How Black Women Are Leading the Culture Via Entrepreneurship
When it comes to talking about Black women, there’s really not too many things that we can’t do- we excel and lead the pack at many things, like being the most educated group of people in the U.S (a marginalized group at that), and now leading the nation as the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship is the art of setting up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope for profit. You think of a product or service people need, create or buy that product and get skilled people to perform that service, charge a price for performance/shipping and gain profit from people demanding the service or product. It sounds easy, but from personal experience, watching friends and family do it and being a consumer in general, it’s not for the faint of heart.
It sounds crazy, but the earliest known entrepreneurs originated in New Guinea 20,000 years ago in 17000 B.C.E. The first known humans traded obsidian for other needed items like food, skins and hunting tools. 12,000 years later during the Agricultural Revolution, we got a clearer look at the future of entrepreneurship as people of the community could trade valuable goods for food and products in areas of specialization such as fishing, cooking and tool-making.
Fast forward to now- Black women are the fastest growing group of business owners (Latinos are up there with us) despite facing severe systemic obstacles like racism, sexiam and the inability to secure connected business mentors and outside capital start up funding.
In 2017, the National Women’s Business Council reported that there were 1,531, 494 Black woman owned and operated businesses in the U.S-since it’s 2020, that statistic has almost doubled in size.
You’ve seen it everywhere-viral small business on Twitter with Black girls making creative packaging and concepts to sell lashes like placing them in mini suitcases and Capri Sun packaging with clever names, to the college girls braiding hair and making wigs/slaying bundles on campus, ya favorite auntie who bakes all the cakes and desserts for family and friends, the women who hold classes teaching folks how to coupon and save money-all of these are staunch examples of entrepreneurship. It’s exciting to have a vision, dream it, gather the resources and people needed, build it from the ground up and watch it flourish.
A couple of my favorite woman enTRAPreneurs from my city are Christina Mendez of Irene-Marie Consulting and Avery Tie and Co with more to come and Tae Winston of Fashion Meets Food Truck Rally and the Entrepreneurs Marketplace which now boasts over 10 vendors and counting who sell a variety of items. Both of these powerhouse Black women are single moms who created a project from the ground up with no big financial backers and are sheroes to their community-they nurture others’ gifts to build profit for them and believe in lifting as they climb.
But being a Black woman entrepreneur does not come without it’s fair share of trials and oppression.
With systemic racism, it’s hard for Black women to get business loans to start up and fund the costs of their business, especially if they’re low income. Arion Long, founder of the Femly Box, a menstrual box will with artisan products designed to make women’s based out of Washington D.C launched her business in 2015, she had only one problem: getting funding from investors. “Let’s face it,” she says. “I was talking to middle-aged white men. They didn’t know the product or use the product. And they didn’t care. I’m a brown-faced, five-foot-one-inch young woman, who wasn’t taken seriously. I had done my research and was ready. But young white men -- some of whom had simply jotted down an idea on a beverage napkin -- got the nod.” Long was hoping to snag a modest $10,000 to $75,000 investment. Everyone she talked to said no.
Due to Black women/wpmen of color also not being born with social capital, it can be hard to scale businesses effectively for revenue and we don’t have the same access to successful business mentors without paying a price- wealth disparities and racial oppression contribute directly to this.
Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, explained to Fortune in 2015 that business for black women is booming as a result of a set of global working conditions that historically haven't appreciated the efforts of women. “We attribute the growth in women-owned firms to the lack of fair pay, fair promotion, and family-friendly policies found in corporate America,” she said. “Women of color, when you look at the statistics, are impacted more significantly by all of the negative factors that women face. It’s not surprising that they have chosen to invest in themselves".
That’s what’s special about Black women though-we trot on in the face of oppression, having no money or fancy social capital, no handouts and sometimes no fancy equipment or knowledge to get started-but we figure it out, research, forge connections and still come out on top.
Take New Orleans native Supa Cent who created the multimillion dollar company The Crayon Case in 2017 that is a beauty line with crayon and school supply inspired products-on Cyber Monday 2018, she made $1 million dollar revenue in just 90 minutes. We can also look at Noelle Santos who created the first Black owned bookstore in the Bronx, the Lit Bar.
Entrepreneurship in the Black community is important for so many reasons. Black folks lead the way in entrepreneurship and consumerism. To watch a woman of color create her passion from the ground up with no help,late nights, kids, no money, tears and sweat, learning along the way and growing it to gain income is powerful. We do it because we understand the power of generational wealth, necessity and following your dreams. We’re the trendsetters making putting your community on the map and feeding your passions look cool and easy. Support Black business always and give Black women entrepreneurs their flowers while they’re here-we may still have a patriarchal glass ceiling, but the sky has no limit.