Ronald Busby Sr. built a business of his own before he began speaking for other owners. An Oakland, California, native, he graduated from Florida A&M University and earned an MBA from Clark Atlanta University. His early corporate career included work at Exxon, Xerox, IBM and Coca-Cola USA.
One foundation of that career was USA Superclean, a commercial cleaning company. The National Urban League's biography records its growth from $150,000 in annual revenue to more than $15 million within ten years, and the league's empowerment-conference profile describes USA Superclean as the largest Black-owned janitorial firm in the country. Running it meant payroll, contracts and the everyday problems owners bring to business organizations.
Busby served five years as president of the Greater Phoenix Black Chamber of Commerce. He later founded the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., and serves as its president and chief executive officer. The organization's biography describes a network of 162 Black chambers and business associations representing more than 300,000 Black-owned businesses, supported through partnerships and shared resources, and describes him advising elected officials and U.S. presidents on Black business and economic development. His public service has also included participation in the Small Business Administration's Council on Underserved Communities, board service with the MBDA Business Advisory Board, the Pfizer Small Business Council and the National Newspapers Publishers Association Foundation, and commentary on Black entrepreneurship sought by outlets from Forbes to The Washington Post.
The concerns behind his advocacy became especially visible during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reporting from 2020 hosted by Representative Joyce Beatty's office describes Busby pressing lawmakers to address the needs of Black-owned businesses: cash flow, slow government payments and whether relief would reach smaller enterprises.
His work has also crossed the Atlantic. At the Entrepreneurship Exchange 2023 in London, Busby joined a panel on entrepreneurship and wealth across communities, exchanging with business leaders and policymakers about small business growth and inequality.
