Ron Busby, Sr. was born to lead.

Dialing it back to his time as an elementary student, the Oakland, CA native would take three-mile hikes to school, which had a donut store nearby. He purchased day-old donuts and sold them for a quarter, his earliest foray as an entrepreneur.

In conversation with AFROTECH™, he admits he was always a “hustler” and “entrepreneur.” What’s more, entrepreneurship runs in his veins. His father also owned a business, and channeled his spirit of leadership as a member of the Black Panther Party.

“I kind of understood what leadership was about in reference to making sure that the community understood what your mission was, because there were conflicting conversations about who [the Black Panthers] were because all we saw was the brothers in the leather coats and the shotguns,” Busby, Sr. said.

“But the people that were in the community saw something totally different. We saw Black men that were feeding us and helping us with our homework and making sure that we got home from school safely,” he continued.

“And so narratives were very important to me at a young age. It was also important to our family to be able to understand who you are and what it is that you’re doing so that everybody else can be quieted once you speak about what the mission truly is,” he added.

From The Corporate World To Entrepreneurship

Busby, Sr. is a two-time HBCU graduate who went on to work in corporate America. His last job in the corporate world was working at Coca-Cola fountain sales in Dallas, TX, and he admitted he had no experience in the fountain sales division or industry when he took on the role at 27 years old. He left that post when he was offered the opportunity to take over the role of his own supervisor three months into the job. The offer didn’t sit right with him.

Instead, he took a job at McDonald’s and started working towards becoming a franchisee. His youngest sister, who was an attorney, suggested he fulfill his desire to become an entrepreneur and take over their dad’s business, USA Superclean.

“She said, ‘Well, you know, dad’s business is here. You can bring that same energy and enthusiasm back home and take over business tomorrow. You don’t have to buy into it. You ain’t got to work these crazy hours.’ And so I said, ‘That’s a great idea,'” he recalled.

Under his father, that business made $150,000 a year in revenue. Under him, it scaled to $21 million, proving that his entrepreneurship paid off.

“I was cleaning buildings at nighttime, soliciting new business opportunities in the daytime, and grew the firm each year, doubled in revenue till we got to the $21 million,” Ron Busby, Sr. explained.

US Black Chambers, Inc.

Since 2009, Ron Busby Sr. has been dedicating his time to supporting and scaling Black enterprises through his role as founder and CEO of the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. (USBC). The organization was built on five pillars: advocacy, access to capital, contracting, entrepreneur training, and chamber development.

The USBC most recently acquired the former Black Entertainment Television (BET) Campus in Washington, D.C. In a LinkedIn post, Busby Sr. recognized it was a symbol of Black creativity, ownership, and media power inspired by the spirit of Robert L. Johnson, who established the network in 1980.

The space is now being named the USBC Innovation Campus. The campus includes three buildings, spans 7.88 acres, and is supported with an investment of more than $38 million, notes a USBC press release.

Busby, Sr. credits the funding support to the influx of corporations that were investing in the Black community in 2020 as a result of George Floyd’s death.

“Corporations were investing a lot of money in Black issues, Black opportunity, Black nonprofits. And so we were one of those organizations that received some of the funding from that,” Busby, Sr. explained.

“And I told myself we weren’t going to miss this opportunity to do something substantial and long term,” he added.

The property will be home to the USBC headquarters’ office and will be a hub for media, workforce development, wellness, and entrepreneurship, according to information shared on Instagram.

There will be opportunities for budding entrepreneurs, such as an incubator space, entrepreneurial training programs, and access to capital.

“We were able to look around the corner years ago and say, ‘What happens if Trump gets reelected?’ We knew from the last time that federal government dollars were going to dry up,” he said.

“So for the U.S. Black Chamber, we’re saying we got to figure out how to stay relevant, but more importantly, how do we provide opportunities for other Black-owned businesses? And so we started looking at acquiring the BET campus so that we would not be caught up in what this administration is going to do in reference to funding nonprofits, particularly Black-owned nonprofits and/or policies,” he added.

“It is just a different community in Washington, D.C., in reference to what you can do. But our job is never based upon who’s the president. It’s based upon the needs of Black-owned businesses. And that is who we are,” he continued.

The National Bankers Association will also be housed in the space, representing all 19 Black-owned banks. In addition, there will be a 78,000-square-foot studio for podcasters, events, conferences, and concerts. The USBC spent $895,000 on space for events in 2023 alone. Now, they will be able to keep that revenue and provide a much-needed safe space for those in D.C.

“We are committed to Washington, D.C. We’re committed to making sure that we have Black venues for places like AFROTECH™ to be able to say, ‘You know what? We want to spend our money with Black people and Black businesses and make sure that we can go into those places and feel comfortable about what we’re saying, but not just today, but for the future,'” Busby, Sr. expressed.

That commitment mirrors the AFROTECH™ Conference’s mission as a premier destination for Black technologists, venture capitalists, founders, creators, and students from all walks of life.

“This is a wonderful venue, a wonderful experience for young, as well as mature Black businesses in technology,” said Busby, Sr., who also joined this year’s conference as a speaker to discuss small business innovation in public policy.

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