BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Ruford Hill, a 74-year-old black business owner, works 15-20 carpet installation jobs a month in Bakersfield and names limited funding as a main challenge, but a grant from the city changed that.
- Video shows Ruford Hill installing new carpet at the Four Points Hotel.
- Access to funding is a major challenge for black business owners, according to a survey by the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce.
- The Entrepreneurship Technical Assistance Grant program, supports small business owners like Hill in earning $10,000 in grant funding.
Inside this hotel, you’ll find a group of men working to renovate the property, and they’re representing the possibilities for black owned businesses one job at a time.
When most people at retirement age would find themselves relaxing in a lounge chair by a hotel pool, inside this hotel, you’ll find Ruford Hill still working.
“But, I like working," Hill, the owner of Broadway's Carpet Installation, said. "Keeps me energetic. Keeps me fresh for an old guy.”
At 74 years old, Hill says he works 15 to 20 jobs a month installing carpet in places around Bakersfield
“What if I sat around doing nothing?" he laughed. "Huh? I’d really be looking like 74.”
Each job looks different.
“On this particular job, we need to stretch the carpet, so we use this tool.”
Hill says he fortunate enough to find steady work, but he says his small business has still dealt with challenges.
“I’ll probably make less money than a big business,” he told 23ABC.
And he just hopes to “have some kind of money to retire on, which seems to be the struggle.”
To help him get there, the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce helped Hill secure a grant from the city of Bakersfield.
“I tried to get to be apart of it and was blessed,” he said not originally expecting to receive the grant.
Through the Entrepreneurship Technical Assistance Grant program, Hill earned $10,000, and Edward Robinson the president of the chamber met with him at City Hall to sign the paperwork.
“We’re gonna turn it in," Robinson told Hill, "This is the invoice, and from there, you’re just gonna be waiting for your payment."
A payment, that Hill says, can transform his business.
“Maybe that grant will make it possible where I don’t have to do it [work] everyday. It’s hard, maybe I can pay my help a little bit more,” he said.
A survey conducted by the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce reports 58% of business owners like Hill named access to funding as their biggest challenge.
“Our members don’t really have that access to capital," Robinson said. "But, the important thing to remember in national black business month is that when the black business thrives, it’s an indicator that the entire economic ecosystem is thriving.”
Now with his signature on the dotted line, Hill had only one thing on his mind.
“Okay, so it’s done and now I can go back to work," he said, laughing.
While it's not time yet, Hill says he expects to retire in the next few years.
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