Business revenue: Inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems ensure people of color and women can grow successful businesses.
Insights & Analyses
- Among firms with paid employees in the Five-County Bay Area, average annual revenue is around 3.8 times higher for white-owned firms compared with Black-owned firms and 2.8 times higher compared with Latinx-owned firms.
- Average annual revenue for firms with paid employees in the Five-County Bay Area is over 2 times higher for men-owned firms compared with women-owned firms.
- Although average revenue per firm for firms with paid employees was about $3.05 million in the Five-County Bay Area in 2017, there were large disparities across race/ethnicity and gender.
- San Mateo County had the highest average revenue per firm for firms with paid employees ($4.59 million) while Marin County had the lowest ($1.84 million).
Drivers of Inequity
People of color are less likely than Whites to have access to capital and contracts to start and grow a business, due in part to historical policies such as redlining that denied home loans and wealth-building opportunities to people of color. Today, business loan denial rates for firms owned by people of color are three times higher than for firms owned by Whites. Business owners of color also pay higher interest rates and receive lower loan and equity investments. Although creditworthiness is a factor in loan denials, this metric does not reflect how reliably individuals pay their rent. Underrepresented groups also often face barriers accessing important networks and training programs.
Strategies
Strengthen places: Policies to expand and sustain business revenue for all residents
- Increase resources for businesses owned by people of color through Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Centers, which are charged with creating sustainable jobs within businesses owned and operated by entrepreneurs of color through services focused on access to capital, contracts, and markets.
- Connect aspiring entrepreneurs to business mentoring programs through grassroots organizations and government agencies, including the SCORE association, Entrepreneurship.org, and Prosperity Now.
- Expand business opportunities through equitable procurement and contracting strategies.
- Close the racial wealth gap by increasing access to capital and government contracts for people of color.
- Implement sector-focused workforce training and placement programs that connect workers to growing industries.
Strategy in Action
Pacific Community Ventures expands entrepreneurship opportunities for women and people of color. Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) is an Oakland-based community development financial institution (CDFI) that envisions a world of thriving communities where everyone has a fair stake. Their mission is to invest in small businesses, create good jobs for working people, and make markets work for social good. They achieve their mission through a combination of fair lending, free mentorship, skilled volunteerism, social impact measurement and management tools, and field-building research. In 2019 alone, PCV supported 770 small businesses. Those businesses had 12 percent median revenue growth, 11 percent job growth (surpassing national and state rates of 1.2 percent), with 4,192 jobs created and retained. 80 percent of those businesses were located in or hiring from, low-income communities, and 80 percent are owned by women and/or people of color. Learn more.
Photo: PCV Advising alumni Kasa Indian Eatery - Pacific Community Ventures
Resources
- Organizations: Kapor Center, ICA Fund Good Jobs, Pacific Community Ventures
- Reports: A Policy Agenda for Closing the Racial Wage Gap; Including People of Color in the Promise of Entrepreneurship; Key Strategies to Advance Equitable Growth in Regions; The Color of Entrepreneurship; U.S. Minority-Owned Firms
- Data: Prosperity Now Scorecard; Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
