COVINGTON, Ky. — A new partnership aims to draw in more Black-owned businesses to northern Kentucky, and help prop up the ones already there. One boutique owner said it’s going to help with her goal of making women feel beautiful.
What You Need To Know
- The city of Covington is engaging in a new partnership to support Black-owned businesses
- The partnership will provide space for business owners to collaborate and connect to resources
- It’ll also make it easier for business owners to receive grants and loans
- One business owner said it will help her connect with colleagues in her field
Catrena Bowman-Thomas likes to look good, and she wants the same for her customers. She said it all started with her mom when she was little.
“I would come home and she would have my outfits all laid out. She had the shirt and the pants and the shoes. And I would just feel so special. And so I always wanted that for all women to know how special they are,” she said. “We believe that if you look good, you feel good. And really, we try to help women understand their shape, and not so much their size.”
Bowman-Thomas opened her boutique, Inspire Fashion, in downtown Covington in November 2021. She previously launched an online store in February 2021, but was determined to give her customers a place to come shop, and make fashion appointments in person. With the support of her husband, she did.
“For all the pandemic, I kept saying, ‘Oh I want to start a business, oh I want to start business,’ and so he said just do it,” she recalled.
A few months into taking the plunge, she’s not only looking good, but feeling good about her store’s potential.
“We looked all throughout the tristate area. And we landed here in Covington, really, because there was such good support in this community for a boutique,” she said. “It is so important when you’re first starting out a business. You’re looking for, who can support me? You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re trying to figure it all out.”
That support is about to receive an enormous boost.
A partnership between the city of Covington, the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce, and the NKU Collaborative for Economic Engagement aims to help nurture the creation and growth of Black-owned businesses.
“They have lots of space and opportunity in the city of Covington for brick and mortar,” said Briston Mitchell, the Director of Transformative Initiatives and Relationships for the AACC. “They don’t currently track their Black-owned businesses, and I think they are looking to change that.”
There aren’t many Black-owned businesses in Covington now, but Mitchell said they’re working through the partnership to bring more in.
AACC President and CEO Eric Kearney said he was excited to be more involved.
“Right now, in northern Kentucky and greater Cincinnati, Black-owned businesses are underrepresented. So by helping these businesses, or helping people to start a business, we’re actually improving the community,” Kearney said. “There’s a lot of untapped resources. So we’ve got people who have great ideas, who are great business people, but they just need a little bit of help.”
NKU Collaborative, which operates out of 112 Pike St. in Covington’s “Innovation Alley,” will be made available for free meeting space, consulting services, and other resources needed by entrepreneurs. The partnership will also make it easier for Black business owners to receive grants and loans.
For the AACC, the physical space establishes a visible presence to implement the resources it will bring to Black entrepreneurs and Black-owned businesses in the region.
Among the range of resources the AACC will provide is Pivot, a program created during the pandemic to help shift businesses toward recovery. The program continues to provide help and tools for established businesses and entrepreneurs.
A new flier advertises the partnership and those resources.
Bowman–Thomas, who has spent her career working in the non-profit space, said she’s ready to see her profits take off, and she thinks the partnership will help.
“The wealth gap is real. And one of the best ways to shrink that wealth gap is by creating your own company,” she said. “So when the community really gets behind Black businesses, and supporting them in that way, they’re helping not just that one business, but they’re helping that entire family. They’re helping that entire generation.
Diverse communities are thriving communities, Bowman-Thomas said.
Working with the AACC has already helped her with strategic partnerships. She’s been able to connect with many colleagues in fashion.
Mitchell said the relationship between AACC and the city of Covington is crucially important.
“We want to make sure we have something to hand down to our children, and our children’s children. So to know that the city of Covington is looking to embrace the Black community, and asking them to come and start your businesses here, we will frequent those businesses, you can be successful. I mean, that’s such a big deal. We were so happy to hear that,” she said.
Bowman-Thomas said her long-term goals are to buy the building she’s in and open more boutiques.