THE STATE OF BLACK WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES

There’s no shortage of news about the evolution of women-owned businesses in the past few decades. More women are diving into entrepreneurship and earning a bigger piece of the financial pie that keeps the economy moving. According to the 2018 State of Women-Owned Business Report, commissioned by American Express, the number of women-owned businesses increased by nearly 3,000% since 1972. The report examines trends in women businesses, including black women-owned businesses, based on the 2012 Survey of Business owners and annual gross domestic product estimates.

In an exclusive interview with American Express research advisor Geri Stengel, we examine the trends in women-owned businesses and how black women have contributed to that growth:

Women-owned businesses are growing much faster than all businesses. From 2007 to 2018, women-owned businesses have grown by 58% in terms of number of firms and 46% in terms of revenue,” reports Stengel. “What’s driving these numbers are women of color. Women of color over that same period of time are starting businesses at a much faster rate. The number of firms owned by African-American women has grown by 164% since 2007. Source: BLACK ENTERPRISE

Dell Gines, the author of an intriguing new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Black Women Business StartUps, loves this quote attributed to Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn: “An entrepreneur is someone who will jump off a cliff and assemble an airplane on the way down.” But for black women entrepreneurs, Gines quickly adds, “they do it with only a toothpick and a napkin.” What he means is that black women entrepreneurs typically lack the resources and capital to launch, yet take-off they do — in droves.

According to The 2018 State of Women-Owned Business Report commissioned by American Express, while the number of women-owned businesses grew an impressive 58% from 2007 to 2018, the number of firms owned by black women grew by a stunning 164%, nearly three times that rate. There are 2.4 million African American women-owned businesses in 2018, most owned by women 35 to 54. Black women are the only racial or ethnic group with more business ownership than their male peers, according to the Federal Reserve. Source: Forbes