Black lives–and Black-owned small businesses–matter.

Helping you
get back to growth.

Black-owned small businesses in the U.S. have been disproportionately impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and socioeconomic unrest. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, 41% of Black-owned businesses have been shuttered by COVID-19, compared with 22% of all small businesses.

At Nielsen, we stand for counting everyone—ensuring that all voices are not just counted, but are heard. We are committed to sharing our data and expertise to help Black-owned small businesses and community organizations in the following ways:

find opportunity

Understand consumer behaviors to unlock new growth

find support

Learn more and click to apply for free consulting services

find community

Access support and resources for small business owners

We will continue to grow and evolve this site over time and will expand it to include additional resources to support all minority-owned small businesses. This is one of the many steps we are taking to fight racism and discrimination. Learn more about Nielsen’s commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

Questions? Contact us

FIND OPPORTUNITY

What drives consumers to a small business? How can you attract new consumers to your business? Where are the opportunities for growth in your local area? Our Nielsen Scarborough and Consumer Analytics tools can help you answer these questions. Subscribe to our Nielsen Insights newsletter for our latest insights to help grow your business.

find support

We understand that as a small business, you face unique challenges in running and growing your business, and now you may be facing even bigger challenges with COVID-19. Nielsen’s BASES team is here to help by providing innovation-focused research solutions and expert consulting to minority-owned businesses on a pro bono basis.

BASES works with our clients to maximize the potential of their business innovations through a combination of expert advice, advanced analytics, proprietary data and technology. Typically our clients come to us when they want help to grow their business through a new product launch and are developing a new marketing or activation strategy. Click here to learn more about BASES, our Pro Bono Minority Business Consulting Initiative and how you can apply for a pro bono project.

Here are some ways we can help your business:

BUILDING A BUSINESS CASE TO ATTRACT FINANCIAL INVESTMENT

This engagement evaluates very early ideas that need quick prioritization. This also provides insight into whether or not an idea can succeed, how to maximize success, and if a launch will meet revenue targets.

Building a Story to Sell into Retailers

This engagement evaluates how to maximize an idea’s potential while providing a compelling narrative/recommended sell-in approach with the lens of a revenue projection.

Optimizing
Package Design

This engagement evaluates an idea’s appeal, understanding of how to maximize success, and selection of the best design direction for a product’s package.

Preparing the Business for Acquisition

This engagement evaluates how to optimize a business’s portfolio and/or pricing strategy in addition to providing an understanding of how to maximize an idea’s success potential with the lens of a revenue projection.

FIND COMMUNITY

Hear from Black small business owners about their challenges and strategies for growth:

Like the River Salon – Atlanta, Georgia

Sutton Ford – Chicago, Illinois

Josephine’s Southern Cooking – Chicago, Illinois

Many large corporations like Nielsen actively seek a diverse group of suppliers to help run our business. For example, Nielsen works with minority-owned suppliers in every aspect of our business and operations, from office supplies to research panels and data centers. In 2019, we spent $111 million with tier 1 and tier 2 diverse suppliers, representing 9% of our annual US spend. This is part of our Supplier Diversity program. Supplier Diversity is critical to a healthy economy, opening up opportunities to minority-owned businesses large and small.

Through our global procurement team at Nielsen, we seek to manage our supply chain in an ethical and socially responsible manner. We solicit supplier diversity and sustainability information during the request for proposal (RFP) process. And we know we’re not alone; many organizations have set goals to grow their spend with diverse suppliers. Learn more about how you can tap into these opportunities for growth: