Georgia Minority Chamber of Commerce

When Zernial Bogan left the cold winters of Illinois to settle in the warmer climates of central Georgia, his intent, once he arrived, was to just sit back and relax. But Bogan said God had other plans.

“I wanted to be able to rest from the kind of business I was doing in Champaign. I wanted to come down here and just enjoy the sunshine, but the Lord said, ‘I took you out of the cold, but I didn’t say I was taking you out of the work,’” Bogan shared with a laugh.

Born and raised in New York City, Bogan ultimately migrated to Champaign, Illinois where he spent 43 years as a resident. For 12 of those years, he successfully ran the Champaign County Black Chamber of Commerce (CCBCC), an organization he started in 2003. And now, here in Houston County, he has established the Georgia Minority Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s not about Black Power,” he explained. “It’s about empowering Black businesses. It’s about minorities who are blacklisted for one reason or another. Maybe they couldn’t get the resources, information or data that they needed to grow their business or even learn how to start a business. It’s about them.”

Houston County became Bogan’s permanent residence in 2014. Overtime, he said, he began noticing individuals here who were detached from the EDC (Economic Development Commission) and other valuable resources.

“Other chambers are out here, but they’re not connected to the minorities,” Bogan expressed. “The minorities have no idea how to utilize them, how to get in touch with them or how to connect with them. It began to really weigh heavily on me when I started my own business called L & Z Enterprises,” he went on to say. “Nobody really had any resources that I could go to. It was more like, do your own thing. Where is the unification in helping one another in the community for businesses? I just couldn’t find it when it came to minorities.”

Bogan said that he is in no way minimizing or overlooking the mainstream chamber. He stressed that he’s not taking anything away from them. In fact, he likened the mainstream chamber and his minority chamber to a hand in a glove.

“The mainstream chamber is like the glove that we need to be able to fit into, and at the same time, they need to be able to fit us. We fill a niche that they can’t fill, and they fill a niche that we can’t fill. Together, we are more able to solidify the aspects of resources and data information and teaching education for minorities in all aspects of business.”

Bogan and his team began developing GMCC in October; that’s when they had their official meeting and designated a name. Since then, it’s been forward motion. “We’ve gotten our registration from the government as a 501c3 organization,” said Bogan, “and we’re continuing to register with the state of Georgia to make sure our recognition is complete.”

Some of the questions that members of GMCC can expect to gain answers to are: How do I develop a business plan? What can I do to help my business grow? How do I develop a financial backing to make sure my information is correct when it comes to finances? What tax information will I use to file? Am I in a 501c3, or am I in another portion of the 501 criteria? Am I in a tax bracket where I must file every quarter or six months rather than annually?

“All that stuff is very important because Georgia has specific criteria that you have to utilize,” Bogan explained. “These are automatic perks that members receive—the knowledge of and the clarity on all these things and more.

GMCC’s main focus, Bogan shared, is to help the businesses understand what needs to be done in order to solidify themselves with their credentials, solidify themselves with obtaining resources and solidify themselves in being able to obtain education in how to further their business, “It’s all about solidification of education,” he informed. “If you can’t solidify the education from different sources and bring them in to make them a pool for yourself to be able to take from, you’re going to fail.”

Bogan’s long-term vision for GMCC is to be able to extend out and connect with other organizations throughout the state, such as SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), SBA (Small Business Association) and the EDC (Economic Development Commission). According to Bogan, organizations like these, offer everything from free services to grants that would help minority businesses grow and reach their full potential. Although GMCC is based in Houston County, membership is not limited to the county’s local population.

“That’s why we chose the name Georgia Minority Chamber of Commerce. We’re starting it here in middle Georgia, but like an octopus, we hope to be able to stretch our tentacles throughout the state so that any minority business that wants to hook up with this, can hook up with this. We can then, as a whole, adjoin with the National Chamber of Commerce, just like I did with the Champaign Black Chamber of Commerce in Illinois. I had to get the United States Chamber of Commerce to recognize us as a legitimate commerce chamber. Once that’s established, you’re on the books—and once you’re on the books, you get a plethora of information and resources that you can gain from to help you grow.”

Those that are interested in connecting with GMCC or who desire to obtain more information about the organization can call Bogan directly at 217-417-2035 or reach him via email at zernialb@aol.com. An official website is currently in process of being built as well.

“We’re growing constantly in businesses,” Bogan assured, “so this is something we wanted to do so that we can get the information out to the minorities so they can see that by coming together, we can do something; we can learn, we can prosper, we can grow, we can help our community, we can educate. That’s what it’s all about—being able to help the community in business. When the businesses flourish, the communities flourish.”

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