Magic Johnson, janitor.

Before we talk about a $ 100 million loan funded by an insurance company for businesses owned by minorities and women, we first need to talk about a 16-year-old toilet boy in a Michigan office building. The curious and ambitious teenager would sneak into the executive office, sit in an easy chair and kick his feet on the table, pretending to give orders to an imaginary assistant.

“That’s when my dream changed from not only in the NBA to also wanting to run my own business,” he said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. “I always say, ‘If you don’t dream about it, you can’t be like that.’ The initial experience of working for a black business owner shows me what is possible. That’s why I have my business. “

Too often, conversations about diversity and inclusion become too simplified. Seeing someone who looks like you occupy a certain room always means more than just checking the affirmative action box on the HR worksheet. This is about shared experience, or maybe the worldview represented in the country’s kaleidoscope. This is about telling the minority that you are not only singing America, you are American, and your contribution is needed for its success.

“In my era, I didn’t see black people in business,” said Joel Furgeson, who along with fellow businessman Gregory Eaton hired and guided Johnson before becoming Magic. “It’s very important that there are role models, to have the people you want.

“But having an example is not enough. You also have to be a hard worker. [Johnson] really good at doing everything we asked of him. And he asks lots of good and relevant questions about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. “

Johnson praised the start of cleaning office buildings as the main reason why, after hearing that a minority-owned business struggled to receive the help needed during the coronavirus pandemic, he devised a plan to help.

“If they close due to lack of funds, it will leave many black and brown people unemployed, and that will eliminate access to the resources needed by the community,” Johnson said. “We then have to go outside our community for our goods and services, and that not only makes people depressed, it can damage property values.”

Here’s the plan: EquiTrust Life Insurance Co., owned by Johnson, will channel loans through the federal Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program in partnership with MBE Capital Partners, a New Jersey-based non-bank lender working with minority-owned businesses. In general, if companies retain their workforce, PPP loans can function more like grants, which are supported by SBA. Johnson’s funds will reportedly be used for around 5,000 approved loans. Loan recipients will get access to capital that they cannot secure from large banks and credit unions.

At the beginning of the closure, the Center for Responsible Lending projected that more than 90% of businesses owned by blacks, Latinos, and native residents of Hawaii or the Pacific Islands could not obtain PPP loans through large banks or credit unions. For Asian-Americans, 75%.

These businesses have witnessed SBA distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to companies with far better access to the capital market – and far less needs. One of those businesses? Franchise identified by Johnson fully is the Lakers. Last month, the team received a $ 4.6 million distribution before returning it amid public reaction. We all cry to return to normal, but if restaurants, salons, accountants, and community churches continue to be ignored in the most terrible times, that is not what they should be.

In fact, this is a reminder of how COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of minorities at a disproportionate level, has destroyed a community.

“We know the places where everyone uses your first name, where your mother, father, uncle, or sister works there, and that makes us all feel good and is a source of pride,” said Johnson, who doesn’t just live in liaise with the earliest mentors but also partners in business deals with them. “Places that allow minority children to dream. Just like for me in Lansing. [Ferguson and Eaton] Having a business and giving me a chance is why I am blessed to be able to help people today. That’s how it works. “