The city of Atlanta and its economic development authority recently unveiled a free online networking operation aimed at connecting small businesses to larger corporations and suppliers.
The digital tool, called ATLinBusiness Marketplace, launched last week and allows Atlanta-based businesses to sell and market to other companies in the metro area. Mayor Andre Dickens said in a news release the online venture aims to integrate the city’s small businesses, including those owned by minorities and women, with the city’s corporate ecosystem.
“ATLinBusiness Marketplace will create a more equitable business-to-business environment by connecting buyers and sellers in metro Atlanta — including minority-owned, women-owned and legacy businesses,” Dickens said. “With this program, we aim to provide resources to support our local economy, create more good-paying jobs and ensure Atlanta is a city of opportunity for all.”
The marketplace launched in the middle of Black History Month and joins multiple efforts to support minority-led businesses in metro Atlanta. African Americans make up about half of the city’s population. But Black-owned businesses represent only about 20% of the city’s businesses, Invest Atlanta CEO Eloisa Klementich said.
The marketplace is an extension of the city’s ATLinBusiness initiative, a business portal that helps entrepreneurs with business management and growth strategies. Atlanta-based financial technology company Now and the city’s economic development agency, Invest Atlanta, will operate the digital business-to-business marketplace.
“We are helping connect the small B2B business owners with potential enterprise clients to ensure that growth accelerates in Atlanta and around the country,” Lara Hodgson, CEO and co-founder of Now, said in the release.
Her company’s Now Network is a national, public version of the city’s new digital marketplace, which focuses solely on Atlanta businesses. The platform showcases participating business’s diversity classification, procurement needs and other capabilities.
Last week, Brookhaven-based accounting firm Aprio hosted an entrepreneurship panel to provide capital acquisition resources to Black businesses. The Atlanta Voice reported that data released at the event showed Black companies collectively across the country could acquire more than $1 trillion in potential revenue if provided the same financial resources as their non-Black counterparts.
Global investment bank Goldman Sachs released a survey of 10,000 small businesses this month, with 81% of Black small business owner respondents saying they were optimistic about their financial trajectory in 2023. However, more Black respondents said they’ve found it harder to access new capital and have had to dip into their personal savings in comparison to non-Black business owners.
More information on ATLinBusiness Marketplace is available at atlinbusiness.com/marketplace.
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