Black business ownership numbers have reached a record high of 3.7 million, showcasing the economic empowerment of African American entrepreneurs.
Black business ownership is growing at the fastest pace in 30 years, and the share of Black households owning a business has more than doubled, from 5% to 11% between 2019 and 2022, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The number of women-owned businesses has grown dramatically. From 2019 to 2023, the growth rate of women-owned businesses was 94% greater than the growth of men-owned businesses.
Census Bureau data projects that a record-breaking 5.5 million new business applications were filed in 2023, making it the strongest year of new business applications on record. It is also the third consecutive year of historic small business growth
Since 2020, the share of the SBA’s loan portfolio going to minority-owned businesses has increased from 23% to more than 32%.
The number and dollar value of SBA-backed loans to Black-owned businesses has more than doubled, reaching nearly $1.5 billion.
The SBA backed $3 billion in loans to Latino-owned businesses in FY23 — a record-breaking high.
Lending to women-owned small businesses is once again on the rise, with loan counts increasing by 70% since 2020 and total loan dollars exceeding $5 billion in 2023.
“America’s great diversity continues to propel entrepreneurship with Black, Latino, and women founders starting up at higher rates than ever,” SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said.
The SBA also reported that $9.5 billion in federal contracts went to Black-owned businesses in 2022 — a $490 million increase from 2021.
“That’s not enough. You know, we celebrate that marker, but we need to do much, much more, and that that is our hope and our mission here,” said Mark Madrid, associate administrator for the SBA Office of Entrepreneurial Development (OED).
“Black entrepreneurs are so important to the fabric of this country, not only socially but economically as well,” Madrid said.
In addition to funding programs to help entrepreneurs start or expand their businesses, the SBA also provides counseling, training, and business development programs.
Guzman praised the Biden-Harris administration for its concentrated effort to increase small-business ownership.
“More Americans than ever are pursuing their dreams of business ownership as the rate of new business applications filed and establishments under President Biden continues to surge,” he said.
“In the last year alone, Americans across the country and in a wide range of industries filed a record five and a half million new business applications, bringing the total number under this administration to a record-breaking 16 million.”
Since President Biden took office, there have been 16 million new business applications — the highest recorded amount in three years. From 2021-2023, the U.S. has seen more new business applications than the prior four years combined.
The monthly average of 440,000 new business applications during the first three years of the Biden-Harris Administration — is 46% higher than the average of the prior four years combined. The surge has featured outsized growth in entrepreneurship among women, Latinos and Black Americans.
Facts About Small Business: Black-Ownership Statistics 2024
Advocacy has released an updated infographic showcasing Black-owned businesses. Black business owners own 3.5 million businesses and employ more than 1.2 million people. This represents an annual increase of over 7 percent in people employed by Black entrepreneurs. The infographic uses the most recent Census Bureau data to show the contributions of Black-owned businesses in the United States.
This story was originally posted on St. Louis American.
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