American singer, Beyoncé has donated $1million to support small black-owned businesses.
The “Love On Top” singer’s BeyGOOD foundation announced on Wednesday that she is donating an additional $1 million to assist Black-owned small businesses across the country.
A statement posted on the foundations official Instagram page read: “Proud to announce $1M in additional funds from Beyoncé to help Black-owned small businesses. Round two of funding opens this month with our partner, NAACP”
Beyoncé’s foundation partnered with the NAACP in July to launch the Black-Owned Small Business Impact Fund. The goal, according to an Instagram post by BeyGOOD at the time, is “to help strengthen small businesses and ensure economic empowerment for Black businesses.”
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The Black-Owned Small Business Impact Fund helps provide much-needed financial assistance for business owners who were exempted from the Paycheck Protection Program.
The initiative awarded $10,000 grants to several Black-owned small businesses that were severely impacted by the pandemic. The business owners had to provide proof of property damage or a replacement estimate. The first round of applications closed in late July, and the 20 recipients were announced August 18.
According to the Small Business Association, 14 percent of businesses chose to identify race in their loan application. Only 1.9 percent of loans were given to Black-owned businesses, as opposed to the 83 percent granted to those owned by white people.
Recent reports show that out of 49,000 restaurant companies that received PPP loans of $150,000 or more, only 130 recipients were registered as black owned businesses.