By Christal Jordan

Felicia Phillips is excited about recent headlines suggesting that African American women are leading in entrepreneurship and executive leadership opportunities. Rolling out spoke with her about that and her MogulCon conference taking place Oct. 24-26, 2019, in Atlanta.

How is MogulCon different than many of the other female entrepreneurship conferences?

Most conferences geared toward women are all about empowerment, and there is nothing wrong with that, but when you look closer [at] the statistics on African American women business owners, you quickly realize that we need more than just to be empowered. We need to be educated, and that’s where MogulCon comes in.

Black women are statistically the biggest group of entrepreneurs. Why do you think this is the case?

African American women build businesses out of necessity and not opportunity, meaning we may have been laid off from our jobs or we aren’t able to m ake ends meet. so the side hustle becomes the business. The challenge with that is just because you have a skill set, it doesn’t mean you know how to operate a business.

We love to talk about the success of the Black businesswoman, but what are some of our areas of weakness?

Unfortunately, all the hype around African American businesswomen leaves out one important fact: research shows we make significantly less in revenue compared to White and Hispanic business owners. That is because we lack in capital, resources and tools to help us increase in clients and revenue.

Here’s what came from the AMEX report [titled “2018 State of Women-Owned Businesses”]:  “In 2007, the average revenue for a women-of-color owned business was $84,100; by 2018 it had dropped to $66,400. In 2007, the average revenue for a non-minority owned business was $181,000; by 2018 it had jumped to $212,300.”

We can change this. However, that means we have to first invest in our businesses and in ourselves as CEOs and leaders within our own companies.

What can participants look forward to with MogulCon 2019?

Our moguls can look forward to more than 40 experts, 30 sessions and some of the best experts in their industries sharing their knowledge and experience with them over three days. … We will have coaching, financing and the opportunity for them to connect with Fortune 50, 100 [a[and]00 companies about potential opportunities that could change the trajectory of their businesses. We also like to have fun. At night we host Moguls After Dark, where they can connect, laugh and dance till they drop.

How can Black women better support each other in leadership and business?

We can support each other better by first being the example. You have to be a leader that people are willing to follow. It’s about actions, not words, so you have to be willing to share or promote that sister you know is a great candidate for a higher-level position or talk about a phenomenal business owner whose’ products or services you’ve experienced.  There is nothing wrong with being a catalyst for one another. It’s what we should be doing.

To learn more about MogulCon, visit www.mogulcon.com.

This article originally appeared in RollingOut.com.

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