Influential African American Owned Business Associations Merge

By Karen Hudson Samuels/Tell Us Detroit

DETROIT (Tell Us Det) - Business dignitaries and state officials turned out Thursday morning for a press conference to announce the historic merger of the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Black Suppliers.

Michael Finney, President and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, said the combined organizations “represent the strength that will rebuild Detroit” and is an initiative that will be supported by the MEDC.

By merging with the supplier association, the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce now represents the largest membership of top grossing African American owned businesses in the state of Michigan, with 21 firms ranked in Black Enterprise magazine’s top 100 black owned businesses nationwide.

“This is a pivotal moment” said Ken Harris, President and CEO of the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce, founded in 2010. The black supplier base will boost the chamber’s membership and prove says Harris that “our new urban chamber model is working.”

The National Association of Black Suppliers represents 16 companies that reach a global customer base, generate an estimated $3 billion in annual sales and employ 7,500 workers throughout Arizona, California, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan.

The President and CEO of the Black Suppliers, Leon Richardson said that while all its member companies do business with the auto industry, they also supply non-automotive companies around the country.

Detroit Chassis, a top tier, African American owned supplier to the auto industry opened its plant to host the merger announcement; CEO Mike Gurthrie said, “I want Michigan and, the U.S. and the world to know we have survived the downtown and are ushering the new economy by building strength in numbers.

Joining business organizations in a struggling economy is a “milestone” said Charles Beckman who chairs the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce, it will provide a “sense of unity, purpose and collaboration around a common cause.”