Bill Graham / The Meridian StarMeridian-based singer and attorney Aa'keela Hudnall says the Minority Business Alliance helps her in both music and the law. 

A group of minority business owners has a renaissance in mind, hoping to rekindle an entrepreneurial spirit in Meridian from nearly a century ago.

They don’t have to look far for inspiration.

Eighty years ago, there was a vibrant African-American Business District in Meridian.

• Hotels, beauty shops, barbershops and other businesses lined Fifth Street.

• The thoroughfare served as home to the E. F. Young Hotel, which housed a beauty shop, two barber shops, and a shoe shine and repair business.

• A pharmacy, the Fielder and Brooks Drug Store, opened in 1934 and served the African-American community for decades. The second floor of the building was the headquarters of the Council of Federated Organizations, a coalition of civil rights groups, in 1964.

By the end of the century, however, many of those businesses had closed. The Fielder and Brooks Drug Store was demolished in 2014.

With revitalization in mind, last year, the Minority Business Alliance was formed under the umbrella of the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, after the organization’s leadership and board noticed gaps in the minority-owned small business sector of the local economy.

Eddie Kelly, who serves on the executive committee of the EMBDC, said he’d seen minority business groups in other cities, but not in Meridian. Kelly and Bill Hannah, president and CEO of the EMBDC, set out to develop a plan for the group.

“We started looking and realizing that that sector was somewhat under-represented,” Kelly said. “So we got to thinking about ways to help with that and one of the ways —I’ve lived in Atlanta — there was always some type of organization that catered to minority businesses on some level, whether that be an alliance or club or committee or something. Here I did not see that…so the idea came from a lack I saw in the community as it relates to us.”

Kelly says the alliance has already yielded several benefits for its growing membership.

“Number one is strength in numbers,” he said. “I think as people come together and network, each person is going to bring a different skill to the table…there are several banks around here already asking questions and wanting to know how they can get involved. These businesses will benefit from that – they’re hungry to help people. The local education communities have come on board — Meridian Community College and MSU Meridian have both showed interest. That’s another benefit. We’ve had people from the Mississippi Development Authority come and show interest; they have assigned a local person to be a part of this group.”

Serving as officers for the alliance are Angeleque Adams of the Meridian Cab Company, chair; Thomas Parker of A 2nd Chance Bail Bond Company, vice chair; and Lois Lane Donald of A Touch of Elegance Event Planning, secretary. Members of the advisory council include education consultant Dr. Hargie Crenshaw, Hannah, LaBaron Hedgemon, pastor of Freedom Rock, Odell Hopkins, pastor of West Mt. Moriah MB Church, Kelly, and Bob Luke of LPK Architects.

Adams, who moved to Mississippi from Houston last year, has been involved in the alliance since its inception. The seasoned businesswoman says she brought a wealth of experience to the organization.

“What I brought to the table was a global sense of business,” she said. “I’ve traveled all over. I’ve done international business tours in China and I have an MBA. So I was used to thinking outside the box — on a broader scale. I was really interested in doing more to help all of us to integrate into mainstream business and taking it statewide. So I think just that mindset to grow and having a business background and business management consulting and coming from a larger city I just wanted to be part of the growth of Meridian, because they have a lot of things cooking.”

For Adams, being involved in the MBA has been beneficial in two ways. She’s been able to share her knowledge with other members, and to also learn the ins-and-outs of doing business in the Queen City.

“The thing I love about doing business in Meridian and being part of the MBA, is that a lot of the people you have access to, right at your fingertips, you don’t have that in a big city,” she said. “You would have to go through a whole lot of hoops and know certain people to get in meetings and certain organizations. It’s not as tangible as it is in Meridian — people are really open, in fact they welcome you with open arms when you are upwardly-mobile and forward thinking, they want you on their team. So that has been refreshing for me. Being in a small town that’s usually known to be tight-knit, where strangers don’t get in, that has not been the case for me.”

As chair of the MBA, one of Adams’ roles is to urge other small minority business owners to join the organization. She says there are many benefits to being part of the alliance.

“It will help you because you get to network with not only other minority businesses, but you get to network with other important people as well,” Adams said. “We collaborate with banks and other companies that help with lending processes and sources and access to capital. We have relationships with the Mississippi Development Authority – they are very instrumental in helping you get all the credentials and certifications your business needs, and they help you with different grants and contracts.”

“Some businesses are at different levels in their maturity,” Adams said. “So some just starting may need help with a business plan. They may have never gone to a bank for funding…So we facilitate all those processes and put them at the table. We have bank presidents and decision makers at our meetings; people that we collaborate with. That takes that intimidation factor out of the process because you form relationships.”

The alliance also focuses in networking skills, she said.

“It’s the connections, the information, the education, and networking,” she said. “We do it formally in the meetings and also the website where we communicate with Facebook and social media. There’s also after hour business events for people who can’t make it to the meetings during lunch. That’s a more relaxed environment.”

The veteran businessman

For Earl Logan, the owner of Construction Plus, the alliance gives him the opportunity to not just learn, but to share his years of experience with other business owners.

When Logan established his company in 1999, there wasn’t a formal organization for local minority business owners. The MBA fills that need.

“I was very excited about joining, and thought it would benefit me because any small business needs education, marketing ideas, information, and networking opportunities to be able to network with other small businesses to share success, information, and pitfall information,” he said.

Like Adams, being part of the alliance is a two-way street for Logan. He offers business advice to young entrepreneurs and often meets people who can help him grow his business.

“It has been very eye-opening for me,” Logan said. “I have been in business a lot longer than most of the other minority and small businesses in the organization. There’s a lot of information that I can give them and experiences I can talk about to keep them from making some of the mistakes I’ve made.”

“It’s also helped me through networking opportunities and some marketing avenues,” Logan said. “For example, we were at one of the meetings and I was able to get in touch with some purchasing people at Georgia Pacific,” he said. “As a small business, that’s pretty interesting that we were able to make direct contact with a purchasing agent at GP, just by being at one of the networking opportunities … it’s just been a really good thing for my business, tremendously benefitting my company.”

“I invite all small business to come in whether they are minority or not,” Logan said. “I often find good subcontractors to give jobs to.”

The musician with a day job as a lawyer

A’Akeela Hudnall, an attorney and musician, joined the alliance at the urging of Kelly. Being part of the group has paid off in droves, she said.

“Going into it, I just really wanted to network and meet some people, because I wasn’t really sure if they wanted to know about the law side or music side,” Hudnall, a Meridian native, said. “I consider my law degree as my day job and music as my night job. So I have the band, I do solo performances and I play with other music groups. The MBA group has been helpful in that – linking up with different people has gotten playing opportunities for me and the band.”

Hudnall, who describes her music as “eclectic”, (“we play everything from jazz, gospel, blues, R&B, soul, a little bit of country —whatever the event calls for,” she says), has benefited from the connections she’s made through the MBA.

“It’s helped me with both sides (the law and music),” she said. “Professionalism is key on both sides, but especially with the day job. And with the music side as well. Because you want, especially when you encounter a new client, to be pleased with the product that you offer so they will give you a good review, refer you to someone else, and possibly use your service again. Customer service is one of the main things I’ve gotten from the group and marketing/branding. It’s probably almost as important as your product. You need to have something people can identify with and is consistent, which is something I picked up from the group.”

One connection Hudnall made was with Adams, who lives in Laurel.

“We connected and played a couple of events for her (in Laurel)” Hudnall said. That’s a connection I would not have made without the MBA.”

Looking Ahead

In the long term, Kelly hopes the alliance – and the broader community of minority-owned businesses – continues to expand. That growth would improve the entire community, he said.

“I hope to see the historic district — every building, every empty space — have someone in it,” Kelly said. “I would also love to see a viable business incubator downtown that could cater to some of these start-up businesses that are now in their garage.”

“I would love to see a vibrant entertainment district downtown,” Kelly added “Right now, I don’t know if a lot of people who after 5-6 p.m., feel safe in that area – I would love for that to be the furthermost thing from peoples’ mind. If you have people who are living downtown, shopping downtown and working downtown, then the other things will take care of themselves.”

Adams, for her part, would like to see the group have more than just a local or regional impact.

“I see us more on a national level,” she said. “Maybe we could develop in some sense an investment group, where we are buying up property and putting industry here that we need to boost this economy. Part of our mission statement is to be an energetic force of minority business owners, so I want to see that energy.”

More information

The Minority Business Alliance meets the third Thursday of every month at Union Station from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Their website is http://meridianmba.org. For more information on becoming a member, contact the EMBDC office at 601-693-1306 or Angeleque Adams at the Meridian Cab Company.