A Potential downfall for Black Business

One of the most important determinants of success in business is access to startup capital. That's true for all entrepreneurs, not just true for minority entrepreneurs [Startup capital] was the most important factor for determining why Asians do well in business, and it's the most important factor for why African-American businesses are not doing as well Wealth inequality is transferring into business performance inequality. The groups that seem to have a lot of wealth are able to start better capitalized, faster-growing firms that do well. The ethnic and racial groups that don't have that access to capital because of low wealth — they're struggling.

Race's Role in Startup Success. By: Blacks, John Tozzi, BusinessWeek Online, 9/15/2008

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2008/sb20080912

Networking as a Solution for Blacks

George Fraser in his book Success Runs in our Race

“I believe that African Americans are now quite actively seeking to come together as a people with a unified vision for success… Afro-centric networking is the modern equivalent of the Underground Railroad. Blacks of the integration generation who have persevered and succeeded are increasingly coming to see their blackness not as a liability, but as an asset that provides not only psychological strength but economic power.” (Page 72)

Blacks, Education and Business Success

Commerce and industry are subjects in the educational process that have somehow eluded the black curriculum. There has been an improper evaluation of the cause of the illness resulting in a lack of understanding of the required treatment. The fact is that residents of the ghetto have simply been consumers. They have not been trained to be productive in our society. All of this has resulted in the ghetto’s suffering from what the economist calls a deficit balance of payments.

Leonard Evans Jr. "Ghetto Marketing, What do we do Now?"

Just want to be successful...

Race and Entrepreneurial Success provides a detailed description
of the current state of minority-owned businesses in the
United States. Fairlie and Robb advance our knowledge of
black and Asian ownership in juxtaposition to white ownership.
Their research utilizes an underused dataset, the Characteristics
of Business Owners (CBO), collected by the U.S.
Census Bureau, and their book is a needed fact-book for
scholars interested in the current state of minority-owned
businesses. Though the authors attempt to examine the
causes of racial disparities, the main contribution of this work
is its detailed description of the black and Asian businesses,
their background, and their rates of success.

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=44299863&site=ehost-live

Can Black Businesses Succeed?

This article describes recent successes of Black-owned businesses and suggests
strategies that can help to alleviate Black joblessness in urban areas. A new
generation of well-educated, skilled entrepreneurs is remaking the Black business
community in urban America. As Black enterprises have diversified and grown in
size and scope, they have also added many employees, most of whom have been
African Americans, a profound difference from firms that are not owned by
minorities. Simply stated. Blacks hire Blacks, while White owners employ a
predominantly White workforce.
Despite the fact that many Black enterprises historically involved individual
owners operating without employees. Black-owned firms today are not all small.
Large-scale Black firms employ a growing number of urban workers.

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=20920493&site=ehost-live

Networking

Paul G. Watkins who has begun many investment clubs of which many are registered with the National Association of investment clubs states “Wise investment of collective wealth is a key to the spread of success throughout the African-American community. We need to find ways to keep out money in our community so that it benefits our own people” Tapping into the Power of Networking, Black Enterprise v24 page 62-3 July ’94.

Black Business

OPEN FOR BUSINESS IN THE BLACK METROPOLIS:
RACE, DISADVANTAGE, AND ENTREPRENEURIAL
ACTIVITY IN CHICAGO’S INNER CITY
Cedric Herring

Butler argues that there has always been a portion of the Afro-American
community which has attempted to adapt to racism and discrimination
in the same way as did middleman minority groups. This “truncated
Afro-American middleman” group is grounded in the tradition of selfhelp,
education, and entrepreneurship. This group is responsible for the
creation of Afro-American businesses, educational institutions, and organizations
within the Afro-American community. Because a great deal of
institution building took place in segregated environments, this groups’
aspirations were grounded in their community rather than the white community,
and they supported and took pride in Afro-American institutions
even when they began to live in integrated communities.