A report published last week by the Small Business Administration, shows that women drove much of the growth in black entrepreneurship.
Black women owned 547,341 companies in 2002, up 75 percent from five years before, when the Census Bureau last counted. The number owned by men rose a smaller 29 percent, to 571,670, says the study by economist Ying Lowrey in the SBA’s Office of Economic Research.
For the first time since the government began counting, black women now likely own more companies than black men, assuming growth rates stayed constant after 2002, says Gwen Martin, director of research at the Center for Women’s Business Research.
Black women, like all female owners, still lag behind men by some key measures. The majority of their companies are part-time ventures, often run from home at night or on weekends to supplement daytime pay. Just 5 percent had employees, vs. 10 percent for black men. Annual revenue averaged about $39,000, vs. $114,000 for black men, Lowrey’s research shows.