When Zernial Bogan moved to Middle Georgia in 2014, he expected to relax with his family for his retirement.

However, Bogan noticed a similar gap in resources for a particular group of people that he had experienced when he lived in Illinois.

“The minority entrepreneurs around here were not unified, and they had no real resources or venue to go to, which was able to speak up for them,” Bogan said. “They had no way of being able to do things that were beneficial for them in the way of having political clout or someone to speak up on their behalf, and that was something that was very, very disturbing to me because there’s so much that can be gained by having an equal share of the pie.”