[The Hill] Black Owned Businesses are Rising, Thanks in Part to Black Women

February 10, 2022

The Hill recently published insight featuring a working paper written by Cathy Fazio, Lecturer in Strategy & Innovation, and her co-authors. Written for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the paper examined the growth of Black small business owners in the United States.

The coronavirus pandemic hit small businesses hard, while others seized the opportunity to begin something new. Recent data has revealed that the percentage of active Black business owners steadily grew through 2020 and 2021, with Black women entrepreneurs becoming a growing trend. The complexities brought on by the pandemic were especially difficult for women facing childcare issues while also being the primary source of household income. This dynamic compelled an increasing share of women to move forward with something else to survive in today’s economy. As Cathy points out, continuing the high rates of growth in Black-owned small businesses requires additional support.

“There’s a lot of discrimination in access to capital.”

The lack of access for minority business owners makes it much harder for them to get started, as well as impacting local communities where these small businesses operate, thus slowing economic growth. Increasing access to capital and continued growth are fundamental to the growth of Black-owned businesses in the U.S.