For nearly a decade, Jice Johnson has empowered Black entrepreneurs and business leaders with resources necessary to thrive in an economic landscape. In 2015, she founded the Black Business Initiative (BBI) to drive excellence, equity and wealth through business development.
Today, in the midst of an organization-wide overhaul, the dynamic, service-driven organization remains committed to equipping emerging and establishing business professionals with information, guidance and practical tools to create and maintain success.
The Woman Behind the Podium
Johnson is a seasoned businesswoman, U.S. Army Veteran, community advocate and impactful speaker, who delivers motivational messages to audiences around the country.
In 2011, the Oakland native was in search of a new environment after spending time in Iraq, relocating to Atlanta and finalizing a divorce.
“I selected Denver out of a magazine!” she laughs. “There was an article about the Top 50 best places to live. …I narrowed it down between Denver and Albuquerque. I flipped a coin, and it landed on Denver.”
She made the relocation official in April 2011.
“I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t even know where there was community for almost two years before I discovered the organization called ‘Shop Talk Live,’” she says.
Yearning to find a group of like-minded entrepreneurs for mutual support, she found that the community conversations hosted by the group provided a network where she could thrive.
Johnson took on a leadership role, hosting forums and community conversations focused on issues affecting the Black communities in Denver and throughout the country. During one of the Shop Talk Live sessions, she recognized a strong need for a new focus.
“We were looking at a documentary by Tariq Nasheed called Hidden Colors,” she recalls. “In the documentary, Dr. Claude Anderson talks about the fact that the Black community is an underclass in America. He started at the base, with it being an issue of economics. That really intrigued me.”
After the documentary, Johnson decided to research economic inequity further, and came across Black author, Maggie Anderson, who championed a “Buy Black” campaign in Chicago. She discovered Anderson’s “My Black Ear” experiment, watching a Ted Talk where the author explained the difficulty in getting Black people to support Chicago’s abundant Black-owned businesses.
“I thought, let me try to do a ‘Buy Black’ challenge myself here in Denver,” she says. “And almost immediately I was like, ‘Oh my God! There’s nowhere to spend any money. There are no brick and mortars; there are hardly any restaurants; no clothing stores; no smoothie shops…’”
Realizing that Denver didn’t have an economic infrastructure that would allow for intentional Black business support, she created the first model of BBI.
The Original Initiative
In 2014, the framework of BBI was put into place.
“Originally it was supposed to be a workshop focused on the history of Black businesses,” says Johnson, who planned to discuss the reasons why the Black community has struggled to create or maintain a strong economy.
She brought in a marketing professional and a business attorney, planning to put together a business plan that would allow for attendees to participate in both conversation and the construction of an actual business.
By the end of 2015, BBI began to receive requests for additional workshops, with suggestions about topics that would increase support for Denver’s Black business community. The community interest prompted Johnson’s decision to create an official organization by December.
“And we’ve been going strong ever since,” she says.
The Initiative, Evolved
BBI continued to host workshops, training sessions and events. Its premiere event, the Black Boss Summit, was a five-day conference where aspiring and established entrepreneurs and business leaders gathered to learn about industry trends from prominent figures in construction, finance, education, government and more.
“We have also been a part of many of the other organizations that exist now in Denver that either weren’t in existence or weren’t quite sure how to get started in building and developing the Black business ecosystem,” Johnson says.
Organizations such as The Foundation for Black Entrepreneurship, Sistah Biz, Metro Deep and the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce have all benefited from BBI’s influence and start-up support. Through collaboration and support, BBI has helped these organizations build the infrastructure needed to support Black entrepreneurs in the region.
In 2020, the organization shifted its focus to helping businesses develop sustainable marketing and branding practices, in addition to business model creation and increasing access to capital.
Noticing that Black business start-ups were struggling to generate the revenue needed to remain operational, BBI’s evolved programming helps to create a business model that has a better chance of becoming profitable and staying operational over time.
“We have no control over whether or not the business owner will actually do the work – if they’re going to find the money; if they’re going to work on their credit at some point,” she says. “We can help them determine their target market and develop sales strategies, but oftentimes it’s up to the business owner to do the work.”
Recognizing the challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs, BBI considered its own no-cost strategy and the ways in which its work could be more helpful to businesses without creating an in-house deficit.
During the process of re-strategizing, Johnson noticed a lack of grant making organizations specifically for BIPOC-led businesses. She felt that the process of asking traditional foundations for money was adding to a negative narrative about the Black community, and that the limited grant funds received from those sources did not allow BBI to reach as many business owners as she would have liked.
“The money just doesn’t exist in that space for us to invest in ourselves at ‘market rate,’” she admits.
By continuing to use grant funds to operate BBI’s no-cost services, she would either be undercutting herself or overworking herself for free.
“The Black Business Initiative is not a nonprofit organization. We are a public benefit corporation – meaning we are a social enterprise. I got really frustrated by what was happening systematically, and I determined that we don’t control the institutions that create the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Acknowledging community foundations and funding sources that are doing wonderful work to support a range of issues within the Black community, Johnson considered creating a community development financial institution.
However, at the urging of business development strategist, Kwame Anku, she explored venture capital as a way to create equity instead of debt. She then began to envision the ways in which economic development connects people and government to create policy, tax incentives and legislation.
Eventually, she re-envisioned BBI as a three-part entity, including a community foundation, a venture fund, and an economic development association.
The Aya Foundation
Led by chief executive director, Benilda “Benny” Samuels, the Aya Foundation now houses BBI’s Black Business Boot Camp. The foundation provides ongoing support to aspiring entrepreneurs, startup founders and business owners, with one-on-one business coaching, networking, information sessions, bookkeeping support, fiscal sponsorship, grant making and more.
The New Community Transformation Fund
In partnership with Anku, who serves as the CEO of the Black Star Fund and president of New Dawn Global Enterprises, and financial executive Danielle Shoots, Johnson helped launch the New Community Transformation Fund, Denver (later known as the DEMI Fund).
Created to invest in companies owned and operated by business leaders of color in Colorado, Denver City Council passed a resolution to dedicate $15 million to the fund in 2022. Legal discrepancies resulted in a lawsuit filed by Shoots in March 2024, which recently ended in a settlement agreement.
Johnson continues to explore the ways in which venture funding can support BBI’s second focus area.
The Economic Development Association for Black Communities
The third leg of BBI has evolved into an organization centered around the retention of Black talent and Black business, with advocacy for policies that support procurement and revenue generation.
Johnson is in the process of rethinking regional strategies to foster a more hospitable environment for Black businesses and Black wealth.
Ongoing Opportunity
BBI’s founder is constantly creating new ways for the organization to effectively impact Black business professionals. The busy mother of three provides free, monthly business workshops geared toward revenue generation, called “Customers, Contracts and Capital,” and is steadily exploring new ways for BBI to grow into its newly defined focus areas.
In addition to the three focus areas, BBI launched the BeXO program on Aug. 24 during Johnson’s Black Capital mini-summit and speaking event in Atlanta. The event, which took place during the National Black Business League’s 124th Annual National Black Business Conference, featured delegates from Africa and throughout the U.S.
BeXO is BBI’s newest program, which creates opportunities for Black executives, founders and business owners to network, with peer-to-peer environments designed to foster collaboration, accountability and shared growth.
BBI’s impact is evident in the thousands of businesses it has touched. Under Johnson’s visionary leadership, it continues to spearhead an economic revolution, cultivating a vibrant community of Black entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders. The organization remains committed to providing the support, insights, and strategic guidance needed to propel Black businesses forward, contributing to the overall success and growth of the Black community in Colorado and beyond.
Editor’s Note: For more information about BBI programs and upcoming events, visit www.bbiprofessional.com.
