Ahead of its 10th anniversary in November 2025, the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts announced “BECMA@10,” a fundraising campaign during which the organization aims to raise $25 million.
The funds will support BECMA as it seeks to bolster its programming, expand its capital offerings and purchase a new office building to ensure the continuity of its services for Black business owners.
“We want to celebrate what we have accomplished, but we also want to set the tone [of] how the next 10 years is going to look like,” said Herby Duverné, chair of the board of directors of BECMA and CEO of Windwalker Group, a security services company.
Founded in 2015, BECMA, a member-based organization, supports Black business owners through capital grants, networking and other business resources. A decade after it was created, the organization has grown in its offerings, which now include sustainability initiatives and the annual business showcase, the Mass Black Expo.
When Duverné joined BECMA about six years ago as a member, he had been running his business for a couple of years, so he didn’t necessarily need the tools BECMA offered for early-stage startups. What he did rely on, however, was BECMA’s role as an advocate for Black businesses.
Business owners are often juggling multiple tasks at once, he said, and don’t have time to address larger systemic challenges, such as the difficulties acquiring capital, which Duverné and other BECMA members said is the greatest struggle Black business owners face.
Several reports have indicated that Black entrepreneurs lag behind their counterparts when it comes to securing financial support. A May 2024 report by the National Urban League found that just 32 percent of Black-owned businesses are approved for the funding they seek, compared with 56 percent of white-owned businesses.
“We do need an organization like BECMA whose job is to fight for us, to open the doors for us, to give us technical assistance when that’s needed, and then to make sure that we are successful,” Duverné said.
The “BECMA@10” fundraising campaign will ensure that the organization can continue to provide what Duverné said is a necessary service.
According to BECMA’s website, the $25 million will allow the organization to purchase a permanent office in Nubian Square and support its “BECMA Community Investments” pilot program, which provides financial support to Black business owners.
In 2019, BECMA member Jessika Rozki founded Rozki Rides, a professional transportation services business. The idea for Rozki Rides came after experiencing a challenge familiar to many parents — not being able to bring her daughter with her to work and not being able to pick her up from school.
To address the problem, Rozki, who had worked as a school bus driver for more than a decade, founded an Uber-style transportation service to assist parents. Five years later, the business has evolved into offering school bus and van transportation and is working with school districts.
BECMA, Rozki said, played an important role in kickstarting the business. About one to two years into starting Rozki Rides, she joined BECMA and secured her first-ever grant, a sum of $5,000, which she said she put toward a computer and CPA and bookkeeping services.
BECMA also helped her overcome the challenges of being a small-business owner. Finding and securing the right support can be difficult, Rozki said. While the resources exist, it’s hard to even know where to begin to look for them.
“It becomes like a narrow road of not finding the right information,” Rozki said.
In BECMA, she found a community that understood the needs of Black owners and was able to steer her in the right direction.
“BECMA has been one of the most extraordinary organizations to be in network with,” Rozki said. “Their support system is beyond, their team is also beyond, their communication is extremely helpful.”
Marie Firmin, CEO of Black Biz Development Group and a BECMA member since the organization opened its doors, has also appreciated being a part of the community. Through BECMA, she has stayed abreast of happenings in the business community, secured necessary financing and received consulting support. The organization, she said, plays a critical role entrepreneurs can’t fulfill on their own.
“I like the direction that they [are] going in, in terms of doing what some of our small businesses, or businesses like me, we don’t do necessarily — getting involved with the government and getting involved with advocating for small businesses,” she said.
Firmin said she’s excited about the organization’s future and wants to see them expand their services to new industries and African businesses and do more work with youth.
Reflecting on BECMA’s history, board chair Duverné said the organization has grown in leaps and bounds over the last nine years. When he joined as a business owner and then as a board member, BECMA had a budget of about $36,000. Less than a decade later, that budget has ballooned to somewhere in the millions of dollars, and BECMA has “earned the respect of so many organization leaders,” he said.
“I think this organization is day and night, not because the people that came before didn’t do the job, but I think exactly that the people that came before have done so much, and currently we are still doing so much, that’s why we are advancing so fast,” Duverné said.
Sometimes, when he thinks about how far BECMA has come and its impact, he said, “it seems like we’ve been around for 50 years.”
