Black women are the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs in the U.S. According to a study from JPMorgan Chase, Black women in the U.S. own nearly 2.7 million businesses nationwide. As discussed in "Bringing the Gifts, Their Ancestors Gave, These Black Women Entrepreneurs Rise,"there are unique challenges that Black women face in their quest to build a business empire.
Unfortunately, those obstacles have been magnified in recent years. For example, the Fearless Fund's grant program for businesses owned by women of color has recently faced a legal challenge from the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER). This group claims the venture capitalist firm's grants amount to racial discrimination under the Civil Rights Act 1866. AAER alleges that Fearless Fund engages in racial discrimination by operating the Fearless Strivers Grant, in which the foundation has awarded $10,000 to $20,000 and business-development services to early-stage Black-woman-owned businesses.
"This is about money," said Ayana Parsons, Fearless Fund co-founder, during an event. "This is about wealth creation. This is about the American Dream. Quite frankly, what Ed Blum, who has sued the Fearless Fund, is trying to do is dismantle our economic freedom and our ability to 'pull ourselves up by our bootstraps' and experience that which is the American Dream. So, this is so much bigger than us. We need 1,000 Fearless Funds. But most importantly, we need access to capital."
Recognizing the complexity of being a Black woman business owner, we connected with a few of our founders to learn more about their experiences. Here are their responses:
The answers have a common thread – the desire to pay it forward and make entrepreneurship more accessible for Black women. Jon'll Boyd, founder of Boyd Cru Wines, mentioned how powerful witnessing her mom run a business was. "I am charting a path so young girls and women who will come after me will reap the benefits and be inspired and filled with hope that they can do the same but do it even better. I want to leave a legacy of love, freedom, family, and generational wealth. I am proud to say many of these values I inherited from the first Black entrepreneur role model I ever had, my mother, Janice Y. Wright, the owner of several major Black Hair Salons in the southeast region. Everything I am today is because of her and the lessons and blessings she passed down to me. She is Black History personified."
Bottom Line: While Black women represent the largest growing group of entrepreneurs, something is happening between the launch and the five-year mark (considered the timeframe of a mature business). Based on the same JP Morgan report reference, just 3% of Black women run mature businesses (five or more years). How can these founders get over the hump? One theory is that representation matters, and amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities will inspire the next generations of business owners that their enterprises can sustain them for life. Success is possible, and these women are a testament to that resilience.
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