‘Prove our value’: Black-owned business program gives owners a shot at government, corporate contracts

Governments and corporations in Canada spend billions each year procuring products and services, but Jackee Kasandy says that historically barely any has gone to businesses owned by Black people, and she wants that to change. Kasandy heads the British Columbia-based Black Entrepreneurs and Businesses of Canada Society, which now offers a certification program for Black-owned businesses to help owners navigate the lucrative but complicated world of government and corporate procurement. The program is being run in partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada. “We know that the government buys just absolutely everything,” she said in an interview. “So it’s great to do business with the government and supply to the government.” She said when she discovered “almost zero” government procurement contracts were going to Black-owned businesses, her organization set out to find out why. “We found out that there was a huge knowledge gap (among businesses). They didn’t know that this opportunity existed, they didn’t even know how to go about it,” Kasandy said. With many governments and corporations committing to supplier diversity initiatives, including earmarking a certain percentage for Indigenous-owned businesses, the society started the Black Business Certification Program, and its first cohort of participants has just completed the...