Black and African American women are driving small business growth: How do we sustain the momentum?

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Today, Black and African American women are driving small business growth and are one of the fastest-growing groups of entrepreneurs in America. Currently there are 2.1 million small businesses owned by Black/African American women in the United States who employ 528,000 business employees and generate $98.3 billion. In total, Black women represent 14.8% of all women-owned businesses.

To give some perspective, after the 2008 financial crisis, women-owned businesses, in general, had not only recovered but had surpassed average revenue levels from before the crisis to 2008: $172,000 in 2019 compared to $151,700 before the crisis. However, this was not the case for Black/African American women-owned businesses, whose average revenue was $35,600 in 2019 compared to $40,400 prior to the crisis. Fast forward to COVID-19, Black women-owned businesses came out stronger after the economic shock of the pandemic, with average revenues for these businesses increasing 32.7% between 2019 and 2023 compared to all women-owned businesses’ with a 12.1% rise. And now, Black/African American women business owners have outpaced growth between 2022 and 2023 in terms of employment and revenue compared to all women-and American/Black men-owned employers.

David Larkin is Wells Fargo’s Branch Banking Region Director for Alaska and Western Washington Region

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