The National Business League, Inc.

The National Business League, Inc. (NBL) is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian, commerce-driven institution dedicated to the economic empowerment of Black businesses, communities, and people. Through our value-add programmatic initiatives and partnerships, we support Black-owned businesses locally, regionally, nationally, and throughout the Pan-African Diaspora.

The National Negro Business League (NNBL) was founded by Dr. Booker T. Washington on August 23, 1900, in Boston, MA., as the nation’s first and oldest business organization, 12 years before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Inc. The NNBL was formally incorporated in 1901 in New York City. In 1966, the NNBL was reincorporated in Washington, D.C., and renamed the National Business League, Inc. (NBL). On June 19, 2017, the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce, with more than 3,200 members across the country, acquired and merged with the NBL, moved its headquarters from Washington, D.C., and reincorporated in Detroit, MI.

The NBL operates in 5 regions—Detroit, MI (Midwest), Atlanta, GA (South), Washington, D.C. (East), Los Angeles, CA (West), and Pan-African Diaspora (International)—with more than 365 leagues across the country in local economies. The NBL represents access to more than 2.9 million Black-owned businesses across the country and internationally. Any entrepreneur, small business owner, corporate partner, organization, consumer, and professional can become a member of this historic legacy and institution.