Black businesses still need investment to grow equitably

In June 2020, ways were discussed Black businesses needed investment as well as to requiring consumers to support black businesses through “buy black” campaigns.

According to the web site, while such campaigns are necessary to the success of black-owned businesses, a fair more necessary contribution is ensuring they’ve equal access to capital, education and connections.

He recently made his own suggestions regarding ways to support black-owned businessesand, unsurprisingly, the recommendations remain the identical as in 2020. This is an indication that, despite some improvements in policy and access to finance, there was little change at an institutional level because the report.

As Shaundell Newsome, founding father of Sumnu Marketing, argued in an editorial for , while some assistance was provided under the bipartisan infrastructure act, mentoring within the black economic community can even strengthen these businesses.

Newsome also called on larger corporations to support these businesses by creating or participating in programs that provide financial assistance or resources to address the precise needs of African-American-owned businesses.

Black-owned and -run businesses are experiencing something of a renaissance, according to Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration. it was stated in a January press release“America’s vast diversity continues to fuel entrepreneurship, with Black, Latinx, and women starting businesses at higher rates than ever before. As we enter 2024, SBA will continue to work to expand access to the resources needed to start and grow resilient new businesses, leveraging the unique optimism and ingenuity of American entrepreneurs.”

The same press release noted that black business ownership has reached a 30-year high and that the small business boom was fueled by $52 billion in SBA funding, greater than 32% of which went to small businesses.

Despite, African-American Business Owners Face Persistent Capital Shortageoften by the hands of the banking industry, according to Larry Ivory, president and CEO of the Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce.

“One of the biggest and most serious challenges that African-American business owners face is the lack of access to the capital they need. Cisco data shows that blacks are rejected at significantly higher rates than whites, even with the same credit scores and the same factors,” Ivory said.