11/10/2021
In 2018-2019, former Houston City Council Member Amanda Edwards formed the City of Houston Women- & Minority-Owned Business Task Force to address the disparities that minority and women entrepreneurs face when attempting to access capital and scale their businesses.
Under the leadership of Council Member Edwards and Co-Chairs Courtney Johnson Rose and Carolyn Rodz, the Task Force engaged diverse business support organizations, chambers of commerce, academic and research institutions, incubators and accelerators, entrepreneurs, investors, funders, small business advocates and other stakeholders in a series of discussions to identify the gaps affecting the profitability and sustainability of Houston minority and women-owned businesses, and to develop evidence and experience based recommendations on how to address those gaps.
The resulting research and recommendations were developed into a Small Business Report presented to the Mayor of Houston in 2019.
To ensure that Houston’s minority- and women-owned businesses would receive critical support and resources through the implementation of the report’s recommendations, the members of the Task Force decided to continue this work, bringing entrepreneurs, investors, chambers of commerce, business support organizations and small business advocates together to form the Business Ecosystem Alliance for Minorities and Women (BEAMW).
BEAMW began activating its members through the formation of working groups in 2020, and elected Impact Hub Houston to serve as fiscal agent for its fundraising activities. All funds will help BEAMW member organizations deliver direct services and support to minority- and women-owned businesses.
