on at 3 in the morning.”

The positions she will be hiring are: one will be a membership services specialist and an administration assistant — “so I can get out from underneath all of the paperwork.”

Even though they have 170 members UMEA’s reach is far beyond 170, she added.

“Businesses often have more than one employee that they want to receive the chamber information,” she said. “We call it reach or catch points.”

The groups that are represented in UMEA are construction services professionals (in construction and non-construction trades), catering and food services, and commodities … they sell goods.

“As with any chamber, we are composed of startups as well as mature business enterprises,” she said. “And those who are still working traditional day jobs to pay the bills and want to transfer into full-time entrepreneurship.”

They represent emerging, growing and mature businesses; some are homebased, some mom-and-pop and some brick and mortar.

Seeing an increase

“I would say it is the construction and professional services where we’re seeing the largest increase currently,” Rolling said.

It’s not entirely due to Micron investing billions in CNY.

“The businesses obviously existed before Micron’s announcement. I do think Micron’s presence has accentuated the presences of the professional service providers,” she said.

Back in February, UMEA hosted a reception for top Micron executives and the purpose of that reception was to expose the executives to the diverse purveyors in this region, she said.

”And conversely to introduce them to Micron,” she added.

UMEA provides technical assistance to members.

“We work well in the playground with other stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” she said. “We do strategic networking, facilitated introduction and connection to resources — human, social and financial access to capital.”

“There is no ‘normal’ day; no day looks the same. On any given day, I am attending stakeholder meetings on behalf of the chamber. Additionally, I am engaged in public relations in terms of membership recruitment and then processing those membership invoices — converting prospects into, you know, members and then of course servicing the members — making sure they have chamber services to help them grow and sustain and be profitable enterprises,” she said.

“The data, when it comes to minority business, is either inaccurate or anemic at best or absent. It’s one of those three,” according to Rolling.

Based on the data UMEA has been gathering, “We know that women and minority enterprises are more likely to turn around and hire other minorities