LAYTON — Three years ago, ManCave owner Marcus Johnson began his foray into entrepreneurism, opening a barbershop in Layton.
But COVID-19 struck, and small businesses like his in Utah and across the U.S. entered a fight for survival amid the coronavirus pandemic, which impacted minority-owned enterprises disproportionally.
To aid in the economic struggle, Comcast Corp. this week announced the first round of its RISE award recipients, with more than 700 businesses nationwide receiving consulting, media and creative production services from the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable or technology upgrades from Comcast Business based on the needs of the recipients.
Utah recipients are eager for the help.
“This is perfect! To have that extra hand to give me time to focus on the shop and my barbers,” Johnson said. “This allows us to, of course, make more money.”
Other Utah beneficiaries are Chef Jean-Roody in Salt Lake City, Pretty Please Teethers in West Haven, Weber County, Isha Esthetics in Murray, and Caribbean Nightingale in Orem.
Johnson stepped into the realm of business owner at the behest of his wife, who urged him to pursue his dream of becoming a barber.
“I was a warehouse supervisor and plant manager and I had done that for the last 18 years, but I’ve always wanted to be a barber,” the 36-year-old explained. “When I moved out here (from Georgia) with my wife, I started cutting my hair and our kids’, and she asked me one day about it and I told her always wanted to be a barber.”
Johnson enrolled in the Paul Mitchell School to learn the skills necessary to become a licensed barber and eventually opened his shop. However, being a business owner as well as a full-time husband and father was overwhelming. Lacking the know-how to get his business going in the manner he envisioned, he applied for the Comcast RISE program.
The first phase of RISE, which stands for “representation, investment, strength and empowerment,” focused on Black-owned small businesses hit hardest by the pandemic.
A study showed that active Black-owned businesses declined by 41% versus 17% for white-owned businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The RISE program includes various components such as media and technology resources that help recipients learn how to grow their business using creative production and technology makeovers. The initiative is designed to help businesses grow through educational empowerment, inspiration and entertainment, a news release stated.
“Comcast has been leaning in to support all small businesses throughout the pandemic and will use the learnings here to reinforce those efforts,” said Nelson Duckett, vice president of technical operations for Comcast Utah. “With hundreds of Black-owned, small- and medium-sized businesses in the Comcast footprint in Utah, we felt this community would benefit from our unique resources and launched RISE with that focus.”
In early 2021, Comcast will award grants up to $10,000 for U.S.-based small and diverse businesses that have been in operations for three to five years as part of a $100 million diversity, equity and inclusion initiative aimed at fighting discrimination, injustice and inequality nationwide, the company said.
“We’re excited to work closely with the Comcast RISE recipients in Utah. The initial focus on Black-owned businesses was based on numbers that showed they had been more affected by the economic impact and extended closures in the wake of COVID-19,” said Comcast Utah’s external affairs director, Deneiva Knight. “However, with the second phase of the program, we will reach even more of the small businesses struggling to survive here in Utah.”
Among other recipients was Salt Lake County business owner Tenisha Hicks, proprietor of Isha Esthetics and Wellness — a medical spa located in Murray. She said the resources from the RISE program will help her advance technologically and develop a suitable advertising campaign.
“This is going to be something that’s super, super huge! My business is in that weird growth stage where you’re doing OK, but you’re not comfortable enough to be able to actually write yourself a check,” she said. “They’re definitely going to be able to help me secure the technology and the security, and even the functions of internet and phone service that I need so I don’t have to answer my phones while working on somebody else, which takes away from my income.”
For Caribbean-born poet and spoken word artist Michaëlle Martial, the Comcast award will provide her a chance to continue supporting the work she and other artists of color have been creating.
“My take on business is that I follow my passion first and then everything else will follow that. So, my initial desire as a poet was to find some sort of healing,” said Martial, who is a domestic violence survivor. “Then when I was ready, to help others know there is hope out there and that they and other artists who come from similar backgrounds (should) know that there is a healthy outlet for certain things that they (experience) through the arts.”
