By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
As National Black Business Month continues, the AFRO is shining a light on the efforts of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program in Baltimore, which aims to educate and empower small businesses in the region.
Since 2017, the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program has served more than 700 entrepreneurs in Baltimore. About a third of those participants are African American, and the majority of those Black business owners are women, according to Joseph “Joe” Wells, executive director of the program in Baltimore.
Launched in 2010, the national Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative has graduated more than 16,000 entrepreneurs across all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Of those graduates, 43 percent are people of color and 52 percent are women.
“The Baltimore site is unique in that it has educational partners from Morgan State University, the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) and Johns Hopkins University,” said Wells, director of the Masters Programs at the Earl G. Graves School of Business at Morgan State University. “Morgan State University (MSU), specifically, has responsibility for outreach in Baltimore City and overall management of outreach throughout the state of Maryland.”
MSU, a historically Black college or university (HBCU), is also responsible for processing applications and provides some of the faculty and business advisors that facilitate the program. Johns Hopkins University is responsible for on-site delivery of the program and the alumni services. CCBC is mainly in charge of providing faculty who facilitate the program and lead the efforts for outreach outside of Baltimore City.
The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies fund the program.
“You exit the program with a five-year growth plan,” said Monica Poulard-Hawkins, an alumna of the program.
Poulard-Hawkins was part of cohort 23, which convened in December 2024 and ended in April of this year. She is founder and CEO of Professional Pipeline Development Group, a management consulting firm that serves top executives of Fortune 1000 and Fortune Global 500 corporations, governments and cabinet leaders.
“When you come in you get put into a small group, called growth groups, outside of your cohort,” said Poulard-Hawkins. “You’re placed into that smaller group to bond with each other, meet outside of class hours and try ideas out on one another.”
Poulard-Hawkins said throughout the 12 weeks of the program, weekly participants receive a scholar book to read before class. After the session, they must use what they’ve learned—alongside their growth group—to update their business growth plan. In the midst of that, participants are appointed a business advisor they must meet with.
“They challenge what you put in your growth plan each week to make sure you stay on track and that you’re applying the information correctly,” said Poulard-Hawkins.
Wells said that as participants move through the program, they engage with lenders from various institutions, giving them a chance to explore their capital options—even if they don’t need it right away.
According to a 2024 report by the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are 295,803 small businesses in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson region, making up 99.3 percent of companies in the area. They classify small businesses as entities with fewer than 500 employees. Business owners that identify as a racial minority make up 16.4 percent of small companies in the region.
Poulard-Hawkins said the Baltimore program is essential for Black small business owners, helping close gaps by teaching them about financial growth in an accessible and empowering way.
Eligible participants for the program must have operated for at least two years, employ at least two individuals and generate more than $75,000 in revenue.
Anyone interested in signing up for the program can go to: https://10ksbapply.com.