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Microbusiness madness

Hello again, Baltimore. It's Thursday, and it's finally sunny. Do you have your weekend plans set?

Below, you'll see a story about the new season of GoDaddy's "Made in America" YouTube series, which highlights entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds in different US cities. This season's focused on Baltimore, and its premiere episode features a few folks you'll probably recognize from our coverage — Mayor Brandon Scott and leaders of Impact Hub Baltimore among them — talking about the pros and cons of social impact entrepreneurship in our city.

A pro: that we have more so-called "microbusinesses," or small businesses that operate without some of the structural hallmarks (i.e. employment ID numbers, a physical storefront, more than a handful of employees) of more traditional companies, per capita than most US cities.

A con: that such entrepreneurial ingenuity flourishes in a majority Black city where entrepreneurs of color, especially those living in historically segregated and impoverished parts of the Black Butterfly, still struggle to attain the funding, legitimacy and impact that their white counterparts expect.

This kind of racist disinvestment happens all over the country, but can feel particularly dire in a place where the sins of history are obvious and egregious — something that Mayor Scott and other commentators discuss in the "Made in America" episode.

We're also at the start of Tech + Government month, so this series' exploration of Baltimore's entrepreneurial world (albeit mainly through the stories of entrepreneurs and entities GoDaddy supports) is right on time.

In what ways do you think Baltimore's entrepreneurs should be supported that they aren't yet receiving, through entities like Impact Hub, city government, traditional financiers or others? Let us know your thoughts by replying to this email or sending another to [email protected].

– Technical.ly editor Sameer Rao ([email protected])